{"id":27365,"date":"2016-10-25T09:41:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T13:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=27365"},"modified":"2016-11-08T07:36:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T12:36:42","slug":"fiu-students-compete-to-seal-the-deal-in-the-panther-sales-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2016\/10\/fiu-students-compete-to-seal-the-deal-in-the-panther-sales-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"FIU students compete to seal the deal in the Panther Sales Tournament."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27368\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament.jpg\" alt=\"FIU students compete to seal the deal in the Panther Sales Tournament.\" width=\"770\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament.jpg 770w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament-230x119.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>FIU Business student Alan Tsoi ventured into the Panther Sales Tournament for the first time this semester.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to step out of my comfort zone,\u201d said Tsoi, who graduates in December and majors in finance and marketing. \u201cIt\u2019s an experience that gives me skills to sell myself to an employer and also a great opportunity to network.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Selling sounds easy and fun, but College of Business students participating in the <a href=\"https:\/\/business.fiu.edu\/academic-departments\/marketing\/sales\/\" target=\"_blank\">Panther Sales Tournament<\/a> know too well the level of skill, discipline and preparation it requires. And the competition is getting tougher each semester.<\/p>\n<p>The assignment at this fall\u2019s tournament, held September 29-30 at the college\u2019s Global Sales Lab: sell an advertising solution on Comcast Spotlight to a South Florida business owner. All of the buyers and judges in the two-day tournament were sales executives from local and national companies.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27367\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament-01.jpg\" alt=\"FIU students compete to seal the deal in the Panther Sales Tournament.\" width=\"770\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament-01.jpg 770w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament-01-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/FIU-Panther-Sales-Tournament-01-230x119.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>During the 15-minute in-person meeting, students must showcase a product and its positive impact on the business, as well as build a rapport with the buyer, demonstrate value, address any questions or objections, and ultimately close the sale. They are judged on how they identified the needs, showed value, pitched the proposed solution, addressed issues or concerns from the buyer, and satisfied the need.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOverall, more students are getting interested in the tournament,\u201d said Rafael Soltero, a sales coach and instructor in the Department of Marketing. \u201cMany are losing their fear of competing, of the role-play requirement.\u201d This semester, 60 students competed in the tournament and of those, 30 also competed <em>en espa\u00f1ol<\/em>. FIU\u2019s Panther Sales Tournament is one of the only U.S. programs to include a Spanish-language track, where the selling and buying are conducted in-language and Hispanic executives judge the students.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/slideShow\/index.gne?group_id=&amp;user_id=23794481@N04&amp;set_id=72157674677365556\/show\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" align=\"middle\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Participating judges offer real-world critiques. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The buyers weren\u2019t always quick to seal the deal. And the judges offered tough critiques of the students\u2019 skills.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe didn\u2019t introduce the purpose of the meeting and didn\u2019t dig in to the problems identified by the buyer,\u201d said Peter Correa, executive leader of assets protection at Target, of one presentation.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Hill, manager of inside sales at the Miami Marlins, said of another: \u201cThe enthusiasm was great and she made a connection with the client, but sometimes spoke faster than she could think. She needed prepared rebuttals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some students asked very direct questions of the prospective buyers, looking to better understand the business, its target market and the advertising needs. Several offered free trial memberships to Comcast Spotlight, giving the buyer first-hand look at what he would receive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe built a level of trust with the buyer from the start,\u201d Gregory Acevedo, adjunct lecturer in FIU\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/business.fiu.edu\/academic-departments\/marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\">Department of Marketing<\/a>, said of one student. \u201cHe was on point with the structure of the presentation and when Rafael [the buyer] tried to deviate, the student said \u2018we\u2019ll get there\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Added Mario Martinez, account executive at Comcast Spotlight: \u201cThe first thing he did was ask the buyer what his needs are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the Spanish-language portion of the competition, faculty member Soltero sported metallic sunglasses and a bossy attitude to play the owner of \u201cMamba Fitness,\u201d a specialty gym based in Miami that\u2019s looking to expand into Broward County.<\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t make it easy for the students: \u201cHow much do I have to invest?\u201d \u201cWhat channels will the ads air in?\u201d \u201cWhen will I see results?\u201d \u201cCan you predict how many people will see the ads?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/slideShow\/index.gne?group_id=&amp;user_id=23794481@N04&amp;set_id=72157673343644532\/show\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" align=\"middle\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Role-play as practice for real life.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now in its third year, the Panther Sales Tournament reflects the ongoing growth of the FIU Professional Sales Program, which includes a professional sales minor, a certificate program, and a sales team that competes at national events. A central part of the College of Business\u2019 Global Sales Program is the Global Sales Lab, which features 12 sales training rooms, each equipped with a camera and microphones, and recording and playback capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s awesome that they do this; they can watch themselves and see how they perform,\u201d said David Resseguie, director of strategic growth &amp; development at Arven Financial. \u201cI didn\u2019t have when I was 22.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tsoi wasn\u2019t a winner in the Panther Sales Tournament. Still, he noted, it was a valuable learning experience. In addition to the competition, he welcomed the networking opportunities and insights about sales industry jobs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was intimidating to present my sales pitch to the buyer because I have never been put in that position before,\u201d said Tsoi. \u201cThis experience has definitely improved my interpersonal skills when talking to a stranger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Winners of the 2016 Panther Sales Tournament:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>ENGLISH<\/strong><br \/>\nFirst Place: Carolina Chavez<br \/>\nSecond Place: Virginia Dillon<br \/>\nThird Place: Carlos Cortesi<br \/>\nFourth Place: Boangeres Grande<\/p>\n<p><strong>SPANISH<br \/>\n<\/strong>First Place: Jessica Aja<br \/>\nSecond Place: Fernando Martin<br \/>\nThird Place: Carlos Cortesi<br \/>\nFourth Place: Brayan Herraiz<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/slideShow\/index.gne?group_id=&amp;user_id=23794481@N04&amp;set_id=72157671377254413\/show\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" align=\"middle\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FIU Business student Alan Tsoi ventured into the Panther Sales Tournament for the first time this semester. \u201cI wanted to step out of my comfort zone,\u201d said Tsoi, who graduates in December and majors in finance and marketing. \u201cIt\u2019s an experience that gives me skills to sell myself to an employer and also a great [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":27368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4551,3912,3916,3679],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27365"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27371,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27365\/revisions\/27371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}