Ted Rogers Undergraduate Sales Team adapts to achieve success at virtual competition

The Ted Rogers Undergraduate Sales Team (TRUST) is used to going to the U.S. to participate in case competitions. But with COVID-19 restricting travel, they had to adapt to compete in the largest sales competition online – and had successful results doing so.

The National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) is the largest and longest-running university sales role-play competition in existence.  After preparing on a weekly basis for months, the TRUST team was forced to adapt within two weeks to learn how to sell online when the NCSC was changed to a virtual format because of COVID-19.

This year’s competition, which took place March 27-30, 2020, featured 70 registered universities with top sales teams.  Ryerson University was the only Canadian school participating in the event and its team, made up of Camilla Racco and Eric Muellejans, rose to the challenge.

The TRUST team advanced to the quarter-finals and placed in the top 20% of competitors at the NCSC.  Ryerson was one of 13 universities out of 70 to have both students compete in the quarter-finals, helping the team achieve their strongest ranking to date at the competition.

“This achievement is a testament to the success of the Ted Rogers Sales Leadership Program and the talent of our students,” says Dr. Karen Peesker, Director of the Ted Rogers Sales Leadership Program.

Ted Rogers School students Daniel Turino, Anuj Agarwal, Katrina Litz, Nikola Terzic, Samuel Torres Wiseman and Sarah Aziz also participated in the virtual speed selling competitions at the event.

“The focus and determination of all the NCSC students to prepare for the competition in the challenging COVID-19/social distancing environment was remarkable,” says Peesker. “I would also like to recognize the amazing efforts of the NCSC to keep the competition going by moving to an online format and for giving the students an opportunity to learn virtual selling skills.”