The 2018 annual Sales Club competition (photos here) was held in Smith Labs on April 12th where contestants pitched a new item to the Holy Cross bookstore. Eight groups from all four class years entered the competition and were given five minutes to pitch their idea to a panel of judges.
The judges, Anthony Ruoti ‘12, Clayton Krueger ‘17 and Linda Paquette, Merchandise Specialist at the HC Bookstore, rated each group based on three factors:
- the viability of their idea,
- how well they pitched it
- what their sales/marketing strategy looked like
After listening to the pitches, the judges stepped outside to deliberate while the contestants awaited the final decision. After 15 long minutes they returned with their decisions…
3rd Place: $100 – Clare Connolly ’18 and Kim Hickey ’18 took home the third place prize for their ultimate gift basket. This prepackaged gift basket is a low cost way to incentivise consumers to purchase more than they normally would.
2nd Place: $150 – Gabe Castagna ’18 was awarded second place for pitching the Tile, a bluetooth device tracker that makes it easy to find anything from your keys and wallet to a teddy bear. Gabe demonstrated the strong need for this item on campus and pitched an effective sales and marketing strategy.
1st Place: $250 – Matthew Whalen ’18 and Johnny Rourke ’18 took home the first place prize with their energetic pitch for Holy Cross hawaiian shirts. From top to bottom, Matt and Johnny’s pitch captivated the judges and had them saying, “I need one of those Hawaiians!”
Thank you to our judges, and the other student teams who presented:
- Kevin Finnegan ’20 & Matthew Wilcox ’20
- Donny Ganim ’20
- Mackenzie Breen ’21 & Hope Goodman ’21
- Graham Struthers ’21
- Andrew Williamson ’21 & Owen O’Connell ’21
Want photos? Check out the Facebook album. Recap written by Ben Lodge’18, co-chair of the sales club.
