Grit and Persistence Propels Georgia Southern to Top Honors in the RNMKRS Fall 2022 Sales Competition
by Travis Brickey
Top student honors and high-performing universities were announced at the Fall 2022 RNMKRS Results Reveal Ceremony with Georgia Southern University and its students being recognized in several categories. For the first time, a more challenging RNMKRS Pro Edition role-play competition was introduced with students from Georgia Southern sweeping many of the top accolades. In total, across both role-play competitions, RNMKRS hosted 50 domestic and international universities and boasted nearly 1,750 student role-play competitors. Other top universities that competed in the Fall 2022 competition included the likes of Boston College, Johnson & Wales University, Louisiana State University, Toronto Metropolitan University, Oregon State University, Purdue University, Virginia Tech, and Harvard University. The Center for Sales Excellence program in the Parker College of Business bested the most distinguished institutions with the grit and persistence necessary to succeed in professional selling.
Alex, the AI bot, is programmed to respond to students as they lead a mock sales meeting. The competition scenario has students representing Dell Technologies as they sell the company’s Dell Latitude Rugged laptop computer line to a police or fire department. Students virtually ‘meet’ with Alex, going through the steps of a sales call. Alex’s program graded each student based on his or her performance, and the institutions were then ranked based on their students’ results. RNMKRS consists of three competitions, Speed Sell, RNMKRS Role-Play, and RNMKRS Role-Play Pro. The Pro Edition was introduced for the first time in the fall 2022 semester for advanced selling courses.
“The sales students this semester in the Parker College of Business went above and beyond as they hone their craft in professional selling,” explained Travis Brickey, marketing lecturer and co-director of the Center for Sales Excellence at Georgia Southern University. “RNMKRS provides the students an opportunity to perfect their sales pitch, while learning from their missteps. This ample role-play practice will help each become more confident, and upon graduation, they’ll be able to hit the ground running faster as they embark on their sales careers. Grit and persistence proved to be the winning formula this semester with RNMKRS.”
Notable honors earned in the Fall 2022 RNMKRS role-play sales competition included
● RNMKRS Role-Play Pro #1 Sales Competitor – Bryce Barwick (Winner amongst 197 competitors)
● RNKMRS Role-Play # 1 Sales Competitor – Katie Jebavy (Winner amongst 1,550 competitors)
● Nine students recognized in the RNMKRS Role-Play Pro Top 12 – B. Barwick (#1), E. Eggleston (#2), A. Patel (#3), A. Wilson (#5), C. Baggett (#6), L. Vidal-Velez (#7), P. Crist (#8), B. Craig (#9), D. Skrip (#11)
● Five students recognized in the RNMKRS Role-Play Top 1% – K. Jebavy (#1), I. Ptacek (#4), J. Flemming (#10), D. Carnes (#21), R. Farthing (#23)
● Top 1% Coaches (Travis Brickey & Linda Mullen, Ph.D.)
● Higher Performing Team Award – Georgia Southern University
o RNMKRS Role-Play – Travis Brickey
o RNMKRS Role-Play Pro – Linda Mullen, Ph.D.
● Most students in the 100+ Role-Play Club from a single university
o Fifty-eight students recognized in the 100+ Role-Play Club
● Most RNMKRS Role-Play attempts from Georgia Southern (Thomas Caldwell, #138)
● Most RNMKRS Role-Play Pro attempts from Georgia Southern (Lisandra Vidal-Velez, #163)
● RNMKRS Speed Sell – Top 10 school by percentage, #1 Georgia Southern
● RNMKRS Role-Play Pro – University with the most competitors in the top 30 and by percentage, #1 Georgia Southern University
● RNMKRS Role-Play – University with the most competitors in the top 30, #2 Georgia Southern University
“I am so thankful for the opportunity to participate in my first RNMKRS competition,” said Bryce Barwick, a senior pursuing a BBA in marketing with an emphasis in sales & sales management. “Before this competition, I had little to no role-play experience. After practicing and competing this semester, my confidence and knowledge in sales have increased drastically. RNMKRS is a great learning tool for anyone interested in sales no matter their level of experience.”
“Although not new to competition, RNMKRS was my first ever sales role-play competition,” explained Katie Jebavy, a junior marketing major and member of the Georgia Southern women’s soccer team. “I am so thankful for the opportunity because I have drastically increased my experience and knowledge in professional selling. RNMKRS taught me the importance of continual work to improve my sales pitch. I changed my script constantly, and by the time I got to the competition, I was more confident than ever!”
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, it is the mission of the Center to have a positive impact on the sales profession through education, research, and service. The Marketing B.B.A. 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.
RNMKRS Virtual Sales Competition
Launched in 2018, RNMKRS empowers students to communicate and influence decisions using bias-free interactive technology. More than 2,100 college students complete over 60,000 role-plays, honing their selling skills by speaking with Alex, an artificially intelligent customer bot that listens, adapts, and responds while scoring students and giving them feedback. Students improve their selling skills and refine their communication and empathy skills along the way. All of this activity takes place on their mobile phone.
RNMKRS is utilized in sales classes taught at Georgia Southern University as a means to provide students with an ample amount of sales role-play experience. The virtual role-play is coached by the Center for Sales Excellence faculty, including Lindsay Levine, Ph.D., Linda Mullen, Ph.D., and Travis Brickey.
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