By Dawn Deeter-Schmelz
The K-State NSSI Sales Team has been busy competing across the country! Last fall, we in competed in six external sales competitions: The Huhtamaki Sales Competition (K-State vs. Mizzou); the Schlumberger Sales Competition in Houston; the Great North Woods Sales Warm-Up at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire; the International Collegiate Sales Competition hosted by Florida State; the Northeastern Intercollegiate Sales Competition at Bryant University; and the RBI National Sales Challenge at William Paterson University.
We had several successes at these competitions. In the Huhtamaki competition, Jacqueline Clawson placed 1st in the sophomore division and Molly Young 1st in the senior competition; Molly was also named the overall winner of the competition. At the International Collegiate Sales Competition, Junior Rachel Kipper was a semi-finalist and placed 5th overall; further, Rachel and teammate Katy Fernandes were ranked the 9th place team out of 70 universities. Finally, senior Nick Ramsey and junior Ashley Ebeck placed first in the inaugural Schlumberger Competition, winning $3000 for their efforts.
This spring, freshman Lanessa Aurand was a semi-finalist at the University of Toledo Invitational Sales Competition. Finally, this past weekend the team competed in the National Collegiate Sales Competition at Kennesaw State University. Lanessa Aurand was a quarter-finalist and Rachel Kipper a semi-finalist, with K-State placing 8th out of 70 universities. Graduate student Blair Kocher placed 2nd in his round of the graduate track. We are so pleased by these tremendous results!
Coming up is the Western States Collegiate Sales Competition at the University of California-Chico, held in late April. And, for the first time, K-State has been invited to attend the prestigious European Sales Competition. Only two American universities are invited to participate, so we are quite excited that we have been chosen. This year’s competition will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The sales team is coached by head coach David Lehman and assistant coach Dawn Deeter. If you would like more information about the team, or would like to learn how you can support sales team travel, please contact Kellie Jackson at krjackso@ksu.edu.