Baylor Students Excel in Early Rounds of Sales Decathlon Competition

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(From left to right) Katie Simutis, Rob Tarantolo, Ayana Taylor, Cole Hansen, Lindsey Regan, Collin Brence, Grant Holmes, and Dr. Andrea Dixon

After the first two rounds of competition, students from Baylor University’s Center for Professional Selling represent seven out of the top forty competitors in this year’s Sales Decathlon hosted by Northern Illinois University (NIU).

ProSales students Collin Brence, Cole Hansen, Grant Holmes, Lindsey Regan, Katie Simutis, Rob Tarantolo, and Ayana Taylor have advanced to the third round of competition. Role-playing as an Account Executive for Adobe, the students will be faced with a scenario to secure an appointment with a live gatekeeper. The third round of competition will take place on April 7-8, 2014.

The Sales Decathlon consists of ten events that mimic real world sales situations. The events take place over an entire selling cycle, with rounds one through five taking place virtually. The top twenty students from round three will advance to a fourth round of competition in early September. The final round, which consists of six events, will take place in October at NIU.

Three goal-oriented student coaches, Simeon Brown, Tyler Kopas, and Olivia Offringa, are helping the student competitors succeed in this year’s competition. These student coaches were each top 20 competitors in last year’s competition, and have valuable insight on how to win in this sales environment.

Kopas, a Baylor ProSales senior from Phoenix, AZ said, “Helping fellow students prepare for competitions like the Sales Decathlon aids in development for all parties involved. As a student coach I am there to help others develop, but I feel that I have learned and developed just as much as my peers. The collaboration during the prep stage has given me the opportunity to witness countless ideas and techniques that I will be sure to use in my career as a sales professional.”

“Baylor ProSales has an excellent reputation at sales competitions. I learned so much as a Top 20 competitor last year and was very grateful for the opportunity to represent Baylor at NIU,” said Offringa, a ProSales senior from Rochester, MA. “Not only do I hope that Baylor ProSales students make it to the finals of the Sales Decathlon, but I also hope that I will help get them there. I am confident that the Sales Decathlon is a wonderful experience and that Baylor’s competitors will bring home some awards!”

Brown, a ProSales senior from Manchester, MO said, “To succeed in the Sales Decathlon requires an investment in time and energy. Students from all around the world compete to be among the Top 20, so no one student makes it to the Top 20 without a lot of intentional effort. Whether it is brainstorming, practice, or role-plays, the competitors this year are really committed to making it to Chicago and it has shown in their early results. I am excited to see how Baylor ProSales students perform next year.”

“We are pleased to include the Sales Decathlon in our sales competition strategy for our student development,” said Dr. Andrea Dixon, executive director of the Center for Professional Selling at Baylor University. “Dr. Rob Peterson and the Northern Illinois University team do a fantastic job presenting a competition where students participate in all aspects of the sales process.”

“I’m proud of how well our Baylor students do each year in this competition,” stated Dr. Dixon. “Last year, Baylor had 5 of the top 25 students. This year, we have 7 of the top 40 students at this juncture of the competition.”

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.