Selling on the Green

Program for Excellence in Selling (PES) students took their learning outside of the classroom this semester, selling player spots and sponsorships to host the semiannual PES Open golf tournament.

The program is a signature event designed to give PES students in their first semester an experiential learning opportunity. A few weeks after starting the program, students begin making sales calls to support the event. After the final sales are made, students switch gears to operations and logistics, ensuring everything goes smoothly during the tournament.

“The purpose of the sales program is to give students real life sales training, and you can't do that without picking up the phone, making calls, sending emails and having in-person meetings for students to get that experience,” PES Program Manager Samantha Covarrubias said. “The beginning of this project was Sept. 8, so they've had six-and-a-half weeks of experiential learning and having the title of student sales professional.”

This fall, each student in the program met their required sales quota of $1,200 and registering four players out to the tournament. Students are encouraged to keep selling beyond the requirement, with the top three performers receiving scholarships. Marketing senior Bitanya G-Mariam was this semester’s top producer, bringing in $13,000 in sales.

From the start of selling to the day of the tournament, G-Mariam said she’s drastically increased her confidence.

“I went from being so scared to make a call before, and then all of a sudden it became almost a natural instinct to pick up the phone before I did any type of outreach,” she said. “You don't even see yourself progressing to that point; it just becomes second nature.

“It's crazy to think about how I've gotten so comfortable to the point where I can reach out to people that I wouldn't have access to if I didn't challenge myself — and that goes for outside of golf as well,” G-Mariam added.

Finance junior Alexis Onyeonwu produced the second most in revenue, getting a boost early on by selling a $5,000 course sponsorship. Toward the end of the selling period, Onyeonwu’s motivation pushed her to the second place spot. She said the experience taught her new things about herself.

“It was a new experience for me to practice, tweak and perfect making these calls and doing these follow-ups,” Onyeonwu said. “My emails are sounding more tailored, and my calls are becoming more fluid and natural. It really homed in on my communication skills and getting a message out clearly. I was really happy that I was able to really work on that.”

Management junior Milian Batres was nervous at the start of the semester but was able to develop a rapport and make a large sale to a local business that previously hadn’t participated with the PES Open. At the tournament she said she was proud to see her hard work come to fruition.

“I can truly say that just in these few weeks of selling, I've learned and experienced so much, and I wouldn’t take any of it for granted,” Batres said. “This is truly a once in a lifetime experience. I feel more prepared for a sales internship, the second semester of PES and even going into a sales career path.”

The next PES Open will be hosted in March 2026, with proceeds benefitting students in the Program for Excellence in Selling.