Nora Anderson
For Daniels College of Business graduate student Nora Anderson, the timing couldn’t have been better.
As coach of the University of Denver Sales Team, a student organization that travels to sales competitions around the country, Anderson had just found out that staffing company Insight Global was sponsoring the next event on the team’s schedule. Coincidentally, a recruiter for Insight Global had just reached out to her via LinkedIn about an open position.
“I saw the message, and since we were already doing something with them for the Sales Team, I thought, ‘Why not respond?’” remembered Anderson, who got the job and is now back in Minnesota working for Insight Global as a recruiter. “And then, the entire time we were preparing for the competition, I was interviewing with them. It was fun to get to know the company through the training and my job, rather than having to go out and do all the research myself. It gave me a well-rounded view of what they were all about.”
It wasn’t the first time the Sales Team helped to change Anderson’s career direction: When she was an undergrad at DU’s Josef Korbel of Global and Public Affairs, she was introduced to the team by a faculty member, who was impressed by a presentation she delivered for one of her classes.
“He said I had a really good pitch and asked if I had ever considered sales,” Anderson said. “They were very persistent, so I went to the tryout fall quarter of sophomore year and did really well. They offered me a spot on the team, and from there, I started going around the nation, competing in case competitions.”
In sales team competitions, students pitch to staff from a sponsor company, who act as mock clients.
In those competitions, Anderson explained, students are assigned roles for the sponsoring company. After learning about the company and the services it offers, the students deliver sales pitches to company staffers who act as mock clients.
The Daniels Sales Leadership Center is a space dedicated to the education, training and development of sales leaders and the discovery and dissemination of sales knowledge. It’s an illustration of the Daniels commitment to be the most market-connected business school in the country: Students build partnerships with the private sector that focus on solving problems related to sales research, education and recruiting. Students can also add a minor in sales leadership.
“I would not have this job or be anywhere near taking this job without the education that I got from being a part of that team,” said Anderson, who received an MA in marketing from Daniels in 2025. “I was able to show that, not only do I understand the principles behind sales, but I can teach them as well. And that’s something I don’t think I would have gotten in a classroom. It was unique to this team experience.”
It’s an experience she recommends to other DU undergraduates, particularly those interested in business careers.
“It’s going to teach you speaking skills, which are huge when it comes to interviews, presentations, anything like that,” she said. “My grades went up by three points when I joined the Sales Team, because I was now able to speak up in class with confidence. There also are a lot of networking opportunities.”
The team could even lead to a job opportunity, like it did for Anderson during the competition in Oregon, sponsored by Insight Global, at which the DU team had its best finish ever.
“It was a nice wrap on a great competition where the students won some money, they placed really well, and then the coach gets a job,” Anderson said. “It really couldn’t have been any better.”
