The Kent State Chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE), professional sales and marketing fraternity, recently sent seven students to the 2014 North Central Regional Conference at The Ohio State University. Randy Roland, freshman entrepreneurship and marketing major was runner up in the speech competition. Mike Ulanski, junior marketing major placed 12th and Cory Sickafoose, junior entrepreneurship major placed 20th in the Pro-Am Sell-a-Thon.
“This was a terrific opportunity for Kent State students to showcase their selling and persuasion skills in a competitive environment with other universities,” said Ellen Daniels, faculty advisor of PSE. “All seven students who attended were able to network, attend seminars and visit the job fair. We all returned to Kent State with valuable information and experience."
For the speech competition, Roland developed an inspiring six-minute speech utilizing the core values of Enterprise Holdings Corp., the corporate sponsor of the event.
"Randy did the best job of all the contestants. I would hire him in a minute,” Lori Fisher, Enterprise Holdings Corp.
Enterprise Holdings Corp. core values include:
Brands are the most valuable thing
Personal honesty and integrity are the foundation of success
Customer service is the way of life
Teamwork rules
Working hard and rewarding hard work
Great things happen when they listen to their customers and each other
Strengthening communities, one neighborhood at a time
Open door policy
"Kent State's PSE Chapter is very new and not well known on a national scale. It was amazing to be a part of a successful road trip placing the College of Business Administration’s sales faculty and curriculum on the map,” Roland said.
Ulanski, PSE president and Sickafoose, new PSE initiate, both competed in the Pro-Am Sell-a-Thon, which featured a scenario based on a real-life company, MultiView, and a fictional buyer. They had 15 minutes to engage in a selling scenario with a buyer they had never met before.
Ten universities participated in the event: Ball State, Central Michigan University, Kent State University, Miami University, Michigan State, Missouri University, The Ohio State University, University of Akron, University of Toledo and Youngstown State with over 200 students attending and most competing.
Kent State PSE students are planning to attend the PSE National Convention in Houston, Texas in April.
PSE is a professional fraternity specializing in the advancement of sale, marketing, and management professions. They are a non-profit, co-ed organization with over fifty chapters and approximately 50,000 members nationwide. At the collegiate level, members are provided with opportunities to apply classroom lessons to everyday activities and gain real life experience to a fast-paced business world. With exposure to a professional environment, our members are able to further understand business relationships found in corporate-driven society. PSE has grown to be the premiere organization for motivated and dedicated students looking to maximize their college experience. PSE's goal is to provide collegiate students with practical business experience through sales, sales projects, marketing, marketing research and community service projects. PSE is new to Kent State University, colonizing the chapter in Fall Semester of 2009. Originally started at Georgia State University in 1952, Kent State’s chapter is continuously growing and striving to uphold the excellence of PSE.