Baylor ProSales Student Wins Great Northwoods Sales Competition – Team Takes First Place Overall
ProSales senior Oscar Velasquez, overall champion of the 2013 Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up
Baylor was well represented this past weekend at the Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up sales competition. In this University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire setting, Oscar Velasquez was the overall winner of the competition, and the team consisting of Oscar Velasquez, Kelsey Mann, Morgan Heeke and student coach Jim Oltman earned top team honors.
“This was a great experience, not just for our sales knowledge, but also to get some real world experience,” said Oscar Velasquez, this year’s individual winner.
Out of the field of 60 competitors, representing 20 schools from around the country, Oscar was one of the three finalists, and he presented with over 100 onlookers in a viewing room nearby. According to several accounts at the final competition, Oscar opened the call and the viewing room went quiet. And it stayed absolutely quiet during his entire 20-minute call. When he returned to the viewing room, Oscar was met with a round of applause as people jumped to their feet.
During the banquet, he received enthusiastic applause again when they announced Oscar as the overall winner.
Velasquez, a senior marketing and professional sales major from San Antonio, TX, was awarded a trophy, a $1,000 custom suit from Tom James, and a $1,500 cash award.
“This honor is a reflection of the students, faculty and staff at Baylor and all of their hard work. Everyone in the program is capable of winning because of our preparation and hard work,” said Velasquez.
The highest scoring individual from each participating school, excluding the top overall winners was named school champion. From Baylor, Kelsey Mann, a junior from San Antonio, TX, received a trophy and a $150 cash prize.
Describing the experience, Mann said, “I walked out of the competition with a great deal of experience and more excitement to continue in the program. As the youngest person on the team, my teammates were mentors for me. The growth I’ve experienced over the last two months is more than I could have ever imagined, and I made amazing memories along the way.”
Jim Oltman, a senior ProSales major from Cincinnati, Ohiowho served as a student coach for the competition said, “As a coach, it was great to look at the role play from the other side of the table and see the competitors’ transformations from day one to their excellent performance at the competition. It’s really rewarding to be a part of this team’s success because it reflects our team mentality at Baylor.”
“I had a lot of fun preparing for and competing in this competition,” said Morgan Heeke, a senior professional selling and marketing major from Houston, TX. “The competition was realistic and really showed me the value in doing pre-work before making a call, thinking on my feet and adapting to the situation. The ProSales program gave us the tools necessary to do our best in this scenario. I learned that if you commit to this program and put in the work, you get great results in return.”
The 2014 Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up was held October 23-25. For more information, contact Dr. Robert Erffmeyer, director, UW-Eau Claire Great Northwoods Sales Warm-Up at erffmerc@uwec.edu or visit the competition’s website at www.uwecsaleswarmup.com.
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.