23 universities from 10 different countries come together in Apeldoorn

From 31 May to 2 June, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences had the honour of hosting a large event for sales educators in Europe: the European Sales Competition 2023. A total of approximately 70 competitors from 10 different countries (9 European countries and invited visitors from USA) competed in the 9th edition of the European Sales Competition. All competitors were students, representing 23 different higher education institutions.

Participating institutions alongside Wittenborg were: HAN University of Applied Sciences, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Avans University of Applied Sciences and Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, FH Campus 02, FHWien der WKW and FH BFI Vienna (Austria), Turku University of Applied Science and Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science (Finland), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg, Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Aalen University of Applied Sciences (Germany), ESTA School of Business & Technology (France), Vlerick Business School (Belgium), Kristiania University College (Norway), California State University Chico and Texas A&M (US), Kaunas University of Applied Sciences and Vilnius University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania) and Aalborg University Business School (Denmark).

Say yes to possibilities

The event kicked off with speeches by Deputy Mayor Jeroen Joon, who wished the participating students good luck during the exciting competition, and member of the National Council of Austria Henrike Brandstötter, who spoke at City Hall.

The ESC 2023 event was launched to search and train top class future salespeople, capable for challenging international business-to-business (B2B) sales. All individual competitors’ performances were carried out as 20-minute, role-play meetings, during which each competitor went through a typical international B2B sales negotiation. The winner of the ESC 2023 was filtered through four eliminating competition rounds.

The top 4 competitors in the ESC 2023 were winners Eveline Volders from Vlerick Business School (Belgium) and Jaakko Ihalmo from Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland); followed by runners-up Marie Müller-Knapp from Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany) and Marc Schäfer from Aalen University (Germany).

“I am proud to say that winning the European Sales Competition is the cherry on my Vlerick year,” says ESC23 winner Eveline Volders. “Meeting all these talented salespeople was a unique experience and I feel privileged and grateful to be a part of this!”

The other winner, Jaako Ihalmo, was equally excited about participating in the ESC. “Looking back on what happened at this competition I want to express my gratitude for the association behind this wonderful event and Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences for organising and hosting it,” he says. “Together with our party from Turku University of Applied Sciences we met and befriended many amazing people. The cases provided from the sponsors were uniquely challenging with myself competing and being the winner of TeamViewer ESC2023 case. Don't be afraid to say yes to possibilities.”

A time to network and make connections for life

All the active participants - talented students and also a great number of sales experts from universities and businesses - took part in different events of the ESC 2023, like competition rooms, workshops and keynote speeches. Most of the time, participants were hands-on involved as judges, buyers, or competitors as part of the developing sales role-play scenario.

Implementation of the ESC 2023 was enabled by Gold level cooperation partners TeamViewer and ATOSS Software AG and Bronze level partners ARIO, the municipality of Apeldoorn and Bilderberg Hotel. “Seeing all these students pitching our solution and being so invested in the whole topic was really inspiring,” says ATOSS recruiter Tamara Spannruft enthusiastically. “Especially the tea bag challenge presentations were really fun to watch. Great presentation skills and so much creativity!”

Wittenborg student and founder of ARIO Mehdi Jalili, was excited to be part of ESC23. He gave a workshop where he explained to the participants how to become an entrepreneur. "It was a great opportunity for us to present ourselves in this amazing event," he says. "It is especially valuable for me, as a Wittenborg student, to participate in an event that takes place in familiar territory and brings together so many great talents with many opportunities. ESC 2023 was fantastically organised by Wittenborg and a great opportunity for us to connect with other universities and network with the talented participants."

The European Sales Competition serves also as a cost-effective platform for fresh sales talent recruitment for cooperation partners. Additionally, it provides a valuable opportunity for all participants to widen their professional networks in international settings and participants made not only valuable connections, but in some cases friends for life. “The sense of community that arose in such a short amount time was mind boggling, and testament to what can happen when so many promising and genuine characters gather in such a small place in time,” says Jon Ellgaard, Marketing Economics student at UCN Aalborg and ESC23 competitor via LinkedIn. “I am honoured to consider some of you not only acquaintances, but friends. I hope to get the opportunity to meet at least just one of you again and to engage in future collaboration.” The ESC2023 was a great success and we look forward to seeing more talents at European Sales Competition 2024 at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland.

WUP 09/06/2023
by Niels Otterman
©WUAS Press