Old Dominion University assistant professor Rhett Epler can’t possibly conduct vital one-on-one mock sales interactions with every student — but artificial intelligence can.

“A student can sit down and role-play with a robot, get feedback and get graded,” Epler said. “It’s really a pretty cool and exciting thing.”

The ability to outsource via the AI platform has been a tremendous asset to his students and his teaching, said Epler, a professional sales marketing teacher in the Strome College of Business for more than four years.

“There’s always been a role-play bottleneck in sales,” Epler said.

More than a year ago, he said he learned of and incorporated Copient.ai into his classroom. The platform was initially used to train its parent company’s health care sales team.

Copient.ai uses realistic, unscripted conversational interactions to create customized practice scenarios. The program adapts to each student’s performance and provides immediate personalized feedback with detailed analysis and recommendations.

The use of the technology is funded by Dick Thurmond’s 2022 endowment through the university’s School of Professional Sales and Negotiations.

ODU junior Elisa Maggi demonstrates how to use Copient.ai, a program used by the Strome College of Business to help students going into sales gain practical and real-world experience, on Old Dominion University’s campus in Norfolk on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)

The AI platform has given students the opportunity to practice before applying their skills in real interactions, he said, adding it’s made a crucial impact.

The platform enables Epler to see how each student is doing, where they may be struggling and the best way to target their needs to enhance their skills going forward, he said. He also adapts his lectures accordingly.

“It makes it more targeted to things that are actual needs,” Epler said.

Rhett Epler, marketing professor, speaks about the benefits of using a program like Copient.ai to help students going into sales gain practical, real-world experience during a demonstration of the program on Old Dominion University’s campus in Norfolk on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)

For instance, if a student is well-versed in building rapport, they can focus elsewhere, he said. If they need to learn how to handle objections better, Epler can teach that.

Epler holds an annual mandatory sales competition with outside company representatives that role-play with teams of students.

“We watch them, and they essentially get graded on how they do in a sales call with real sales people,” Epler said. “It beats a multiple choice test.”

Feedback is provided in real time to ODU junior Elisa Maggi after demonstrating how to use Copient.ai, a program used by the Strome College of Business to help students going into sales gain practical and real-world experience, on Old Dominion University’s campus in Norfolk on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)

Elisa Maggi, Megan Hopfensperger and Milton Ryan  were this year’s winning team.

Hopfensberger, a junior majoring in real estate and sales, said practicing with AI gave her confidence with sales pitches.

“I was a little wary about AI in general at first, but it’s been really helpful for me — not only for this class — but also I’ve been interviewing for the past month for so many internships,” she said.

AI makes the simulation training more real, said Maggi, an international student from Italy majoring in fashion merchandising and minoring in marketing. She said it gave her “the little butterflies.”

“It gives you a good idea of how it is to be in front of someone and talking to them,” Maggi said, as she demonstrated her one-on-one conversation with a software robot named Jordan.

Both student-athletes — Maggi plays volleyball and Hopfensperger plays lacrosse — understand the importance of practice.

Now, they can face their futures ready to seal deals.

Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@pilotonline.com

https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/11/24/odu-marketing-professor-uses-ai/