Two UD business students win national sales challenge

Two University of Dayton seniors won first place in the National Sales Challenge held recently in New Jersey.

Caroline Crabtree and Mitch Fowler beat 36 teams from across the country to win top honors in the ninth annual sales contest.

UD officials said the victory is a major milestone for the University’s Fiore Talarico Center for Professional Selling that was created just two years ago through a $1 million gift from alumnus Fiore Talarico.

The center prepares students for careers in high-dollar, business-to-business, technology and medical sales through an innovative curriculum and nationally-recognized best practices in sales management education. The emphasis is on experiential learning.

Students hone their techniques with sales executives from the center’s six corporate partners — Reynolds & Reynolds, Henry Schein Dental, LexisNexis, TEKsystems, Crown Equipment Corporation and Gartner, Inc. — serving as customers. The sessions are recorded and critiqued.