By David Lehman
Three Kansas State University students traveled to Paris, France to compete in the European Sales Competition on May 30 and 31, 2018. Hosted by the Euridis Business School in Paris, the event involved students from 21 universities from across Europe and the United States. K-State was the only university from the U.S. to compete in this event. This was the second year for K-State to compete in the European Sales Competition after a successful first year in the competition that was held in Edinburgh, Scotland in May of 2017.
Maggie Jacobsen, junior in Personal Financial Planning from Olathe; Rachel Kipper, senior in Marketing from Olathe; and Abbie O’Grady, sophomore in Marketing from Overland Park made up the team for K-State.
Rachel Kipper won 1st place in the Speed Selling event, sponsored by VMWare, on the first day on the competition. Rachel was also recognized as a finalist in the Role Play competition, sponsored by Salesforce, on the second day. However, she was not eligible to compete in the finals of the role play competition because she was a finalist in the European Sales Competition in Scotland in 2017.
Marketing instructor David Lehman is the head coach of the K-State Sales Team. Dr. Dawn Deeter, Director of the National Strategic Selling Institute (NSSI) and Professor of Marketing and Kellie Jackson, Program Associate for the NSSI, also accompanied the team to Paris for this competition.
“We were very grateful for the opportunity to compete in the European Sales Competition again this year,” Lehman said. “Our students were able to showcase their selling skills relative to the best students from across Europe, but more importantly they made some great friends and professional contacts. I was very proud of Rachel Kipper for winning the Speed Selling event. This was a great way for Rachel to finish her collegiate sales competition experience with a big win in Paris.”
For more information about the European Sales Competition or the K-State Sales Team, please contact David Lehman at lehman@ksu.edu.