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UH team takes first in sales competition

Two and half months of preparation pays off for students in Bauer's selling program

by Ashley Anthony
The Daily Cougar

In 2001, the Bauer College of Business' Program for Excellence in Selling placed third in the National Collegiate Sales Competition. In 2002, the program didn't even make the top 10. In 2003, it ranked seventh.

But the fourth time proved a charm: The team placed first at the contest, held at Kennesaw State University outside Atlanta, Ga., beating out selling teams from 36 other universities.

The team's members are seniors Crystal Greenwood, Luis Hernandez and Alim Hirani. Greenwood and Hirani also placed individually in the top 10. This is the first time two UH students achieved that honor.

"We felt pretty confident going into the competition because we had been preparing for two and a half months," Hernandez, a marketing major, said.

The students said part of the reason they felt so confident arriving at the competition was because of the initiative taken by Bauer faculty and staff members.

"We already thought that our program was the best. We'd heard it from faculty, but when you go out there and see it for yourself, it makes a whole lot of difference," Hirani, a finance and marketing major, said.

During the months they prepared for the national competition, the team met with PES Director Susanna Rosas, who has been involved with the program for five years and participated in the National Collegiate Sales Competition as a student at UH in 2001. To help prepare them for the event, Rosas led the students through role playing and met with them on a daily basis.

"We actually had an internal competition in December," Rosas said. 

At the competition, the team is informed ahead of time what product they'll be selling. The team also makes sure they are familiar with the company's background.

"They know beforehand the buyer profile and who they are selling to. They are given information on the company and what their goals are," Rosas said.

PES was formed at UH seven years ago and has been drawing more students each year, but it remains very competitive -- of the 1,200 students who applied to the program this year, only 40 were accepted. The program normally appeals to students pursuing careers in business, but it is open to all majors.

"We have a majority of business majors, but we've had everything else from law to music majors. We are mostly mixed," Rosas said. "At one time, it was mostly marketing majors, but now we have a good blend of students. We are looking to expand."

Expansion is in the program's plans, Rosas said.

"Because of demands of companies recruiting and students wanting to be in the program, instead of accepting 40 students, we are now going to start accepting 60 hopefully beginning in the fall," she said.

Greenwood, who placed seventh individually in the National Collegiate Sales Competition, said she was glad the program finally achieved its goal of becoming national champions.

"It was about time that we brought home first place, because we really are the best in the nation," Greenwood said.
 

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