KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition

The KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition will be hosted by the KU School of Business March 24-25, 2023, on campus in Lawrence, Kansas.

Sponsored and judged exclusively by King’s Hawaiian, the competition is open to all universities, with four undergraduate students and one sales coach representing each university. Components of the competition include:

Individual Speed Selling Round: 90-second elevator pitch to get King’s Hawaiian a meeting with a potential grocery store chain buyer
Team Case Competition: Three-round tournament-style case competition on a real-life business situation for King’s Hawaiian
- Round 1: Uncover additional information to make solid recommendations
- Round 2: Present recommendations via formal presentation
- Round 3: Finals

Stipends and prizes

The following cash stipends and prizes will be provided.

Travel stipend for each university:

$1,000 per university

Cash prizes for Individual Speed Selling Round:

1st place — $600
2nd place — $500
3rd place — $400
4th place — $300
5th place — $200
6th place — $100

Cash prizes for each winning Team Case Competition:

1st place — $4,000
2nd place — $3,000
3rd place — $2,000

Please send all questions to Kristen Helling at khelling@ku.edu.

Sponsored by King’s Hawaiian

The second KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition was hosted at the KU School of Business Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9, 2022.

Competition winners

Speed selling

First place (tie): Hannah Besedin, University of Arizona ($300); and Thanh Tan Nguyen, KU ($300)
Third place: Brenna McCarthy, University of Minnesota ($100)

Case study

First place: University of Central Missouri ($3,000)
Second place: University of Nebraska ($2,000)
Third place: KU ($1,000)

Competition materials

Participating schools

University of Arizona
University of Central Missouri
Emory University
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
Kansas State University
Loyola Marymount University
Marshall University
University of Minnesota
University of Nebraska
University of North Dakota
Texas Tech University

The first KU Professional Selling Program/King’s Hawaiian Sales Competition was hosted virtually by the KU School of Business Friday, April 9, and Saturday, April 10, 2021.