UW-River Falls student Alee Xiong, a business administrative management major and Professor Ozcan Kilic.

Rookie Sales Team Receives Rising Star Award at International Collegiate Sales Competition

December 14, 2015 -- A team of University of Wisconsin-River Falls College of Business and Economics Professional Sales program students earned their shot to compete at the prestigious International Collegiate Sales Competition (ICSC), a three-day event hosted by Florida State University last month in Orlando.

The team, consisting of Alee Xiong, Nicholas Schaffer and team coach Professor Ozcan Kilic, advanced to the second round of the competition and were honored with a Rising Star Award, recognizing successful participating rookie teams.

"The International Collegiate Sales Competition is something I am grateful to have taken part in," said Xiong. "Not only was it a great experience, both personal and educational, but the career fair was a great opportunity to meet many recruiters. The competition also showed how well UWRF's sales program stacked up against some of the best in the country. I'm excited to bring back this experience and share it with other students and help them succeed in future competitions."

Competing with the sales team was an invaluable experience, according to Schaffer.

"Even with all I have learned in my sales courses and with the team, competing opened my eyes to the real world by exposing me to scenarios, situations, and issues that I will have to face in my future career," Schaffer said. "We had the opportunity to meet with 30+ recruiters in our area of study which significantly increases our chances of securing a job. I have had at least 10 recruiters reach out to me, and I am currently in the final stages of interviewing for the company that stood out to me the most."

The ICSC, held each fall, is a tournament-style sales competition that recognizes students for their sales skills and ability to master difficult sales scenarios while selling a real product to prospective buyers. The event also gives recruiting organizations the opportunity to network with students and hire them right on the spot. It combines challenges in the three most sought-after selling skills:  business-to-business, direct-to-consumer and using the latest video conferencing technology to present solutions to international decision-makers. The event includes a job fair sponsored by more than 25 Fortune 500 companies along with mini educational seminars.

"I am proud of Alee and Nick, since they have outstandingly represented UWRF and were able to connect substantially with recruiters," Kilic said. "Given the fact that we started in fall 2014, the Professional Sales program has made tremendous progress in generating sales ready graduates. The International Collegiate Sales Competition was a unique opportunity for my sales students to showcase their personal selling skills, as well as identify their prospective employer through networking intensively with recruiters from Fortune 500 Companies. Hard work and the state of the art Sales Lab helped us to be prepared for such a competition. Our Professional Sales program will continue to participate in sales competitions throughout the school year. This will give our sales students once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to present themselves and their sales skills. I encourage all of our students to consider becoming a part of this program"

The Professional Sales program in the College of Business and Economics at UW-River Falls is in its second year of existence and includes a Sales Lab as well as a breadth of courses in professional selling. It was also named a 2015 Top University Sales Program by the Sales Education Foundation.

For more information, visit the Professional Sales Webpage or contact the College of Business and Economics at 715-425-3335.