Georgia Southern Recognized by RNMKRS as Top School in the Fall 2021 Competition

December 1, 2021

Georgia Southern University has been recognized as the top-performing school in the Fall 2021 RNMKRS Role-Play Competition. To earn this top designation, Georgia Southern beat out 52 highly competitive institutions, from the likes of Purdue University, West Virginia University, Oregon State University, and Northern Illinois University who placed second in the competition. In total, more than 2,100 students from four countries competed in the Fall 2021 RNMKRS Sales Role-Play Competition. 

Among other honors, the sales students in Georgia Southern University’s Parker College of Business took home an array of notable accolades, including:

• RNMKRS Fall 2021 Competition 2^nd runner-up (Teslynn Albrecht)
• Three students recognized in the top 1% of all scores (Teslynn Albrecht, Ryan Stevens, Campbell Watkins)
• Fifty-one students recognized in the 100+ Role-Play Club
• One of eight programs with at least half of its students in the top 30% of all scores
• The largest RNMKRS community
• Most professional student communication (Teslynn Albrecht)
• Most persistent player (Kasey Perks)

Alex, the AI bot, is programmed to respond to students as they lead a mock sales meeting. This semester’s competition scenario had students representing Dell Technologies as they sell the company’s Rugged laptop computer line to a 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.

Although RNMKRS held its first competition well before the coronavirus pandemic, its focus on artificial intelligence technology has allowed students to practice and compete while adhering to all relevant COVID safety protocols. “Sales acumen requires practice and application, knowledge isn’t enough,” said Stefanie Boyer, Associate Professor of Marketing at Bryant University, 2017 AMA Sales Educator of the Year and RNMKRS Co-Founder (“Rainmakers”), “and as we face new economic realities and distance learning requirements, there is a need for more free technology-based training for students.”

“I had never partaken in anything like RNMKRS, so the fact that I placed so high still has not quite registered,” said Albrecht, a senior Interdisciplinary Studies major. “The old adage ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’ really is true. I would complete these role-plays and, while my scores were decent, I really wanted to figure out what worked and what didn’t. I would circle back and try something new over and over again, improving bit by bit with each role-play. RNMKRS really drove this fact home for me, I learned that one should not be afraid of temporary failures.”

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, which includes Lindsay Levine, Ph.D., Linda Mullen, Ph.D., and Travis Brickey.

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