Featured speaker Thomas J. Dolan, senior vice president of Xerox Global Accounts integration, and corporate senior vice president at Xerox, talks with William Paterson students (left to right) Jamie Fuentes, Gelsey Johnson and Chris Gonzalez (Photo credit: Robert Gardner)

Forty-eight students from 20 universities in 15 states participated in the National Sales Challenge, an intense series of selling competitions and workshops held at William Paterson University in Wayne November 5 through 7.

Competitions included the in-basket sales competition, where students had 25 minutes to prioritize a series of tasks; the speed-selling competition, which required them to sell themselves to an employer; and a sales-role play competition, in which students competed in a 15-minute sales call with a real business executive.

The top prize for university sales team was awarded to the University of Toledo. The overall individual champion is Mary Ellen White of Florida State University. The top three individual sellers are Eric Tenuto of Kennesaw State University for sales role-play; Mary Ellen White of Florida State University for speed selling; and Christopher Gonzalez of William Paterson University for in-basket.

The competition is designed to strengthen the students’ sales skills and offer them an opportunity to network with business executives from companies around the country who judge the events and serve as sponsors.

In addition to the competition, Thomas J. Dolan, senior vice president of Xerox Global Accounts integration and corporate senior vice president at Xerox, was the featured speaker. Dolan was named the winner of a Stevie Award as the Outstanding Global Sales Executive of the Year for 2008. He joined Xerox in 1970 as a sales representative in Philadelphia and has since held a range of sales and general management positions. He is also on the board of the TAS Group, Inc., an on-demand sales performance automation company.

One of the few such competitions in the country, the event is sponsored by William Paterson University’s Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales (RBI). William Paterson is the first higher education institution in the world to offer a bachelor of science degree in professional sales through the Department of Professional Sales, and provides training programs for sales professionals. In recent years, despite a depressed economy, students in the program have boasted 80% employment rates by graduation day, according to Tim Werkley, program associate with the Institute.