This past November, Stockdale’s VE teams got a chance to show off their salesmanship at CTEC’s annual mini trade show.  You may be asking, what is VE? VE or virtual enterprises is an extracurricular that is popular across the country (especially in the Kern High School District) where students get a chance to work in a virtual business, giving them a chance to work together and develop skills that align with future careers.  

 

Because students get to be part of a company, they are divided up into different departments.  Being a part of the HR department, I enjoyed facilitating company bonding and communication, but longed to interact more with customers.  Being at the tradeshow gave me a chance to meet with customers and get more experience selling and understanding our products.

 

After setting up our booths, I got a chance to sell for my company, BullBlue Denim.  Our company strives to give young adults confidence in their sense of style. With our personalized Bullseye system, we ensure our customers the right to denim products that don’t harm the environment, are tailored to fit you in all the right places, and are customized to include any specific designs or jean fits.  While I made sure to mention these aspects, I also tried to make my connections personable.  Mentioning the holidays and the struggle with trying to find the perfect fit for jeans allowed me to appeal to the customers in a way that I also related to.  Overall, it was a great learning experience, and I hope to improve as the year goes on and I get more opportunities to meet new people.

 

I am a part of Stockdale’s other company called DEC’D OUT. We take clothing that would otherwise end up in landfills and shred, compress, and use low melt polyester to create home decor products like lamps, nightstands, and coasters. I am in the sales department, which means I help develop products and collections that would be appealing to customers. With the rise of social media and changing consumer trends, it is important to develop products that appeal to our customers and target market of 25-34 year olds. I also help train our company employees on how to sell at trade shows. 

 

I am on the business plan team, which is a group of six students that do an oral presentation on our business. I, alongside five of my peers, did a 10-minute presentation to a panel of business professionals. They asked questions about our company and gave feedback which we will use to improve ourselves for future competitions. I am grateful for this opportunity to learn more about business and am excited to see our growth over the year!