Texas State graduate student, Ms. Brittany Fiedler, was named the Overall Champion of the Graduate Division of the 2009 National Collegiate Sales Competition held at Kennesaw State University February 26-28.  Second place also went to a Texas State graduate student, Ms. Lauren Peterson. 

Kennesaw State University hosted over 100 students from around the United States in the 2009 competition.  The format of the tournament involved a 20 minute role-play which tested students’ selling skills in a one-on-one sales call challenge with a corporate executive. This year, the product the students sold was NetSuite, a customer relationship management, web-based business solution for small to mid size companies. The sales interaction was broadcast live to judges, who were corporate sponsors scouting the next best stars in professional selling.

Advancing to the quarter finals in the undergraduate division was Texas State student, Ben Campbell.  Brett Georgulis also competed at the undergraduate level, and undergraduate alternate, Nicki Chandler, and graduate alternate, Rian Beaudoin, rounded out the team effort.

The overall champion, Ms. Fiedler, said, “"Lauren and I talked about competing against each other in the championship round before we even got to Atlanta.  It was more of a joke, but when it actually happened we were so excited! Go Texas State!"  Ms. Peterson commented, "I couldn't have asked for a better experience. It was amazing to see our team's hard work come to fruition and know that all of our preparation for this competition will be used in our future careers" 

The undergraduate semi-finalist, Ben Campbell, had this to say, “The National Collegiate Sales Competition allowed our students to interact with top level corporate executives, plus our team bonded together after working four months to take our skills to the highest level of performance.”

Other universities participating in the competition were Baylor, Purdue, Babson, University of Georgia, University of Alabama, University of Houston, Michigan State, and many more.  Many of the students came from strong sales programs at universities such as Baylor, Northern Illinois and the University of Houston.
Sponsors included Liberty Mutual, Standard Register, First Data, Hewlett-Packard, ADP, Johnson and Johnson and many more companies who hold a two-day career fair to choose new employees from among the best professional selling students in the country. 

In its twelfth year, the National Collegiate Sales Competition is the premier competition for students wishing to enter the professional selling profession. “The NCSC was helpful because students see the possibilities of career choices. It helps them develop and refine their sales skills, and it also keeps professors on the cutting edge of their industry,” stated Vicki West, a marketing professor and the team coach for Texas State.