Advanced Selling Skills and Strategies for Senior Professionals/Manager Course

This AIES endorsed course is perfectly positioned for those starting a career in sales and also of great benefit to experienced sales professionals who would like to upgrade their selling skills and techniques with the latest developments in this vibrant field, and to other professionals keen on understanding the sales function in general. While this course focuses on providing participants with core knowledge about sales as a function and as a process, it will also give them an in-depth understanding of self-management, the art of prospecting, opportunity planning and resource allocation. In addition, participants will acquire several skills related to negotiating deals, overcoming obstacles, resolving customer issues and closing sales.

Course Methodology

The 'Sales Professional Certificate' course is highly interactive. Participants will enjoy working with business cases extracted from real life situations taking them from understanding the situation to finding a solution. The course leverages role play techniques where participants work and present scenarios related to deal negotiation, building relationships or problem resolution. Such role plays foster confidence, analytical thinking, and teamwork.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Identify the right professional selling behaviours and skills needed to maximize sales performance
• Develop the right personal habits to optimize selling effectiveness
• Apply the different steps of the sales process and identify the need for each step
• Analyse and apply the principles of successful negotiations and handling objections
• Recognize the basics of customer relationships management and influencing outcomes

Target Audience

This sales training course is designed for salespeople, sales support personnel, as well as potential candidates for sales positions who want to build and revitalize their existing selling skills.

Target Competencies

• Partnering: Building relationships, communicating effectively, setting expectations
• Insight: Evaluating the customer needs, gathering intelligence, and understanding business context
• Solution: Aligning to customer's needs, resolving issues, and managing success
• Effectiveness: Leveraging the sales process, executing plans, and maximizing personal time

Course Outline

The changing business environment

• The evolution of personal selling
• The new sales competencies
• Behaviours, characteristics and skills of a successful salesperson
• Assessing performance according to specific sales indicators
• The 10 root causes of sales problems
• Personal selling profile

Preparation and self-organization

• Personal management
• Time management for salespeople
• Understanding the psychology of selling
• Developing strategies for sales success

The sales process

• Prospecting and qualifying
• Pre-approach
• Approach
• Presentation and demonstration
• Overcoming objections
• Closing
• Follow up and maintenance
• Product selling versus service selling
• A glimpse into different selling models

Business negotiations skills

• Principles of successful negotiations
• The six elements of successful sales negotiations
• The power of questioning and probing
• The BATNA principle
• Establishing ranges; understanding the limits

Managing the customer relationship

• Basics of building customer relationships
• 5 rules for successful relationships
• The essence of attitude in relationship building
• The art of sales communications
• Influencing sales outcomes