Asbury Students Place in Nation’s Largest Sales Competition
November 14, 2018
Students in Asbury University’s Dayton School of Business added yet another accomplishment to their growing list of accolades — awards at the nation’s largest collegiate sales competition.
Asbury’s Sales Team placed sixth overall in their first trip to the International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC) in Orlando, Fla., in which students from 79 colleges and universities from 38 states competed for recognition and cash awards.
Hosted by Florida State University, the event is the nation’s largest collegiate sales competition and is designed “to enhance the selling profession by encouraging the development of critical skills needed by today’s collegiate sales graduates in a fun competitive environment and where companies can meet the nation’s top collegiate sales talent all in one place.”
Kaylee Van Winkle ’19 and Colt Rasmussen ’19 competed in the Sales Role Play competition, along with 156 other student competitors. The process of competing involved four rounds of role playing with business professionals. A panel of judges evaluated competitors and determined which students would advance into higher-level (and more challenging) rounds. Van Winkle progressed to the final round and ended the competition in third place, earning her a $500 award and clothing provided by sponsor Tom James Company.
“I loved meeting other students who are passionate about sales and connecting with leaders in different industries,” Van Winkle said. “As I progressed through the rounds, I was challenged to maintain my focus on letting the Lord’s love pour out of me and on to other people, whether those were my peers or judges. I was amazed at the power of my choice to focus on letting the Lord love through me. It made any interaction so much more fun and relaxing in the midst of what could have been high stress!”
Ian Tan ’19 and Shane Mustor ’20 finished in the top 10 (out of 50 teams) in the Sales Management case competition, in which they provided recommendations for improvements in the sales process to managers in a health care business scenario. Competitors receive the case upon arrival at the event; therefore, preparation involved months of studying a long list of potential sales management topics that might be the subject of the case.
Daniel Vargas ‘19 and Zach Webb ‘19 competed in the Speed Selling competition, and as seniors, benefitted from many job interviews with sponsors eager to talk to students interested in a career in sales. Sponsors for the event included major corporations such as Gartner, Cardinal Health, Aetna, E.W. Scripps, Groupon, IBM, Oracle, State Farm and Comcast.
The team of six was coached by Dr. George Allen, faculty advisor and assistant marketing professor in Asbury’s Dayton School of Business. Asbury’s excellent showing at ICSC — facing many larger institutions — was built on months of preparation.
“Asbury was the smallest of the 79 universities attending ICSC, but our students showed they have the skills and tenacity to go up against schools with tens of thousands of students enrolled and hundreds of students in their sales programs,” Allen said. “I am so proud of this group of students who represented the Lord and Asbury University with integrity and perseverance and I’m glad to see their hard work and talent recognized in this way.”
Asbury’s Sales team will now begin preparing for their return to the University of Toledo Invitational Sales Competition next February and the National Collegiate Sales Competition in March.