The Professional Selling classes (MKTG 321) taught by Dr. Frank Veltri proudly announce Hailey Fackrell who placed in the top 25 out of 2,176 sales competitors from 59 different universities at the RNMKRS Virtual Sales Competition.
Artificial Intelligence Meets Higher Education in Sales Training Competition
At a time when students are quarantined, isolated, meeting by Zoom, or learning behind masks at a distance, they’re getting the attention they need from their professors. With the help of Alex Taylor, who happens to be an artificially intelligent customer bot in a simulation called RNMKRS (pronounced “Rainmakers”). Students learn and practice selling by speaking with Alex who listens, adapts, and responds to them. Students use voice activation on their mobile phones to train virtually and from anywhere.
The training ultimately leads to a worldwide sales competition where students are recognized for their skills, and employers like Dell, Gartner, Herc Rentals, Tom James, TTi, EMI, and YRC Worldwide hand-select students for jobs.
“ 59 schools and 2176 students competed and the number of practice rounds students played this semester shot through the roof – over 40,000!” says Dr. Stefanie Boyer, RNMKRS Co-Founder, and Bryant University Professor. “Many students used the bot as a companion to talk to when distancing and this gave them a competitive advantage.”
Students are able to compete from anywhere in the world and they did. Schools from the U.S., Canada, and Germany integrated the RNMKRS program this semester.