Baylor ProSales Takes 1st Place at Challenger Sales Institute Competition
Over the weekend, Baylor took the 1st place team finish at the 2022 Challenger Sales Institute (CSI) competition, hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma and sponsored by Love’s Travel Stops. Student teams participated in three events: a sales management and ethics case competition, sales role play, and speed sell. ProSales Senior Andrea Henderson along with Juniors Cade Bissell, Jordan Goehring, Max Kleiner, Mahak Rajwani, and Sophomore Shane Trevino represented Baylor in this competition.
For the Sales Management and Ethics Case competition, competitors Andrea Henderson, Max Kleiner, and Jordan Goehring were charged with revamping the evaluation and training programs for the Love’s sales organization. Building on a competency-based approach to evaluation and development (similar to the Baylor ProSales model), the Baylor team’s presentation garnered 1st place in the case competition. As Andrea notes, “The Challenger Sales Institute Competition was a great way to end my last semester at Baylor. This experience has given me knowledge that I will be able to transfer to my full-time role and for that I am so grateful. I am blessed to have worked alongside such a talented team of individuals, and Dr. Dixon’s unparalleled mentorship and coaching. The weeks of preparation that went into this competition made our team’s 1st place finish all the more rewarding!” The case team’s student coach was ProSales Senior Beth Gosnell, a member of last year’s winning case competition team.
In the Role Play competition, Mahak Rajwani applied her training through two rounds of competition while Cade Bissell and Shane Trevino parlayed their training through multiple role play rounds to finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Student coaches for the role play team included last year’s role play competitors: Hunter Larson, Matthew Mouton and Crit Scott. Other coaches included Senior Hannah de la Torre and faculty coach Dr. Andrea Dixon. As the 2nd place finisher in the role play, Cade offers this perspective, “The Challenger Sale Institute Competition was a fantastic experience. Working with my teammates, coaches, and Dr. Dixon daily was a blessing and made our accomplishments as a team possible. I am beyond thankful for the support that pushed me to success and could not be prouder of our team’s 1st place performance!”
The winning formula for the Baylor team boiled down to dedication and preparation by both the competitors and their coaches. During the months of February and March, Baylor’s competitors and coaches dedicated 67 hours of formal competition practice over a five-week period. As a result of the individual and case team efforts, Baylor outscored all other teams to take the 1st place team finish.
Sponsoring companies included Love’s Travel Stops, APMEX, ConMed, Cox Communications, Federated Insurance, Gartner, Paycom, PX Technology, Republic National Distributing, Staples, 806 Technologies, Heartland Payment Systems, AT&T, Actalent, Bob Mills Furniture, Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Fastenal, Ideal Homes, Indeed, Northwestern Mutual, Sazerac, and Colonial Life.
Prior to the CSI competition, Baylor participated in the Georgia-based National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) and took 19th place out of 67 university teams. In a field of 132 competitors, Kristina Ward and Paige McClelland placed 34th and 35th, respectively. Islay Lyttle took a 1st place finish in the Gartner Speed Sale competition. Student coaches helping to prepare the team included Seniors Brian Galbraith and Islay Lyttle and Junior Benjamin Nopper. Brianna Steensen served as the staff coach for this national 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.