Sales Courses DO Make a Difference

By Angela Leigh, WEC Graduate - December 2002

After completing my studies in the Weekend College program, I received my BS in Business Administration from the College of St. Catherine in December 2002. I have been in a sales rep position since October 2001, however I majored in Marketing. It is an unfortunate fact that many jobs give you little more than basic training, and this was one of them. I was essentially given an account list and best wishes. I wanted to learn as much as I could from other reps in my company, however unfortunately, we are based all over the country and only spend time together three times a year at sales conferences. My undergraduate education at St. Kate’s gave me a good grounding in business, but I still felt the need to learn more about my profession.

Since I’m a St. Kate’s alumna and in a sales profession, I had heard about and been attending the sales alum meetings, and it was here I learned about the sales courses offered. I thought this would be a great way to further my training in my current position. I felt very fortunate to have my job and wanted to ensure I had the tools to excel in it.

I started with the Introduction to Selling course in the fall of 2003. One would think that a lot of what was discussed in class would be common sense. Some of it was. But it was good for me to hear these topics discussed by the group. I realized most of my instincts were good, but it was this course that bolstered the training I had previously received. The main message in this class was the importance of building a relationship with your customers. A career salesman said to our class, “With all the technology in use in so many of our sales careers, the personal aspect of dealing with people is still very critical.” Knowing that I was doing something right in my career really boosted my confidence. I was ready to take my relationships with my customers to the next level. One of the most important things I learned in my Introduction to Selling class was how to confront the stereotype of salespeople. We are not all sleazy used car sales people just out to make a buck. What I took away from this course was that sales can be an ethical and rewarding profession. Donald Trump recently said, “You have to believe in what you sell.” This was on his TV show, the Apprentice, but the message made a lot of sense to me. I take this to heart at every sales call. I love what I sell and my customers know they can trust me because I believe in my product.

The next course I chose to take was Advanced Sales, this too was a very valuable learning experience. What we had learned about “the basics” in Introduction to Selling, we now took to the next level, especially in regard to customer behavior. It reinforced what I had been learning on the job, that each of my customers is different; not just different people, but they behave differently when being sold to. In this course, I learned more about finding out how my customer is feeling about a particular product or service I offer. I learned how to identify where they are in their decision process and what obstacles they deal with.

Taking these courses has made me more confident as a sales rep. They helped me move my customer relationships to a higher level. In my recent performance appraisal, my boss said how impressed he was with the way I settled into my territory and most importantly, he told me he was proud of me. That statement alone was the most important part of my appraisal. Thank you St. Kate’s for all you have done for me.