Georgia Southern Sales Team Collects a Win at the 2025 National Collegiate Sales Competition
Seven students represent the Parker College of Business, Center for Sales Excellence in the “Super Bowl” of all sales competitions in Atlanta, GA.
STATESBORO, GA (March 13, 2025) – One of the largest and longest-running university sales competitions in existence, Kennesaw State University hosted the 27th annual National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) on March 7-10, 2025. Georgia Southern University’s sales team was one of 70 schools onsite vying for an opportunity to compete in the Sales Role-Play and Speed Selling competitions. The most elite sales programs from 30 states, Canada, and the Netherlands traveled to Atlanta, allowing the student competitors to improve their selling skills, enhance their professionalism, and network with some of the top professional organizations.
Founded in 1999 by Dr. Terry Loe, the mission of NCSC:
- To promote the sales profession as an honorable and viable career option for college graduates
- To present opportunities for Industry Sponsors to preview and network with top collegiate sales candidates
- To provide a venue for highly qualified students to exhibit and enhance their selling skills on a national stage
- To provide a venue for students, professors, and sales executives to network
After earning their right to represent Georgia Southern University from an internal sales-role tournament in the Advanced Selling course, four students competed and three additional students traveled to Atlanta for NCSC 2025. Members of the Parker College of Business competitive sales team from Georgia Southern’s Center for Sales Excellence included:
In the NCSC Sales Role-Play competition, Ms. Lexi Weeks and Mr. Eddie Easton went head-to-head against 138 individual student competitors in a mock 20-minute sales scenario. Role-playing as sales representatives from Gartner, Inc., Weeks and Easton, sold real Gartner high-tech solutions to a fictitious buyer, under real-life conditions in this double-elimination tournament. The Sales Role-Play competition consisted of an initial Round 1 where all 140 university representatives competed. After Round 1, students either advance to the Quarterfinals or move on to a Wild Card Round for a final opportunity. Finalists from the Quarterfinals advance to the Semifinals, with the top four moving on to the Finals, where each student only receives 30 minutes to review the role-play case before the round begins.
In the NCSC Speed Selling competition, Mary Dixon Turley and Charles Jackson went head-to-head against nearly 200 students in a non-scripted 90-second elevator pitch. In a single opportunity, the competitors must sell themselves to no more than three companies, being judged by a rubric, grading them on their professional introduction, ability to gain attention, knowledge of the company, effective communication skills, and professionalism. Turley met with Orkin, CoStar Group, and Gray Media. Jackson met with Schneider Electric, Gray Media, and Unum.
Out of 44 student competitors, Mr. Charles Jackson won first place in his speed sell meetings with Gray Media and Unum. No other university, let alone a single student, won multiple speed sell competitions in 2025.
“NCSC has been the catalyst to my professional career. I saw the competition as an opportunity to get my name out there and that’s exactly what it did,” exclaims Mr. Charles Jackson, a senior graduating in May 2025 from Georgia Southern University with a BBA in Marketing. “I strongly encourage any sales students to attend the National Collegiate Sales Competition if provided the opportunity. You won’t regret it!”
Georgia Southern University went head-to-head against some of the world’s most prestigious sales programs, including the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Arizona State University, Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Central Florida, HAN University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Kansas State University, and Illinois State University. Of approximately 6,000 colleges and universities in the U.S., only about 200 offer a sales curriculum. Georgia Southern launched its sales program in 2007, leading the way with Kennesaw State University as the first two programs in the state of Georgia. Georgia Southern and Kennesaw State University are the only two fully accredited sales programs in Georgia by the University Sales Center Alliance (USCA).
“Competing at the National Collegiate Sales Competition is a rite of passage for the best of the best from Georgia Southern’s sales program,” adds Mr. Travis Brickey, marketing lecturer and director of the Center for Sales Excellence at Georgia Southern University. “The Center for Sales Excellence produces outstanding professional sales students each and every semester. We look forward to NCSC each year, where our student competitors go above and beyond in their preparation for this competition. I’m extremely proud of the grit and perseverance shown by Mary Dixon, Lexi, Charles, and Eddie.”
About the Center for Sales Excellence, Georgia Southern University
Located within Georgia Southern University’s Parker College of Business, the Center for Sales Excellence is recognized by the University Sales Alliance as one of the nation’s top sales programs. Established in 2007, the Center’s mission is to positively impact the sales profession through education, research, and service. The Marketing BBA program offers the students of Georgia Southern University an emphasis in Sales and Sales Management.
Through the Center, students gain experience with sales role-play in our dedicated labs, with many going on to compete in some of the nation’s most prestigious sales competitions. The Center also works to bring students together with companies in the industry looking to hire the best and brightest minds. It is the goal of the Center to be the preeminent sales program in the nation.
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