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Record-Breaking Number of Students and Corporate Sponsors to Visit William Paterson University for Russ Berrie Institute’s 8th Annual National Sales Challenge from November 19 to 21, 2014

The Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales (RBI) at William Paterson University’s Cotsakos College of Business will host the 8^th Annual National Sales Challenge, an intense series of selling competitions and workshops held at the University’s campus in Wayne, N.J., from November 19 to 21.

Now in its eighth year, more than 100 college students representing 40 universities from across the country, as well as from Windesheim University in the Netherlands and Edinburgh Napier in Scotland, will participate in the competition.

The competition is designed by the University’s Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales to strengthen students’ sales skills and offer them an opportunity to network with business executives from companies around the country who will judge the events and serve as sponsors.

This year, a record-breaking 80 executives from 15 companies will participate in the competition, including new sponsors such as HP and Ethicon, a Johnson and Johnson company. The competition includes sponsors from technology, healthcare, industrial distribution, retail, engineering, automotive, fashion and infrastructure sectors.

“This is the largest gathering of company executives we have attracted to this event to date,” says Siamack Shojai, dean of the Cotsakos College of Business. “Our corporate sponsors are eager to participate because it introduces them to a new generation of up-and-coming sales leaders.”

The National Sales Challenge is one of the few select competitions in the country.  Prior to the event, students compete on their own campuses in order to win the opportunity to compete in the National Sales Challenge at William Paterson.

Competitions include the sales-role play event, which will use a selling situation from sponsor ADP, and a speed-selling competition, which requires students to rotate through tables seated with company executives to pitch themselves for two minutes for a generic job.

 Also new this year is a second round competition, where nearly half of student participants will compete to be among the top four winners.

The National Sales Challenge will be held in the Russ Berrie Professional Sales Laboratory, a unique computerized multimedia facility that simulates business office environments in the University’s 1600 Valley Road building.  William Paterson offers a bachelor of science degree in professional sales through the Department of Professional Sales, and provides training programs for sales professionals in the Laboratory.

 William Paterson University’s Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales was recognized in 2014 as one of the top sales programs in the nation by the Sales Education Foundation of Dayton, Ohio.

The Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales was created in 2002 when the late Russ Berrie, the founder and chief executive officer of Russ Berrie and Company, Inc., donated funds to establish the program at William Paterson University. Housed in the University’s Cotsakos College of Business, the Institute represents a unique partnership between the private sector and higher education designed to advance the field of professional sales.