Hands-on Learning Preps Students for Sales Competition Success

After months of preparation researching companies and practicing pitches, six students from the University of Tampa’s Southard Institute for Sales Excellence brought their professional selling skills to the International Collegiate Sales Competition in Orlando last week. Out of 80 universities, UTampa reached the quarter-finals in sales role-play and the finals in speed selling.

“The ICSC is one of the most competitive opportunities for university sales programs. The students are surrounded by other highly motivated competitors, industry judges, executives and employers,” said Louis Zmich, assistant professor and sales coach. “It is a wonderful opportunity to put what students learn in the classroom into practice at a very high level.”

Speed Selling

In the speed selling competition, Tessa Frank ’27 and Nikolette Scarfogliero ’27 had two minutes to persuade a panel of judges they should be hired by Insight Global, one of the world’s largest staffing firms. Out of 160 students in the first round, Frank and Scarfogliero advanced to be among 21 finalists. In front of an audience of nearly 100 attendees, they put themselves in the shoes of Insight Global’s sales representatives and pitched their services to Plastics Family Americas.

“It was a great opportunity to put all of our hard work to the test,” said Frank. “I really enjoyed getting to know all of the company sponsors better as well as other competitors.”

“Participating in ICSC has been an incredible opportunity to strengthen my public speaking, client-facing and professional selling skills through hands-on experience,” said Scarfogliero. “Experiences like this have helped build my confidence and prepared me for a career in sales.”

Sales Role-Play

Nicole Dimova ’27 and Sophia Tomasello ’27 participated in the sales role-play competition, acting as ReliaQuest, a Tampa-based cybersecurity company. Competing individually, they had to sell the company’s flagship product to benefits administrator FBMC while industry judges watched via livestream. They had just 15 minutes to build rapport, determine the buyer’s challenges and demonstrate how their product solved a problem for the client.

“One of many highlights was watching Nicole and Sophia take first place in their respective opening-round rooms and earn a spot in the quarter-finals,” said Zmich. “They competed exceptionally well and caught the attention of several companies.”

In preparation for the competition, UTampa students visited ReliaQuest in downtown Tampa to learn about the company firsthand and connect with alumni Ella Bond ’24, enterprise account representative; Michael Rusin ’26, business development representative; and Caroline Hernandez ’25, customer success manager.

“Competing in ICSC was truly the most rewarding academic experience of my college career,” said Tomasello. “It was an amazing opportunity to strengthen my sales skills, level of professionalism and so much more.”

“The preparation leading up to the competition challenged me to grow both personally and professionally, helping shape the skills, confidence and mindset I hope to carry into my future career,” said Dimova.

UTampa’s students started preparing for the competition in March. That included researching companies, rehearsing sales conversations and practicing pitches with classmates, faculty, mentors and executives.

“There were plenty of long days,” said Zmich, “but I never questioned this team's commitment to getting better and growing their skills.”

Two students — Maya Ezran ’26 and Jenna Sanders ’26, M.S. ’27 — who had competed in the previous semester returned as coaches.

“It was an incredible experience to support our team and witness their hard work and dedication firsthand,” said Sanders.

“This competition is designed to bring top sales students into one place to compete, connect, and grow as individuals, and it did exactly that,” said Ezran.