In the business world, a hype session is used to fire up the sales team. At the recent Northeast Intercollegiate Sales Competition (NISC), the pump-up was flavored with some rah-rah intercollegiate rivalry, with competing teams rising from their seats with school cheers like the University of Florida’s gator chomp, a “J who? JWU!” from the Johnson and Wales University team, and throaty barks from the Bryant Bulldogs squad.
Amid a competition that was fiercely contested, NISC was, in every sense of the word, collegial, with team spirit and a “game respects game” attitude infusing the event, held annually at Bryant University.
“Even the competing students are very supportive,” said Larisa Lusso, ’26, vice president of Bryant’s Sales Team, who admits she was driven to win by both her love of sales and the $1,000 cash prize.
Events like NISC, however, also offer opportunities for Lusso and other students to hone the bonhomie and communication skills that help make a successful salesperson. “I like talking to and getting to know people from all over,” she said.
The November 8 and 9 competition, with the theme “Unlocking Sales,” drew 225 students from 34 universities to Bryant, along with dozens of alumni and employers who served as volunteer judges and facilitators, said NISC Executive Director and Bryant Marketing Professor Stefanie Boyer, Ph.D.
“The students were excited, professional, supportive of each other, and were appreciative of the coaching and feedback they received,” said Boyer.
Sales Validation
Sales was once a bit of a “redheaded stepchild” in business schools, often folded into marketing classes rather than seen as a skill that needed to be taught, nurtured, and practiced.
However, the NISC competition, like the new Frank '81 and Marion '81 Hauck Sales Performance Lab at Bryant’s new Business Entrepreneurship Leadership Center (BELC), offers validation of the students’ educational choice as well as a unique opportunity to road-test their sales skills and make the connections that can lead to successful — and lucrative — careers.
“I’m so impressed watching these students,” said Hauck, who funded the Sales Performance Lab and attended the competition, taking place for the first time in the state-of-the-art facility bearing his name. “If you want to be the best, you have to compete against the best. To see the Lab in action, I know my investment is going to good use.”
Role Players Got Game
The Role Play competition, which stretched over two days, saw students shuttling between 15 rooms in the Hauck Sales Performance Lab, where they had 10 minutes to close a deal representing a salesperson for NISC lead corporate sponsor SMC Global. The pitch was delivered to a real SMC Global employee, with a panel of four judges looking on.
“The format is a little intimidating, but if we do our most intimating sales pitch now, it will be easier in the real world,” said Micah Arthur, a senior and marketing major at Anderson University.
Allison Houlihan, an Insight Global account manager playing the role of pitch recipient “Alex Smith,” said she was impressed by how much students genuinely knew about her company. Students honed their skills through months of club meetings, mock sales pitches, and — in the case of the Bryant team — sometimes unorthodox training like working with an improv artist.
“The students were super engaged, and it was really clear that everyone spent a lot of time prepping,” said Gregg Drayton, a strategic account manager at AMDT, who volunteered as a judge and was seeking recruits for business development representative positions at the manufacturing IT company. “We’re growing rapidly, so we’re always on the lookout for good people. I got to meet a lot of sharp, young, soon-to-be-professionals.”
Sean Kelly, a NISC judge and sales development associate with global distribution company BUNZL, said the competition “helps me to find better recruits who are personable and put in the behind-the-scenes work.”
After four rounds of competition, Bryant finished in a respectable eighth place, with two students — Rachel Nally ’26, a Health Sciences major, and Liam Hickey ’27, an honors Global Supply Chain Management student, advancing to the semifinal round. Hickey had to step into the competition at the last minute as an alternate and only had two days to prepare, noted Boyer.
“The competition had such a tight schedule, which I believe kept me from getting nervous and worried for my role play,” said Nally. “All the students competing were also so uplifting and encouraging for each other. We had many opportunities to talk to employers and network, which was very valuable.”
The BELC: Sales’ New ‘Field of Dreams’
Employers also placed a high value on their NISC experience.
“I didn’t know much about Bryant, but you can tell the facilities are really nice and the students are really impressive,” said BUNZL’s Kelly. “When someone can sell a product to someone who is in front of them who is from that company and not be nervous — that’s what I look for the most. I’ll immediately reach out on LinkedIn and say, 'I loved your presentation, and let’s meet at our booth.’”
NISC proved to be a spectacular coming-out party for the new Sales Performance Lab as well as the competitors, said Boyer.
“After using the facilities, a variety of companies are now planning to return to Bryant to train their own sales teams,” she said. “We’re excited about the opportunities to help support the business and sales community to continue our mission: to elevate the sales profession with innovative technology.”
John Barrows, a nationally known sales trainer and host of the “Make It Happen Monday” podcast, said NISC “gives me genuine hope for the future of sales.”
“With the advent of AI, I’ve been wondering where the future sales reps will come from and how they will develop, since AI can address most of what entry-level sales reps are responsible for,” Barrows said. “The answer is events like NISC and universities like Bryant that are teaching the skills in school, so when students enter the workforce, they start with strong fundamentals already in place.”
