#professionalsales

Senior places Top 13 in national sales competition

The art of being a good salesperson is more than just asking someone to buy a product or service. It’s a learned skill. For Bloomsburg University senior Brendan Matthews a mock sales pitch in his advanced selling class evolved into competing in the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) this spring.

Matthews, who is a management major with a minor in professional sales, competed against 144 students from 72 universities finishing 13th overall, the best placement ever for a BU student. As a team in its eighth year competing, BU placed in the top 16 among the schools.

“We have been competing here for eight years,” said Monica Favia, chair of the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales. “While Unfortunately, Brendan did not make the final four, it was still gave an outstanding showing.  Most importantly, every student who attends usually has at least one job offer and frequently more, depending on the degree that they pursue it. Every BU student competing this this year has at least one job offer and in some cases two or three.”

Matthews went into the competition with a strategy for his success despite waking up ill the morning of the competition. 

“Each round I was selling the same product to a different group of buyers,” he said. “Some buyers were very nice and others were difficult, so I started by introducing myself to develop a personal connection. I then set an agenda for the pitch so they knew what to expect.”

The NCSC offers students the opportunity to display their skills in sales which often times leaves them with many opportunities for their future.

“It's a great experience to put yourself out there,” said Matthews. “There are a ton of employers there actively looking to hire students for full time jobs upon graduation. It’s also a great opportunity for students to connect from all over the country and learn more about themselves, their sales programs, and what they are looking for in a career.”

Following his May 2018 graduation, Matthews will begin a position at CH Robinson, a supply chain logistic company located in Conshohocken, working with their full sales cycle.

In addition to Matthews’ efforts, junior Britny Keyes played a large role in BU’s ranking. Other team members included Brittany Satiago, Asia Harding and graduate students, Joe Devine and Josh Salak.

BU’s sales program is the only one in the State System.

Sales competition draws largest field of participants

Two days of competition came down to 15 minutes.

That’s what each of the three finalists of the annual Bloomsburg University/UPS Sales Competition were left with to land their final scenario of professional sales, face-to-face with a UPS role player. In total, 39 students put their sales talents to the test in this year’s competition that expanded for the first time into a two-day event.

Irenitemi Famadewa, of Penn State University, Britny Keyes, a junior business administration marketing and professional sales major, and Lauren Kearney, a junior business administration marketing major, advanced through two rounds of competition as finalists. Famadewa took home the grand prize, an iPad Pro and custom Tom James suit. Keyes and Kearney also earned prizes, winning a Go Pro and an Echo Show respectively.

“This competition taught me you're never going to be able to stick with a script,” Keyes said. “As much as you plan what you want to say and in what order to say it, it comes down to what the buyer needs. You aren't in the driver’s seat they are. So being able to let them talk and expand on their experiences is so important for the meeting to be able to flow and feel natural for both the buyer and the seller.”

For the competition, students were judged on their ability to:

Approach – effectively gain attention and build rapport

Needs Identification – obtaining a clear understanding of a customer’s situation in order to prepare a customized presentation

Product/Service Presentation – persuasively match your product’s benefit to meet the needs of the buyer

Overcoming Objections – eliminating concerns or questions to customer’s satisfaction

Close – taking initiative to understand where you stand with a buyer now and for the future

“The competition gave great insight into practicing sales pitches,” Kearney said. “Another highlight is my capability to succeed in these types of situations. I don’t have much professional sales experience, so advancing to final three was a great accomplishment for me.”

Kearney added, “This experience helped prepare for a possible career in sales, because of the role play we took part in. This allowed all of the competitors to gain product knowledge, identity customer needs and find solutions to their problems in a real-life situation circumstance.”

In addition, students were treated to four different professional development sessions and a career far, as well as a networking event with industry professionals to include UPS, Tom James and Gartner.

“Companies saw my potential,” Keyes said. “This is a better way for companies to see what you can do. In an interview they'll read your resume and judge you on just that, but here you have the advantage to actually show them your abilities in action.”

The two-day competition was organized and managed by Monica J. Favia, coordinator of Zeigler College of Business professional sales program. This was the third year for the competition, which saw its interest nearly double after drew less than 20 competitors each of the previous two years.

“This competition adds to the value of Bloomsburg’s sales program, because it provides real-life situations to help students practice and understand what they did right and wrong in their sales pitch,” Kearney said. “I also think value is created when companies take time to participate and help the students in the learning process. It adds emphasis that students should take advantage of the valuable opportunities that Bloomsburg University offers.”

BU's professional sales program — the only one offered in the State System — prepares students in the art and science of professional selling so upon graduation they may be an immediate contributor toward the improvement of shareholder value of any and all organizations that invite them aboard. It’s offered as a specialization within marketing or as a minor paired with any major.

Hispanic Heritage Month: Celeste Rivas

Celeste Fernanda Rivas De La Cruz is a junior marketing and professional sales major from Reading who is a native of the Dominican Republic. In addition to serving as treasurer of the Student Organization of Latinos, she is pursuing a minor in Spanish.

“I'm originally from Santiago and moved nine years ago to the United States,” Rivas De La Cruz says. “That inspires me to bring pride to my country. I come from a very large low-income family from my mother's side, in which they showed me the beauty of the Dominican Republic and each story that represents my culture and me.”

As the celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month continues, Rivas De La Cruz looks to shine a brighter spotlight on her culture and fellow Hispanic students on campus.

“Hispanics are a minority (at Bloomsburg) and not many know who we are and where we come from,” Rivas De La Cruz says. “For many of us, we’re just one more person of color in the class. We’re looking to take every opportunity to show what we are capable of and are also part of the university, not only as Latinos but as proud Huskies we all are.”

Rivas De La Cruz says she also takes pride in helping her culture overcome misperceptions.

“One thing that people overlook about Dominicans (in thinking) that they’re not smart and unnecessary,” Rivas De La Cruz says. “If you ask me, the Dominican Republic has an amazing intelligence and is very educated. One of these reasons is because our culture teaches you the importance of why going to college or taking a technical class can be of benefit.”

According to Rivas De La Cruz, there are 1.6 million people in the Dominican Republic with university studies, which represents 22% of the population who are 15 years of age or older.

“The reason why people see Dominicans in such a bad way is that when they arrive in the United States, most of them have to work in restaurants, factories, etc. for reasons of lack of proper documents like any other immigrant from another country and lack of knowledge of English,” Rivas De La Cruz says. “I’ve known doctors, nurses, lawyers, businessmen, and other professions who work in a job that’s minimum wage. We Dominicans are important to this country, just have to give us the opportunity to prove it.”

And Rivas De La Cruz is doing just that here at Bloomsburg.

A Different Approach to Sales 

By Eden Berlin, communications assistant

Everyone has experienced walking into a store and being followed by an employee asking you if you need help with anything. Or it might be passing a kiosk in the mall and the person with perfume samples just a few steps behind you, relentlessly asking if you would like to try out their latest scent.

But you’ve never met Jake Caralle. 

He’s not your typical salesman. He’ll change your perception about a salesperson. As he says, “In sales, you’re helping other people solve problems.”

Caralle graduated from Bloomsburg University with a degree in business management and professional sales in 2020. He moved to Boston to work for Oracle NetSuite, a computer software company where he works as a business development consultant. 

“My job entails supporting the New York, New Jersey, and New England region in the top line of their sales efforts for companies that range from 20 million to 200 million in revenue. Nothing can be innovated, created, or advanced in our economy until someone sells something [a product] to somebody, Caralle states.

As a business development consultant, Caralle is selling software that transforms a business. He believes “the software truly helps them [the company] reach their potential while making life easier and saving them an immense amount of time.”

“I really like being on the hunt every day, facing down new business. I like what I get to learn in the technology industry,” said Caralle who recently won two company awards.

Caralle has had a niche for sales ever since he was working with Alumni and Professional Engagement (APE) at BU. He says, “Working with that office gave me a taste of what front line sales is like, where you’re trying to explain to people the benefits and values of a certain program or event.”

Along with promoting the Greenly Center, Caralle worked as a peer career coach. “I was passionate about being able to help other students,” he said. After BU, Caralle continues guiding BU students to return the favor.

“It’s my duty to give back as an alumnus because they [the alumni] helped me so much as a student.” ZIPD and the Career Intensive Boot Camp stood out to him the most because those alumni and employers were prime examples of Caralle’s potential future.

He has presented at the Zeigler Institute for Professional Development (ZIPD) conference and participated in a virtual sales panel to share his experiences with current students.

“I presented at ZIPD because it’s a program that had a really big impact on me and my career direction. Seeing professionals come in to talk about their experiences helped me shift my thinking into a professional mindset. It made me want to be up there doing what they’re doing in a few years to help the next people in line get to where they want to be.” Caralle said. “I want to help create the next generation of leaders.”

Caralle has big plans for his future career. “I want to be the CEO of a company that I start and grow to more than 200 employees.” Outside of work, he reads books to develop other skills that will direct him to his goal. He adds, “I’m working toward this every day.”  

Professional sales student finishes near Top 1% in national sales competition

By Caprice Gillick, communications assistant

It was a record-breaking RNMKRS College Sales Skills Competition last fall as more than 2,100 college students from 59 different schools from across the globe completed over 45,000 role-plays.

A handful of competitors got within striking distance of a perfect score. Among them was Dakota Carroll, a Bloomsburg University professional sales and marketing major, who finished just out of the top 1% of the competition.

“It’s was a unique experience since I had to sell to artificial intelligence,” says Carroll, who ended up placing in the top 1.4% with 119 role-plays in his first-ever sales competition. “The experience prepping for the sale — eliminating what I can say and whatever the ultimate goal of the sales call is — I believe will help me most in the future.”

RNMKRS is a free online tool student can use to learn, practice, and demonstrate selling skills in a global virtual sales competitive environment.

“RNMKRS is unique, because you can do the sales call get your score and then get a generalized understanding of what you need to fix,” Carroll says. “You can constantly go back into the practices and refine what questions to use, eliminate what’s not working, and try new questions to see if they help or hurt your score. 

Carroll credits his performance on Bloomsburg’s professional sales and marketing program and the coaching of Monica Favia, sales program director and associate professor.

“In my (one) class, we were learning about a sales technique call “SPIN,” Carroll says. “That (Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff) process helped me ask and formulate questions during the competition and practicing for it.”

He adds, “The IN questions of SPIN are the hardest to formulate but are the most effective to use. The SP questions are easier to make — are very direct — and can have negative effects on that one sales process. They are essential to understanding the customer and where the salesperson’s product or services fit-in.”

According to Carroll, the sales call (meetings) should feel like a normal conversation you have with a friend when they’re making or thinking of making a purchase decision (like buying a car). 

“The salesperson wants to be viewed as a trusted source of information,” Carroll says. 

An added benefit to participating in sales competitions, according to Carroll, is how each competitor can come away with a unique experience.

Professional sales students deliver as top PA team, among the best at ICSC

It was a memorable performance for a group of Bloomsburg University professional sales and marketing students who placed 14th out of 80 schools in the recent International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC), hosted virtually by Florida State University due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ohio State University won the overall World Cup of Sales competition, which reflects the combined scores of the sales management simulation, sales management case, and role-play competitions, as well as webinar points.  

Bloomsburg — the top performing Pennsylvanian school — was just two points behind West Virginia University and finished ahead the University of Central Florida and Iowa State. The next highest PA school was Temple University, placing 48th.

“We were in the mix with some of the top schools in the country,” says Matthew Loeh, a professional sales and marketing major competing in his second-ever sales management case competition. “It really put into perspective how well Dr. (Monica) Favia prepares us for this.”

Of the two Bloomsburg teams, one came away with a little history themselves.

Matt Dalrymple and Loeh teamed up to advance past the qualifying event and place second in their virtual room of the sales management case competition. It was the best showing a Bloomsburg team has had in the five years competing in the ICSC case competition, according to Favia, program coordinator and chair of the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales.

“If you truly want to make it in sales, you must work harder and put in more time than everyone else,” says Dalrymple, a professional sales and marketing major competing in his first-ever virtual sales competition. “Matt and I were tasked with coming up with new prospecting solutions for Paychex … solutions on how they could increase prospecting in a COVID-19 business environment.”

Dalrymple said the two had about 24 hours to come up with viable solutions and back them up with data and outside research, as well as create a presentation to present the next day to a panel of judges.

“My favorite aspect of the competition was the time crunch,” says Loeh, who landed a job offer with Oracle/Netsuite from the competition’s corporate networking session. “Only having 24 hours to do a case study really makes you push yourself to work harder than normal, and I was glad to have a great partner for it.”

The other team — Ryleigh Benjamin and Brittany Zipovsky, who individually placed in the Top 16 as a semifinalist at last spring’s National Collegiate Sales Competition — advanced to the quarterfinals of the role-play competition.

“We were selling an IT security software known as GreyMatter, acting as the sales representative from ReliaQuest who was trying to get a new client to buy and implement it within their company,” says Benjamin, a professional sales and marketing major competing in her first-ever sales competition. “However, it’s not just about making the sale. You have a 15- or 20-minute time slot to build rapport, ask the right questions, actively listen, present your product, and answer questions. And of course, the goal is to close at the end of the deal.”

Zipovsky’s spring experience ended up paying dividends.

“I already knew how to handle a virtual environment with a live client, and Dr. Favia showed us ways to keep the buyer's attention in this new environment,” Zipovsky says. “My partner had never attended a sales competition before and in each round, we ranked the same in our individual role-play events. This just goes to show that practice, research, great coaching, and confidence goes a long way in these competitions.”

According to the four students, they spent hours on their own connecting on Zoom and FaceTime to prepare as teams, as well as online sessions with Favia developing a game plan and confidence as a group. The hard work paid off as the two professional sales teams collectively placed Bloomsburg in the Top 15 overall

“My biggest take away is don’t give up,” Benjamin says. “I had a lot of bad role plays before I had great ones. This competition — and being inviting to represent Bloomsburg University by Dr. Favia — taught me another layer to the word resilience. A ‘small’ school placing 14th out of the 80 invited to participate, I’ll take it.”

Despite ICSC’s pivot due to the pandemic, Zipovsky says it was still worthwhile and impactful. Plenty of lasting takeaways.  

“In trying times like this, I’m thankful we were all healthy and had great support systems to be able to attend the competition virtually,” Zipovsky says. “Like the NCSC back in March, I've learned that being versatile and flexible goes a long way. Things are not always going to go according to plan and by choosing to make the best of the situation, you may be surprised at how many doors that opens for you.”

Professional Sales and Marketing (B.S.B.A.)

It's one of the most common jobs for students graduating with a sales degree — 60 percent of all business majors and 88 percent of all marketing majors begin their professional careers in a sales-related role. And that fast-paced, exciting journey begins here at Bloomsburg University!

One of its kind in Pennsylvania

“There's a need within Pennsylvania this program will address,” said Monica Favia, chair of the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales. “The addition of the major along with BU’s membership in the University Sales Center Alliance represents a distinctive advantage for Bloomsburg University and its students. This fall the first three students will graduate with the major.”

BU was first named among the top North American schools in 2015 by the Sales Education Foundation’s (SEF) listing of the best universities offering professional sales education. BU is one of only five Pennsylvania institutions included in the listing. SEF recognizes institutions for elevating the sales profession through university education, helping you to secure the professional sales position you want and deserve.

The professional sales and marketing program is available in two forms:

a B.S.B.A. in Professional Sales and Marketing

as a minor open to any major