April 22, 2024
K-State Sales Team finishes academic year with third place team award
The K-State Sales Team finished its 2023-2024 academic year with a third-place finish at the Twin Cities Collegiate Sales Team Competition. Hosted by the University of Minnesota on April 10-12, the competition had 17 universities competing in the event. The team advanced to the final round, taking home third place overall in the competition.
In this team-based competition, students acted as sales representatives for Fumas, a fictitious globally-recognized sports brand. The event consisted of three rounds, each round building off the previous round, with the end objective of procuring footwear for athletes participating in the upcoming Olympic Games.
The K-State Sales Team had four students compete in the competition: Hunter Hartner, senior in professional strategic selling and marketing; Simon Lee, sophomore in professional strategic selling; James Neis, junior in professional strategic selling; and Halle Zwetow, senior in professional strategic selling and marketing. Blaine Kramer, senior in professional strategic selling, served as the peer coach.
Each student competed individually in two role-play rounds. Individual scores from both rounds were calculated into the team score, and the five universities with the highest cumulative team score advanced to the final round. In the final round, students competed in groups of two to exhibit team selling skills.
"With this being our last competition of the academic year, I couldn't have asked for a better performance," said Kellie Jackson, marketing instructor and K-State sales team coach. "This is the only competition we have participated in this year that was solely team-based and had a team-selling component. It was great to have students collaborate on this competition as it drove collective success. I appreciate the senior leadership of their peer coach Blaine Kramer; he was invaluable for the team's success, practicing and coaching the students throughout their preparation efforts."
The K-State Sales Team is in the College of Business Administration's National Strategic Selling Institute, which has been named one of the top sales programs in the country for 12 straight years by the Sales Education Foundation. The team consists of students who are enrolled in the certificate or major in professional strategic selling. In fall 2018, K-State became just the 19th university in the U.S. to offer a major in professional strategic selling. Students can also earn a certificate in professional strategic selling, which is open to all majors at the university. The professional strategic selling program introduces students to the fundamentals of sales and the innovative curriculum and sales labs allow students to develop the skills needed to be successful.
For more information on the National Strategic Selling Institute or the K-State Sales Team, please contact kstatesalesprogram@k-state.edu.