Business students from more than 30 universities across the country competed in a longtime sales competition at the University of Toledo on Friday.

The university hosted its 10th annual Invitational Sales Competition, a three-day event that requires students to “sell” products to the competition’s corporate sponsors in a role-play scenario.

The event drew more than 120 students from 36 universities including Ball State University, Boise State University, Capital University, Florida State University, Southern New Hampshire University, Utah State University, and the University of North Alabama. Students from the University of Toledo also participated in the competition. 

A career fair presented networking and hiring opportunities as well as development sessions, which saw representatives from companies like Adobe and Gartner teach participants about business-related topics like interviewing and sales strategy.

Deirdre Jones, director of UT’s Ed Schmidt School of Professional Sales, said the competition is unique in that it’s the first and only national competition to focus “exclusively on the non-senior.”

“The University of Toledo is the conversation starter nationwide to get students to pursue professional sales,” Ms. Jones said. “Since we’re the only competition for the non-senior, we have one division that’s freshman [and] sophomore and another division that’s junior. We’re forcing, essentially, the universities to bring one of each, which is encouraging them to have conversations with students earlier in the process about the benefits of having professional sales careers.”

Students like Jonas Rugebredt, a sophomore at Eastern Kentucky University, were required to sell corrugated box products for International Paper, a Tennessee-based packaging solutions company.

Mr. Rugebredt, who’s double majoring in marketing and risk management and insurance, said he had to learn the “ins and outs” of International Paper, including the company’s products, boxes, and pricing, before he competed.

After introducing himself to the buyer and building rapport, he said, the biggest objective when selling International Paper’s products was “needs identification.”

“You’re like the investigator,” Mr. Rugebredt said. “What are their needs? What are their problems and issues? What are their pain points? … I act as the investigator. I take my big magnifying glass and I’m like, ‘OK, what kind of issues are you seeing at the moment? If there’s something you could change, what would it be?’”

Ball State University freshman Chloe Bishop, who’s majoring in professional selling, said she’s participated in four sales competitions prior to the Invitational Sales Competition. The events have not only helped her grow, she said, but discover that “sales is in everyday life.”

“It really helps you with communication skills,” Ms. Bishop said. “It helps you listen better and understand these problems instead of just spewing information.”

After the role-playing events were done, coaches like Kevin Maidon, sales strategist at International Paper, gave participants feedback on how they performed.

He compared learning to be successful in sales to playing baseball.

“You get to the plate, you strike out, you hit a couple singles, you hit a couple doubles, you learn how to hit the bunt,” Mr. Maidon said. “This is a big part of that. Making sure that they have those experiences so when they go live, they can have that muscle memory to go back to.”

First Published February 21, 2025, 8:54 p.m.