Bauer Sales Students Place in Top 3 in National Sales Competition

Program for Excellence in Selling Team Wins Big at National Collegiate Sales Competition

Published on March 22, 2022

Photo: PES National Collegiate Sales Team

Undergraduate students from the Bauer College Program for Excellence in Selling took home the top spot during the National Collegiate Sales Competition. Front Row (from left): Student coach Teresa Garcia, psychology senior Valerie Perez Lugo, finance and marketing senior Valeriia Chukhenko and marketing junior Dana Fattouh. Back Row (from left): Program for Excellence in Selling Director Yara Suki (BBA '15), supply chain management and marketing senior Raquel Munoz-Badell and Coach T.J. Brown (BBA '14).

Undergraduate sales students from the C. T. Bauer College of Business recently placed second overall in the 2022 National Collegiate Sales Competition, continuing a longstanding tradition of recognition among the best in the United States for the college’s Program for Excellence in Selling.

Bauer College marketing junior Dana Fattouh, supply chain marketing senior Raquel Munoz-Badell, finance senior Valeriia Chukhnenko and senior psychology student Valerie Perez Lugo brought home a second place win, besting more than 60 competing universities from across the country.

This was the 22nd year for the Program for Excellence in Selling (PES) to participate in the competition. In addition to the team competition, Munoz-Badell was a quarter-finalist in the Sales Role Play Competition, and Fattouh finished fourth place out of more than 130 competitors.

“Being on the competition team is not only fun but also very rewarding. It was an opportunity for me to discover my biggest strengths and sharpen my weaknesses,” Chukhnenko said. “I learned and improved by watching my peers in action and realized that it isn’t important if you win or lose but rather treat this journey as a chance to grow.”

The students and coaches traveled to Kennesaw State University in early March to represent Bauer College at the oldest and largest sales competition in the world.

“I can still vividly recall the first time I was exposed to NCSC several years ago, and I can’t help but feel a sense of surrealness to know that I’ve now taken part in the very same competition at a fourth-place national rank,” Fattouh said. “This was an absolute dream come true and to be completely honest - I am still in absolute shock. I am so grateful for our amazing team and coaches who have pushed me to get to where I am today.”

“Being able to help coach the sales competition team is a huge full-circle moment for me. I've gained so much knowledge and experience from representing the University of Houston at competitions,” student coach Teresa Garcia said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to give back to the program that has helped me become the person I am today.”

The Program for Excellence in Selling is part of Bauer College’s Stephen Stagner Sales Excellence Institute. Students are admitted into the program after a rigorous admission process and gain hands-on experience in live selling and securing event sponsorships and institute partnerships.

For 22 years, students from the program have participated in the National Collegiate Sales Competition, taking home first place in 2004, 2011 and 2012 — the same year that Bauer students swept the competition by earning top honors along with first and second place individual wins.