Our next event will be held Oct. 23-24 – join us!
Event Overview
The TIES (Technical, Industrial, and Engineering Student) Sales Showdown is a technical sales roleplay competition for students in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. Each semester, TIES brings ~220 student competitors together with industry partners who serve as judges and buyers. The event involves three rounds of competition which unfold over a day and a half. TIES also features a Connection Fair where the world’s best technical, industrial, and engineering sales organizations can network with the world’s best technical, industrial, and engineering sales students.
Value to Students
Students benefit from this event in several ways, including:
- Skill development. TIES is a developmental opportunity that functions as the output of the work students do in their Sales Engineering class and lab sessions. It is a way for students to demonstrate the skills they’ve acquired during the semester.
- Industry connections. TIES is a way for students to connect with industry partners offering internships and employment opportunities in technical, industrial, and engineering sales. By attracting the world’s best technical sales organizations, TIES helps students lay the groundwork for their success post-graduation.
- Prizes and recognition. Students who perform well in TIES win monetary prizes and receive valuable recognition from their peers, the University, and our industry partners.
Value to Industry Partners
Industry partners also benefit from this event in several ways, including:
- Preview talent. There are countless career fairs and job boards that can inform students of an organization’s internship and career opportunities, but TIES creates an interactive arena where industry partners can see students in action, provide feedback to further their skill development, and build deep relationships along the way.
- “Crowdsourced” talent evaluation. Since TIES competitors are each evaluated by a group of industry partners, and progress in the competition depends on these evaluations, organizations can learn a lot about students’ skills even without direct observation. If a competitor makes it to the semifinals or finals, you know they’ve been vetted by your peers and are worth connecting with.
- Better interns and new hires. Stemming from the benefits mentioned above, industry partners involved in TIES are better able to fill internship and employment positions with carefully selected talent. You help us develop our students; we help you hire top talent!
- Actionable recruitment insights. Industry partners involved in TIES via our recruiting consortium (ReCon; more on this below) receive a report each semester that details overall student familiarity and perceptions with the partner and highlights the profiles of students most interested in working for them (i.e., those who are the most fruitful recruitment targets).
Industry Involvement
There are two ways for organizations to participate in the TIES Sales Showdown.
1) Direct Sponsorship – there are a limited number of direct sponsorship opportunities available each semester, including: product sponsorship (e.g., where your organization’s product/solution is what “is sold” in the roleplays), buyer role sponsorship (e.g., where your organization is used as the buyer/prospect in the roleplay scenarios), and sub-event sponsorships (e.g., where you sponsor the networking reception or awards banquet). Direct sponsorship opportunities start at $25,000.
2) Consortium Membership – there are also consortium membership opportunities that allow an industry partner access to the TIES Sales Showdown. A consortium is a group research project focused on an issue facing industry partners. While we offer multiple large scale strategic consortia that start at $50,000, the simplest way to be involved in the TIES Sales Showdown is by joining our recruiting consortium (TIES ReCon). This consortium collects data from students throughout the semester and culminates in a report back to member firms that details how they are perceived by students, which engagement activities most positively impact these perceptions, and what types of students tend to perceive them most favorably (suggesting the types of students to target). TIES ReCon membership is $5,000 per semester.
What is the TIES Connection Fair?
Think of our Connection Fair like an ultra-focused and less rigid career fair highlighting companies looking for technical, industrial, and engineering salespeople. No suits or resumes required. Students are free to come explore the world of technical sales as they are.
Contact and Coordination
For more information, please contact Dr. Willy Bolander at wcbolander@tamu.edu.