UCM Team Claims Gold Award at Annual State Farm Marketing and Sales Competition

By Jeff Murphy, November 8, 2018

 

WARRENSBURG, MO - A team of two marketing students from the University of Central Missouri claimed the Gold Award for the Marketing Presentation at the 2018 State Farm Marketing and Sales Competition Friday, Nov. 2 at UCM.

Shelby Briscoe, a marketing major from Camdenton, and Marissa Johnson, a marketing major from Sedalia, earned the recognition, competing against teams from 11 schools from across the county. Briscoe and Johnson claimed cash awards totaling $5,000, including $1,000 individual participation awards.

The annual competition is hosted by the UCM Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies in cooperation with State Farm. Tyler Hirlinger, assistant professor of marketing who participated in the State Farm competition as a UCM undergraduate student, is adviser for the team.

“The State Farm Marketing and Sales Competition provides an opportunity for students to improve their marketing and sales skills, enabling them to better compete in the marketplace,” said Charlie Schwepker, Randall and Kelly Harbert Marketing Professor at UCM. “The competition instills confidence in students that they can compete with the best and brightest students from across the nation, as well as provides them with an opportunity to network with State Farm executives and employees, opening the door to potential future employment with State Farm.”

The Marketing Presentation category of the competition showcases student creativity as a team, entrepreneurial spirit and presentation skills. Individual team members also participate in the categories of Sales Role Play, which showcases a student’s personal selling skills in a real world scenario with young adult prospective auto insurance buyers, and Customer Service Role Play, which demonstrates a student’s ability to display skills in handling a challenging customer service scenario after the sale. The team with the highest combined score in all three categories receives a Team Award.

In addition to UCM, teams participating in the competition included Arizona State University, Ball State University, Duquesne University, Georgia State University, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Georgia, University of Houston, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Oregon, and Western Michigan University.