Each semester, Terry College of Business marketing students wrap up their personal sales class with the Top Dawg Sales Competition.
It’s a chance to practice the skills they’ve learned in senior marketing lecturer Cindy Rippé’s “Professional Selling and Customer Relationship Management”course. They learn about a real product and then sell that product product to volunteer judges from professional sales backgrounds. Sixty students started the competition this year, and judges selected 16 to participate in an in-person finals on Nov. 20.
Hairy Dawg networks with a Terry College marketing student in Stelling Study during the Top Dawg Sales Competition.
Cindy Rippé, senior marketing lecturer and competition organizer, high fives finalists before they go into their in-person sales pitches.
Students prepare to role play an in-person sales call in the Terry Sales Lab in Orkin Hall.
Marketing student Abhi Malik knocks before entering his sales pitch session.
For sales students who did not make it to the final 16, the day was a chance to network with representatives from 64 different companies. Each student brought their resume and met with 16 different companies during a speed networking session.
After the first round of in-person sales pitches, judges chose four students to pitch in a final round. All four of those pitches were broadcast into Stelling Study.
Marketing student Jackson Meier returns triumphantly from his sales pitch session.
The sixteen students picked to participate in the final round of this year’s sales competition included Jaiden Beal, Emily Bond, Jolina Dorgan, Abhi Malik, Dylan Mallon, Patrick McBride, Riley McSpadden, Kinley Parker, Haley Peek, Georgia Riccobene, Elle Roberts, Jackson Meier, Coln Raad, Megna Sarma, Jane Anne Smith and Irene Yannakakis.
Ultimately, four students took home top prizes. Representatives from sponsor Hendrick Chevrolet presented the prize checks to Riley McSpadden (from left), Jackson Meier, Dylan Mallon and first-place winner Georgia Riccobene.