This year, Finning’s candidate Martina Carstairs took top prize at the Great Canadian Sales Competition, the largest national sales competition of its kind. Martina was up against 4,000 post-secondary students from 82 campuses across Canada, all vying for the title of top junior salesperson in the country. The top 24 candidates competed in the finals that took place April 4 in Toronto.

A Finning panel selected Martina, a B.C.I.T student, from almost 100 submissions, to represent us at the finals. Sales training manager, Miles Creighton had 10 days to coach Martina to prepare her for the competition and was incredibly impressed with her performance. “The final 24 participants each had to do a live pitch in front of the judges. The top five, then had to do another live pitch in front of all the other contestants, judges, coaches, and executive from the sponsor companies. Martina worked very hard to prepare, and was able to maintain composure throughout the entire process. She is very deserving of this win.”

Tony de Sousa, VP Core Operations, a judge for the competition, was excited to once again be involved. “In only our second year in the competition, Finning entered a candidate that took first place,” says Tony. “What a great honour and what a great opportunity to put Finning up front and center as an option for young people looking to pursue a career path in sales.”

“Finning is so proud to be involved in this competition and to be able to support the sales force of the future,” says Irene Posyluzny, VP Human Resources, “And what a thrill for our candidate to win the Great Canadian Sales Competition. Congratulations Martina you should be proud of your achievement, you did an incredible job and are very deserving of the title of top junior sales person in Canada.”

The Great Canadian Sales Competition is designed to encourage and feature sales as a career path and to work with corporations and post-secondary institutions to build a curriculum to support and enable these young people to pursue a career in sales.