COLLEGE STUDENTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY GEAR UP FOR NATIONAL SALES COMPETITION AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY FROM NOVEMBER 5 THROUGH 7
—Students from 20 universities compete for top salesperson title
—Thomas J. Dolan, corporate senior vice president at Xerox, is guest speaker
Forty-nine students from 15 states will participate in the National Sales Challenge, an intense series of selling competitions and workshops to be held at William Paterson University in Wayne from November 5 through 7.
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 will judge the events and serve as sponsors.
Thomas J. Dolan, senior vice president of Xerox Global Accounts integration and corporate senior vice president at Xerox, will be the guest speaker on Saturday, November 7, in the University’s 1600 Valley Road Auditorium. He was named the winner of a Stevie Award as the Outstanding Global Sales Executive of the Year for 2008. Dolan 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 the 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.
Now in its third year, the competition attracts “the best and brightest” aspiring salespeople from colleges and universities that offer courses in sales, says Werkley. Prior to the event, students compete at their own schools in order to win the opportunity to compete in the National Sales Challenge at William Paterson.
Competitions include the in-basket sales competition, where students have 25 minutes to prioritize a series of tasks; the speed-selling competition, which requires them to sell themselves to an employer; and a sales-role play competition, in which students compete in a 15-minute sales call with a real business executive. The top three sellers will compete in a final championship round on November 7.
In addition to William Paterson University, the following schools will participate: Ball State University, Campbellsville University, Florida State University, Indiana University, Kennesaw University, The College of New Jersey, Middle Tennessee State University, Minnesota State University Mankato, Nicholls State University, Pacific University, Siena College, University of Louisville, University of Portland, University of San Francisco, University of Toledo, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, University of Wisconsin Parkside, Western Michigan University and Widener University. To prepare for the national event, Department of Professional Sales faculty and students staged a Sales Triathlon competition on October 22 and 23.
The National Sales Challenge will be held in the Russ Berrie Professional Sales Lab, a unique computerized multimedia facility that simulates business office environments, and other locations in the University’s 1600 Valley Road building.
The Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales was created in 2002 when the late Russ Berrie, the founder and chief executive officer of Russ Berrie and Company, Inc., announced that he would donate funds to establish the program at William Paterson University. Housed in the University’s Cotsakos College of Business, the Institute represents a unique partnership between the private sector and higher education designed to advance the field of professional selling.
October 28, 2009
www.wpunj.edu
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