Casandra Howder competes in the Professional Selling Competition.
The sales competition is designed to provide a venue for St. Cloud State sales students to showcase their selling skills, knowledge and abilities and receive feedback from local sales professionals. It is put on by the Department of Marketing and sponsored by Anderson Trucking Services, Marco and Northwestern Mutual.
The students participated in the competition held Dec. 4-5 in the Northwestern Mutual Sales Lab. Local professionals participated as judges and buyers.
Hunter Schultz, Alexandria, took second place in the competition, and Kyle Tabbat took third.
The students were judged on their ability to develop strategic sales openings, ask probing questions to determine the buyer’s needs and develop a strategic needs-based professional selling presentation. They were also judged on their visual aids and ability to handle buyer objections and close the sale.
The competition was designed to judge students on the skills they’ve developed in their professional selling specialization courses, said Dennis Bristow, Department of Marketing professor.
The winners of the Professional Selling Competition are Hunter Schultz, left, Casandra Howder and Kyle Tabatt.
“The entire (professional selling specialization) program, including the sales competition, was developed in order to provide students with comparative advantage in the marketplace and to meet growing demand for professional salespeople who have completed university level sales education courses and programs,” he said.
More than 40 sales professionals from more than 20 area firms served as judges and buyers in the competition. More than 60 students participated in the competition and networked with employers at the Professional Selling Career Fair and during the Friday Evening Sales Social.
