Students from Penn State Harrisburg and five other colleges put their sales skills to the test on Oct. 13 and 14 at the inaugural sales competition hosted by the School of Business Administration and sponsored by D&H Distributing.
The Penn State Harrisburg Sales Competition, sponsored by D&H Distributing, offered students a chance to practice their sales skills as well as network with companies and other students.
Darrell Bartholomew, associate professor of marketing, developed the competition at Penn State Harrisburg after helping students compete at other schools for years and hearing their desire to have such an event on their own campus.
The sales competition at Penn State Harrisburg featured a D&H Distributing case competition, a business-to-business case role play that allowed student competitors to practice their sales skills by acting the part of a D&H sales professional, pitching real products and services to fictitious small and medium-sized resellers.
The sales competition at Penn State Harrisburg included opportunities for students to test their sales skills as well as network with companies from the region.
The sales competition at Penn State Harrisburg included an elevator pitch competition, where students visited the companies at a career fair and offered short, timed pitches on themselves and their skills. Representatives from the companies served as judges.
The sales competition at Penn State Harrisburg included keynote speakers and networking opportunities.
During the sales competition at Penn State Harrisburg, awards were given out for the D&H Distributing case competition, the elevator pitch competition and to the top networkers.
Representatives of D&H Distributing, platinum sponsor of the sales competition at Penn State Harrisburg, speak to participants. Rob Webster, senior sales director for D&H and a keynote speaker for the event, said the company was motivated to be a major partner for the competition and wants to forge a relationship with the college as it works to grow sales programming