COB Students Earn Six Awards in Debut at Nation's Toughest Collegiate Sales Competition

Florida Atlantic University College of Business students competed for the first time at the University of South Florida's "Selling with the Bulls", widely regarded as "The Toughest Test in Sales Education,"  and walked away with six awards, including a third-place finish for Best Team Performance.

Held Feb. 19–21 in Tampa, the competition challenges students to complete the entire sales process from prospecting, networking, discovery and a full sales meeting in 30 hours. This year's field included 168 students from 42 universities across 25 states.

FAU, placed in the category for programs new to national competition, finished third out of 16 schools in Best Team Performance. Marketing major Ansley Smith earned 3rd place "Top Bull" — the competition's top individual honor — and placed third in Best Email. Entrepreneurship major Henry Schalldach placed fifth in the Best Email category. Both Smith and Schalldach advanced to the Winner's Circle finals. Marketing major Aliyah Charles also competed.

The team was led by sales director Gina Fleitman, and all three students had previously completed her Personal Selling course.

"Our students demonstrated remarkable professionalism and resilience on one of the toughest stages in collegiate sales education," said Hong Yuan, Ph.D., chair of FAU's Department of Marketing.

-FAU-