February 19, 2009 - 7:26am
Third-year business students at Vancouver Island University raised over $4,200 for charity and practiced their professional selling skills at the same time.
Students enrolled in instructor Duane Weaver’s Professional Selling class formed six teams and had one hour and 20 minutes to sell bottled water on the Nanaimo campus.
“The project is designed to teach students how to be professional sales people in a high pressure format,” explained Weaver. “Each team developed their own team value-added selling strategy. The goal of this assignment was to better prepare them to enter the selling profession with value-added selling skills.”
Some students collected donations from the local business community which they offered as incentives to prospective purchasers. Proceeds from the water sales were donated to charities selected by each team. The winning team, led by student Alison Ashbaugh, raised $1,469 for the North Central Island Chapter of the ALS Society of BC. The second place team led by Jenna Pozar was close at $1,150.
“This class assignment was educational,” said student Colby Althouse. “Most students learn from real life experience. We were able to learn how to get the attention of potential consumers by asking the right questions. It’s a good feeling knowing the proceeds are donated to worthwhile charities.”
Althouse said her team chose to raise funds for the ALS Society of BC “in memory of a team mate’s uncle.” The ALS Society helps people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It’s a rapidly progressive and fatal neuromuscular disease that causes the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Other charities benefitting from the efforts of VIU business students in the class assignment include the Canucks for Kids Fund, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation,Variety Children’s Charity, Salvation Army – Nanaimo Ministries, Malaspina Child Care Centre and the Chinese Red Cross Foundation.
VIU offers a wide range of business and management programs. To find out more, attend a free information session March 2 at the Nanaimo campus (Building 250, Room 125) at 7:30 pm, or call Advising at 250-740-6410 or visit the website at www.viu.ca
Tags: In the Community
