Real knowledge honored in Lucerne

When summer and fall come together, it's time for the graduation ceremony for sales professionals. This year, 304 newly qualified masters of their trade were welcomed to the Grand Casino Lucerne. A total of 376 candidates took part; 80.9 percent of them graduated successfully. The graduation ceremony has been repositioned and upgraded; TV personality Kurt Aeschbacher hosted the event for the first time. According to Hans-Jürg Gehri, President of the Examination Board, the award was given to talented people "who are not overly intellectual, but have acquired theory and practice in a dual way." Examination director Nicole Beck-Taubenest aimed in the same direction: "This in-service training creates real knowledge."

13 best in their field honored

The Swiss Marketing Junior Sales Manager Award was presented for the first time at a sales specialist graduation ceremony. The statuette by Swiss artist Ivo Soldini, which honors the best graduate of the entire year, went to Corinne Meyer from Emmenbrücke, who graduated with an average grade of 5.1. Other top performers in the written subjects were: Ivan Bandel (sales planning); Melanie Müller (sales promotion/advertising); Maria Impellizzeri (marketing); Daniel Aebischer (distribution); Sibylle Wagner (accounting/controlling); Stefan Merz (business statistics) and Jasmin Taskiran (legal studies for sales staff). The following were honored in the oral subjects: Valentina Helfenstein (presentation and sales techniques/ sales talk); Cyliana Bachmann (personal leadership skills); Nicole Späni (market research); Leila Zwyer (rhetoric/ product presentation and merchandising): Philippe Cattin (self-management) and Patrick Moser (sales process). Finally, the evening's musical entertainers, boogie dwarves Chris & Mike, hit the keys once again. The graduation ceremony then came to a fitting end with an aperitif.