Heavener students secure 18 awards at annual sales competition

Eight students from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business earned 18 awards at the University of South Florida’s annual Selling with the Bulls competition, winning the event for the second year in a row.

Selling with the Bulls differs from the typical case competition. Upholding its reputation as the toughest test in sales education, the event challenges students from across the nation to compete in every step of a full sales process, from a pre-approach email to in-person networking.

“When it came to preparing for the competitions, practice made perfect,” said Natalie Ehrenwerth (BSBA ’25), who made it to the winner’s circle. “We practiced as a team [and] met up amongst ourselves outside of our team meetings to continue to practice scenarios to ensure that we would have a good foundation to compete. By practicing amongst ourselves, we were able to not only learn from our mistakes but also from our fellow teammates.”

Practicing scenarios included determining the best way to approach each step in the sales process. In Tampa, competitors had just 30 hours to complete the process, involving:

• A pre-approach email
• Voicemail
• LinkedIn message
• Three rounds of sales calls
• A networking round with 20 companies and over 120 students

Although this was the second consecutive year that a team from Warrington won the competition’s championship flight award, this year featured an entirely new team with no returning members. Armin Farshchi (BSBA ’24) coached the team, supporting the competitors all the way to first place.

“Competitions like this improves the performance of our team as overall professionals,” Farshchi said. “The competition provides extremely valuable networking opportunities and connects us to likeminded individuals all over the country. Also, job offers and internships are often provided to the competitors that are able to perform.”

The Harvard Business Review confirmed that more than 50% of college graduates will work in sales at some point in their career. Competitions like Selling with the Bulls or Warrington’s similar event, Sales in the Swamp, help students prepare for real-life sales scenarios, giving them the opportunity to practice interacting with customers and learn the intricacies of a business sale.

“This experience has allowed me to navigate real-world sales scenarios using the skills we developed from team meetings and practices, as well as the sales curriculum taught within the Warrington College of Business,” said Katie Weigle (BSBA ’25), who also made the winner’s circle and was distinguished in the networking and communications rounds. “It is always good to practice internally as a team, but being thrown into a quick-paced competition truly prepares us for success in the sales industry. By networking with both peers from other universities and business professionals, this experience has taught me a lot about myself both personally and professionally.”