The Sales Program hosted its annual university-wide Sales Pitch Competition for Upperclassmen. Sales program corporate partners Varonis & Paycom were the product sponsors for this year’s Sales Competition, which consisted of both a virtual and in-person competition.
Round 1 - Benefits & Features Pitch
Upperclassmen entrants were given a scenario of recording a 60-90 second pitch video for Varonis’ AI Security Platform to a Chief Information Security Officer at a Cybersecurity Conference to book a meeting at their exhibitor booth. Following the submission period, videos were then distributed and judged by 35 Sales Partner Representatives, who assessed students’ abilities across different criteria both on their pitch content & delivery. The top 10 scoring pitches moved on to the Final Live Role-Play Round.
Over 75 upperclassmen students entered the competition and the finalists included:
- Kate Hautau
- Keli Georges
- Emily Dee
- Andrew McCollum
- Madeline Kelly
- Michael Kish
- Nolan Terry
- Brigid Murray
- Owen Moynihan
- Stella Curtin
Round 2 - Live Role-Play Final Round
The upperclassmen live role-play final round consisted of 10 Live Sales Role-Play sessions hosted in the Maloney Hall Conference Room. Sales Partner Paycom came to role-play with students, and participants were assessed by representatives from Paycom, Professor Mark Weber, and Ryan Reilly, Sales Program Manager. Students were judged on the quality of their Needs Identification, Platform Demonstration, Objection Handling, Close & Next Steps, and more. The scenario was a Paycom introductory sales call with a small business owner to secure a follow-up meeting to demo the platform and provide pricing.
The top 5 scoring competitors from the Live Role-Play Round were as follows:
- 1st Place - Nolan Terry, Finance & Sales '26
- 2nd Place - Michael Kish, Markets + Political Economy & Philosophy '26
- 3rd Place - Emily Dee, Marketing & Sales '25
- 4th Place - Kate Hautau, Marketing & Sales '26
- 5th Place - Owen Moynihan, Marketing & Sales '25
“The Upperclassmen Sales Competition was an amazing experience and a great way to apply what we learn in the classroom in a competitive, real-world environment. Being involved in the sales program since my freshman year has allowed me to grow and harness my numerous sales skills that will be invaluable to my career growth and development. I am super grateful to have had the chance to test these skills against amazing talent across the ever-growing Catholic University Sales Program.” -Nolan Terry '26