8th Annual Steel City Sales Challenge

The Competition

The Steel City Sales Challenge (SCSC) is an exciting way to represent your School, earn prize money, and showcase your sales skills to top employers. The competition is presented by the Center for Leadership in Professional Selling at Duquesne University's Palumbo-Donahue School of Business and Ally Financial. Forbes ranks Ally Financial 6th out of 400 on its 2024 list of America’s Best Employers for New Graduates.

The SCSC is a two-day, virtual two-round competition with sales role-play and elevator pitch tracks. Planned for October 23–25, 2024, the SCSC is open to undergraduate students from universities across the country. Students may compete in either or both of the two tracks.

Cost to register is $225. Current and former employees/interns of Ally Financial are not eligible to compete.

Tentative Schedule

Thursday, October 24, 2024

• Round 1A: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Round 1B: 1:45 to 3:45 p.m.

Friday, October 25, 2024

• Role Play Final Round: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Elevator Pitch Final Round: 1 to 1:30 p.m.

Role Play Overview

Students will play the role of a sales professional in this tournament-style competition and compete for $15,000+ in prizes.

• All registered role play students will compete in Round 1 to complete a simulated sales call using the Round 1 role play scenario as a guide.
• Groups of 6 to 8 students will be assigned to each Zoom room and each competitor will have 15 minutes to role play.
• The top scoring student from each room will move on to Round 2 (the final round) and again have 15 minutes to role play. All role plays are recorded and will be shared with the students.

Details and Rules

The competition will be held via Zoom. Competitors will be sent an email closer to the compensation date that will include the scheduled times and designated virtual rooms for role plays.

Round 1

• Student competitors waiting to compete should arrive in main virtual room at least 5 minutes prior to their scheduled time.
• Sales role plays have a 15-minute time limit. (Competitors will be stopped at the 15-minute mark.)
  • Student competitors may finish the role play in less than 15 minutes.
  • Visual aids may be used and must be based on actual information since the seller organization and buyer organization are existing companies.
  • No additional time will be provided for set up.
• Only judges will be permitted to observe live competition during Round 1.
• Only competitors, judges and SCSC staff/support are permitted in virtual rooms during Round 1.
• Students are competing against other student competitors in their respective virtual role play rooms with the same buyer and the same judges.
• The highest scoring student from each virtual role play room will advance to Round 2.
• The results of Round 1 will be announced via Zoom on Thursday, October 24, 2024.

Round 2

• The final round will include students with the highest scores from their respective virtual role play rooms.
• Round 2 sales role plays have a 15-minute time limit. (Competitors will be stopped at the 15-minute mark.)
• Only competitors, judges and SCSC staff/support are permitted in virtual rooms during Round 2.
• The results of Round 2 will be announced via Zoom on Friday, October 25, 2024.

Elevator Pitch Competition

Up to 10 students per School are eligible to compete in the video elevator pitch competition.

• Videos must be no longer than 60 seconds and feature the competitor on screen without using props to be eligible for prizes.
• The purpose of the pitch is to persuade Ally Financial to hire the student to be their next sales representative.
• Videos must be uploaded to our submission portal by the assigned date.
• Role Play Competitors may also compete in the Elevator Pitch Competition.
• Finalists will be announced on Thursday, October 24, 2024.
• Finalists must then make a live 90-second pitch to Ally Financial during the Elevator Pitch Final Round on Friday October 25, 2024.