In a few weeks, I will be attending ICSC 2016. Held each fall, the International Collegiate Sales Competition is a tournament-style sales competition that recognizes students and faculty for their sales ability and allows recruiting organizations the opportunity to network with students.
Sponsored by the Florida State University Sales Institute, ICSC has students from more than 70 of the top university sales programs across the United States compete in role play and sales management challenges. These challenges focus on three most sought after selling skills: selling business-to-business, selling direct to consumer, and using the latest video conferencing technology to present solutions to international decision makers.
This year’s role-play competition involves a major account sale of Netsuite CRM+ to an international company. The student competitors will, in successive rounds meet with first the gatekeeper, then an influencer, then the user decision-maker and finally the financial decision-maker. The student champion of this role play will win $2,500, and there is a $1,000 honorarium to the faculty coach. The student will also receive a Tom James suit. For the1st runner-up, there is a $1,000 student prize and a $500 honorarium to the faculty coach.
The case competition is the only one of its kind, focusing specifically on issues related to managing a professional sales force. The 2016 case competition is the largest yet, featuring case teams from 36 different universities. This year’s competition will center on TSP, Inc. (The Salon People), a leading distributor of Aveda and Bumble & Bumble in the Southeast United States. In addition, TSP provides training in all areas of the salon industry from cosmetology to salon management.
While the actual case won’t be handed out until the competition in November, this year’s case will focus on building effective training programs for the TSP and adjusting compensation plans for a changing marketplace. The deliverable from each team is a presentation to a group of executives (one of which will be an actual TSP Executive). Each team will be given 18 hours to prepare for the case presentations. Although there are no guidelines for the presentation format in terms of specific presentation material, number of slides, what areas should be covered in the presentation, and so forth, the presentations are set for 30 minutes.
ICSC explains on its website that the mission of the competition is to “enhance the selling profession by encouraging the development of critical skills needed by today’s collegiate sales graduates in a fun competitive environment.”
ICSC 2016 will take place November 2-5 in Orlando, Florida.
