ProSales Students Prepare for WCSO Finals

When the first round of the World Collegiate Sales Open (WCSO) began in the early Fall of 2012, there were over 300 students from around the world competing for 20 spots in the finals at Northern Illinois University in late February.

In November, only 60 competitors remained, seven representing Baylor University. Now that the field has been reduced to 20 students for the final round and Baylor is proudly sending sophomore Olivia Offringa and juniors Simeon Brown and Tyler Kopas as its 2013 finalists.

In the rounds leading up to the finals, students left voicemails to set up an appointment, interacted with a live-gate keeper to set up an appointment with a potential client and conducted a sales role play using Adobe Connect (the same product they are selling). These formats from the preliminary rounds are replicated to serve as the first three rounds for the finals.

“It is great because we have a starting point and we’re not guessing how to get started and prepare,” says Offringa. “We can look at our scores, listen to our tapes and analyze how we can improve on our performance.”

Additionally for the finals, there are two “elevator pitches” where the students ride up in one elevator and down another, selling themselves for 30 seconds each time while surrounded by judges.

“While I have practiced elevator pitches before, they have all been in a classroom setting with a more informal audience,” says Kopas. “For this competition we looked around Waco to find a building where we can ride up and down the elevators while preparing our pitches. Our current goal is to use the Alico building’s elevators so we can simulate a similar environment to the competition.”

Actually being in an elevator won’t be the only new experience for which students have to prepare. Simeon Brown offered his perspective on getting ready for a Reverse Job Fair:

“Preparing for the Reverse Job Fair has been a great stretching experience,” says Brown. “It’s an unique idea to develop a booth with your own theme/brand to attract recruiters, while focusing on performing well to place in the competition.”

The students receive scores on their elevator pitches and Reverse Job Fair presentations, which factor into their overall score along with the first three rounds. On day 2, there is a final round of role-plays before the final four students are announced for the Championship Round.

About the Center for Professional Selling
Dedicated to excellence in sales education and based in the university’s Hankamer School of Business, the Center for Professional Selling is recognized as one of the premier global information resources for the sales profession. For more information on the Center for Professional Selling, visit https://hankamer.baylor.edu/prosales.