JLU students impress with top place in sales competition!

JLU students impress with top place in sales competition!

The future sales professionals from Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) recently made a strong statement: their team achieved second place in the sales competition at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The team included six motivated economics students who reached the final round for the first time this winter semester at the behest of trainer Anwar Semaan, a JLU alumnus and sales professional at ATOSS SE. The JLU team had to deal with numerous competitors from a total of 61 to 138 participants, which made the challenge even greater. Only the sales team from the host university was more successful, as the Giessener Anzeiger reports.

Each of the six students performed impressively in both the negotiation and presentation competitions. The individual rankings of the competition show that Lars Boomgaarden, Franziska Maikranz, Estera Selmani and Mikhail Vereshchagin mostly ended up on the podium, while Lucca-Marie Högler also achieved good placements. In the end, the team is happy that their hard work has borne fruit and, according to their own statements, they were able to experience the “best week” of their studies.

Success and competition

Another reason to celebrate came from Sirin Belhadj, who took first place in the American Marketing Association sales competition at the same place on October 27, 2023. Together with her fellow students Madeleine Fahrnschon, Lukas Meckling, Nils Lange and Alex Semaan, she faced strong competition from over 120 participants, mostly from Dutch and American universities. Compared to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the JLU team achieved the second-best group ranking, which makes the success all the more significant, as the University of Giessen emphasizes.

The team particularly shone in the negotiation competition: Sirin Belhadj came in first place, followed by her fellow student Madeleine Fahrnschon in second place. In another competition, the “Perfect Pitch”, they also achieved pleasing third places, which underlines the extensive preparation of the team and the support from their mentors.

Support and community

Participation in these prestigious competitions was made possible through the support of the support association of Faculty 02 - Economics at JLU and the Volksbank Mittelhessen. Given the great results, it's clear that this type of practical application of the knowledge learned is as exciting for the viewers as it is for the participants. Professor Dr. Alexander Haas, who supervised the team, was able to observe how the students not only improved their professional skills, but also gained valuable experience for their future careers.

As the students focused on the exercises and negotiations, it became clear that the community within JLU plays a central role. As the only non-American team since 2017, they have proven that European universities can also hold their own in international competition.