Students place second in selling competition

SBI students place second in Indiana University (IU) Global Sales Leadership National Team Selling Competition.

Team members Nicole Crowell, Ashley Alfred, Daniel Murff and Darriel Brown beat teams from Indiana University, Penn State University and the University of Toledo. This was the first time FAMU entered the competition.

Following the competition, each member of the team was offered a full-time, selling position at Altria Sales and Distribution, Inc.

“I was thrilled because I knew my team had done a great job, but when I found out that we won second place it validated our performance,” said Alfred, a fourth-year business administration student with a concentration in marketing from Houston, Texas.

“Finding out we won second place was unbelievable,” said Murff, a graduating senior, business administration student from Indianapolis, Ind. “The chance to represent the university in a setting like that was an honor.”

."A key factor that differentiated FAMU students from the others was their ability to “critically think” and apply their knowledge during a pressure situation," said a professor.

Each team role played as a fictional Caldaco National Account Supermarket Team whose goal was to introduce a new product, “Foco” brand energy drink, to the fictional Get-a-Lot Supermarket chain. The team had to convince a buyer to accept this new product in a morning appointment limited to 15 minutes. If the buyers accepted the proposal, then a follow up afternoon appointment was scheduled with a group of vice presidents where the team made a sales presentation based on uncovered needs from the earlier appointment. The afternoon presentation was limited to 20 minutes. The teams’ presentations were taped for them to review their performance later and judges provided detailed feedback on each team’s performance.