Elon students practice professional selling in Amica Challenge

The sales role play competition involved generating awareness of Amica Mutual Insurance Company and marketing the company's opportunities to prospective employees.

The team of marketing major Justin Leibow ’20 and management major Anita-Lotti Harkov ’22 won the 2019 Amica Elon Sales Challenge.

A female and a male student standing
Justin Leibow ’20 and Anita-Lotti Harkov ’22 are the 2019 Amica Elon Sales Challenge winners.

Ellen Johnson ’20, an international business major, and Bridget Strysko ’20, a human services major, placed second in the competition offered by the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center and Amica Mutual Insurance Company.

Teams of Elon students role-played a scenario in which an Amica recruiter delivers a sales presentation to promote the company’s associate adjuster position in its Future Leaders Program to a prospective employee. The students developed their presentations after conducting research on the company and interviewing employees. Some of the challenges teams were asked to address included limited brand awareness and lack of knowledge of the insurance industry.

“The Amica Elon Sales Challenge was a great way to practice the selling skills that I have learned through Elon’s sales curriculum,” Leibow said. “I am so excited and thankful to have had the opportunity to compete.”

“As someone who loves hands-on learning, I found the challenge to be a fun sales experience and a fantastic way to learn about Amica and the insurance industry in general while bettering both my selling and team-working skills,” Harkov added.

A team from Amica judged the role plays on the approach, needs identification, company/position presentation, overcoming objections, close, communication skills, understanding of the company culture, and recruiter enthusiasm.

“We have had great experiences recruiting on Elon’s campus,” Cynthia Saballa, Amica associate recruiter, shared. “The work produced from this Challenge is another testament to the high-caliber students we have come across at Elon.”

The first-place team was awarded $1,300 and the second-place team received $700.

About Amica Mutual Insurance Company
Established in 1907, Amica is the oldest mutual insurer of automobiles in the United States. Amica is a direct writer of personal insurance with auto, home, umbrella and marine coverages.

About the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center
The Chandler Family Professional Sales Center promotes professional selling and sales management, provides high-quality instruction to both students and sales executives, and conducts research that advances the field of sales. The program’s strong sales curriculum and experiential learning component earned it the distinction as a “Top University Sales Program for 2019” by the Sales Education Foundation.