What convinces a consumer to purchase a product or service? Students in East Carolina University’s Twilley Academy of Sales Leadership developed their best sales pitches on Feb. 27-28 as part of the inaugural Pirate Sales Competition.
ECU freshman Roz Burgess makes a sales presentation to a judge during the Pirate Sales Challenge. (Photo by Emily Leach)
The Pirate Sales Competition marks the first time ECU has hosted a sales competition. Sixteen ECU students — the most from any school — competed in the 40-student event that included NC State, The Citadel, UNC Greensboro and UNC Wilmington. The event was at Victra Wireless Contact Center in Winterville. Victra Wireless is owned by College of Business alumnus Rich Balot and is the largest Verizon-authorized retailer in the United States.
“The goal of a sales competition is to get students to participate in real-life training scenarios,” said Samantha Zomock, a university program expert at the College of Business Office of Expert Services.
The competition consisted of three rounds, beginning with a networking round on Feb. 27 and ending with two sales rounds on Feb. 28. During the networking round, competitors rotated through 10 stations and had seven minutes to make their personal sales pitch to a pair of judges and respond to their questions. In addition to the two judges, each station had two of their peers.
“Judges are looking for both verbal and nonverbal communication. Do they understand when asked, ‘So tell me about yourself?’” said John Chapman, director of the Twilley Academy of Sales Leadership.
Prior to the second and third rounds, competitors were given a case study and a product to sell. For the second round, their objective during a five-minute phone call was to make it past a gatekeeper to obtain a meeting with a CEO.
“In that round, they’re judged in how they build rapport, how they overcome objections and how they accomplish the objective of getting an appointment,” said Chapman.
In the final round, competitors had a 15-minute sales presentation with the same product to the CEO.
“It’s a different type of sale,” Chapman said of the final round presentation compared to the second round. “The CEO is interested in return on investment, increasing productivity, increasing revenue and saving costs. They must prove their ability to sell the product.”
Student sellers
ECU senior entrepreneurship major Parker Raven proved her ability by becoming the first winner of the Pirate Sales Challenge.
Parker Raven, Roz Burgess, Josiah Ortiz and Phillip McKay hold awards from the Pirate Sales Challenge. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
“It was very exciting and I’m super thankful to have won,” she said. “The most challenging part was connecting with each of the judges. There’s so many different personalities, and connecting with them in their own way was both challenging and fun.”
For Raven, competing in the Pirate Sales Challenge was a way to prepare herself for the final round of the Aman Pirate Challenge on April 15. She is one of six finalists and will be pitching Kid Fit, her company that uses science-backed programming and a culture of encouragement to envision a future where every child can reach their full potential, one gym exercise at a time.
“I think both in sales and the (Aman) Pirate Challenge it’s about telling a story and playing on those emotions and using what you’re saying to make someone feel something. I believe that what I did today will carry over to that event,” she said.
Before the Pirate Sales Challenge, several ECU students competed in the University of South Florida’s Selling with the Bulls sales competition. Freshman Roz Burgess, a Brinkley-Lane Scholar and Honors College student, was one of eight competitors to win the Winner’s Circle award. The award is given to a student who excels in the categories of prospective email, prospective LinkedIn request, prospective voicemail, prospective phone call, networking, discovery meeting and sales meeting. Making Burgess’ accomplishment even more impressive was that he had to compete virtually due to travel issues because of a winter storm that hit the Greenville region.
“I’m very excited to win the award,” said Burgess. “I have to give credit to (Pirate Sales Club president) Phillip McCain. He’s a senior and trained us for the competition. We met weekly and sometimes twice a week to make sure we were ready.”
Burgess followed that competition with a runner-up effort at the Pirate Sales Challenge.
Other ECU winners at the Pirate Sales Challenge include:
- Overall Award 1st Place: Parker Raven
- Overall Award 2nd Place: Roz Burgess
- Phone Call 1st Place: Josiah Ortiz
- Phone Call 2nd Place: Trace Fernandez
- Phone Call 3rd Place: Tripp Poore
- Team Award 2nd Place: Roz Burgess, Josiah Ortiz, Isiah Brooks, Emily Hymel
- Team Award 3rd Place: Parker Raven, Trever Pankau, Luke Hansen, Phillip McCain
Giving thanks
On the evening of Feb. 28, a reception at the Dail House honored Richard Twilley and his generous gift that launched the Twilley Academy of Sales Leadership.
COB Dean Mike Harris, left, presented Richard Twilley with a gift at a reception. (Photo by Emily Leach)
“Tonight, we’re here to celebrate another game-changing event in our college,” said Mike Harris, dean of the College of Business (COB). “We’re here to honor Richard, Avis and their family. This is not only a game-changer for our college, but also a game-changer for our campus. This investment is to create a national model for a sales academy. This is just the second endowed sales academy in North Carolina. As we put together this program, we’re building the foundation for a national model.”
The Twilley Academy of Sales Leadership is housed in the College of Business’ Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management. The Twilley Academy of Sales Leadership is advancing world-class sales education and cutting-edge research, providing executive educational programs, and fostering beneficial corporate partnerships.
“I’m a proud graduate of ECU and the College of Business,” said Twilley. “For many years I’ve waited for the right opportunity to give back and create a sales academy that will provide a degree program for current and future students enrolled in the COB and sales certificate program for any ECU student. Remaining future focused to ensure student success and regional transformation will be paramount as we continue to navigate our course at the academy. It will be interesting to see how the academy can complement our recent R1 designation with cutting edge research on selling, sales processes and client experience.”
Nearly 500 students are enrolled in sales classes this academic year. The number of students enrolled and pursuing a professional selling certificate has doubled in the last three years and the COB is in the process of exploring a sales concentration, Harris said.
“Sales is the future of our college,” he said. “Ten years ago, we used entrepreneurship as a way to connect the campus, and I believe now is the time to use sales.”
Chapman feels the support from Twilley and COB benefactors has the Pirate Sales Challenge poised for future growth.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said of the event’s support. “Every year we hope to make it larger and larger. We’re starting with four teams and I’m making notes on what we can do to make it better next year.”