The OSU Competitive Sales Team took home first place as a team and received numerous individual awards in its first-ever competition. Pictured from left: Whitney Roman, Shelby Jennings, David Dishaw, Jared Quillin, Mayce Durham and Dawson Cox.

OSU sells its way to the top spot

Friday, February 23, 2024

Media Contact: Jeff Hopper | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | jeff.hopper@okstate.edu

The Oklahoma State University Competitive Sales Team recently returned home with a first place finish in its first-ever competition. The team earned the top spot at the “Selling with the Bulls” sales competition hosted by the University of South Florida from Feb. 15-17.

The team of Jared Quillin, Mayce Durham, David Dishaw, Dawson Cox and Shelby Jennings (alternate) competed against 120 students from 30 universities from across the country. The field of teams included staunch competition from universities such as Texas A&M, Stetson University, Indiana State University and many other renowned sales programs.

“This is an amazing accomplishment for our team, Spears and OSU,” said Whitney Roman, director of the Center for Service and Sales Excellence and faculty advisor for the competitive sales team. “We faced some tough competitors, and for a newly formed team at their first ever competition, I couldn’t be more ecstatic for our team and proud of the tireless work and dedication they put into ‘Selling with the Bulls.’”

The OSU team, formed late in fall 2023, was tasked with performing a full sales cycle, from initial prospecting emails, voicemails and LinkedIn messages to in-person sales calls with decision makers from the “prospective client.” Each member of the team competes individually to earn points during each round of the competition, those individual points are then combined to calculate a team score, as well as rank each individual team member within their respective competition flight.

Competitors are broken into flights dependent on experience with the competition, class designation and other criteria. They are scored against a rubric of sales skills and product knowledge, which is tallied by a group of judges that are present during each round.

“The ‘Selling with the Bulls’ competition is unique in that it covers the entire sales cycle. It gave our team the opportunity to gain real-world experience in every aspect of sales with a top-end client like FinTitan,” said Sarah Hall, recent marketing graduate and coach of the OSU Competitive Sales Team. “I couldn’t be happier with how our team performed. This win validates all the hard work our team put in and gives those competitors the recognition they deserve.”

In addition to the team title, the OSU team received nine individual awards, including "Top Bull Individual" award for Durham in her flight. A complete list of individual awards received by the OSU team (Winner's Circle is given to any competitor who surpasses a threshold of total points earned):

Mayce Durham:

1st overall

4th place voicemail

3rd place networking

Winner's circle

David Dishaw:

3rd place voicemail

5th place email

5th place overall

Winner's circle

Jared Quillin:

Winner's circle

“I was very surprised and humbled by the recognition,” Durham said. “To be recognized as the best overall sales person in my flight is truly amazing. I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of my team, coach and advisor. I am beyond excited to get started on the next competition and build our reputation as a top sales competition team.”

The team next travels to the National Competitive Sales Competition (NCSC) in Georgia from March 8-11. The NCSC is the longest running sales role-play competition in existence and welcomes many of the best competitive sales competitors from across the country.

Go to the website to learn more about the OSU Competitive Sales Team.