Sales skills put to the test in a sales competition
An international group of students competed in sales skills in Turku Sales Competition. The winner was Lassi Seppälä, who studies Industrial Management at TUAS. The other finalists were from Finland, Austria and Germany.
Turku Sales Competition, which was organised on November, tested students’ sales skills with the help of a buyer–seller role play. Altogether 19 participants from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Serbia and Austria took part in the competition. The simulated sales discussion was evaluated by staff representatives from TUAS, Hochschule Aalen and Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt. This time the products to be sold were Benecol products by Raisio Group.
Results:
1st place Lassi Seppälä (TUAS)
2nd place (tie) Tomi Juhala (TUAS) and Sophie Kopf (Wiener Neustadt, Austria)
4th place Tanja Recknagel (Germany)
In the competition, sales skills are tested in a simulated sales situation, in which company representatives act as buyers and students as sellers. The evaluation of the performance is based on the salesperson’s ability to follow through sales negotiations thus that the offered solution fits the situation of the customer. Success in sales requires adapting to the situation of each encountered customer – in other words, the ability to listen to the customer and building the dialogue accordingly.
Sales competition as a learning method is constantly developed in cooperation with partner universities: Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt and Vlerick Business School. The development work is supported by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme.