Competing in a national sales competition in Georgia taught Ball State University marketing students how to conduct themselves professionally and think on their feet.
Junior Drew Hoffman said he was told by more than one judge to cut his hair, but he didn't take offense by it.
"I've got long hair," he said. "Once I get out of college, I realize it's something that's going to have to go."
Four students from Ball State competed in a pool of 350 students from 61 universities in a national sales competition two weeks ago. Two junior marketing majors placed in the quarter finals. In the graduate level competition, two students placed in the Top 5.
Associate professor of Marketing Scott Inks said Ball State students usually do well in marketing competitions, and the job market looks pretty good for them right now. Inks said getting a job in sales is a good starting point for a career in marketing.
"Business to business sales isn't typically what people think it is," he said. "It's relational. It's ethical. It's not like door to door sales."
The objective for undergraduates at the competition was to pitch the best business plan they could in 20 minutes to a potential client. It took weeks for them to prepare for the first round of competition, but for the second round they only had one day to prepare.
Graduate students competed in teams, and there were three parts to the competition: discussing the needs of a potential client, showing them the benefits of the product they're trying to sell, and hypothetically following up with a company who bought the students' product.
Graduate student Eric Klosterman* said he thought the competition offered a true real-word scenario.
"The process was the same we learned from an educational standpoint," he said.
He said it was also a good opportunity to network with representatives from nearly 30 marketing companies.
Besides the four students who competed, nine others were on the team to help them prepare.
Marketing major Dawn Savidge said her favorite part of the event was getting to know her professors and teammates better.
"It was a wonderful experience, but competition was fierce," she said.
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