Business and admin courses are the second most popular in UK universities. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise as there’s a lot of scope for different career paths; from management to sales to starting up your own business. However, what a lot of employers want and graduates don’t have is sales experience and training. This is absolutely crucial to being employable and you can’t learn it sat in a lecture theatre! This is where Salestrong comes in.
What is it?
Salestrong is a company set up to train budding and already established sales people. In a completely free online course they tear down the stereotypes of sales and establish the truths of the job whilst giving invaluable career advice. The Salestrong Graduate Programme is a perfect addition to a degree as it offers more specific advice in the field of sales.
The aim of the course is very simple: to give graduates a helping hand with getting on the ladder; and give them the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed. The course is specifically aimed at business to business sales (b2b) so there isn’t any chance of having to do laborious and frankly unpleasant tasks like door to door selling or cold-calling.
What does it involve?
The course is split into six sections and takes roughly four hours to completely.
The course starts with a short video titled: ‘So you fancy a career in sales?’ The video is personally narrated by Alistair Mcquade the company’s sales force transformation consultant. He systematically explains the course and briefly outlines his own credentials before explaining why sales is such an amazing opportunity. The tone of the video is relaxed and informal which makes it really easy watching.
He outlines the stereotype of sales and explains why it’s wrong:
“If you type sales into Google the second answer says: ‘To be a successful sales person you need to be able to convince people that your product is just so utterly indispensable that they have to buy it no matter what. Accordingly salespeople normally have an uncanny ability to make things like detergent and cheese sound sexy. There’s something indefinable and very personal which makes some people fantastic at selling and it’s usually down to their own personality’.
THAT’S ABSOLUTE RUBBISH!”
Salestrong believe in giving the customer only what they want. If the buyer doesn’t want or need the product what’s the point in trying to sell it to them? If you have a good product then people will want to buy it. There certainly isn’t an indefinable quality that makes you good at sales!
Other sections of the course are:
What do salespeople actually do?
If you can’t stand to sit in front of a desk five days a week, sales is your perfect field. Whilst there is some desk work most of your week will be spent out on the road meeting, greeting and of course entertaining clients. As Alistair Mcquade explains in the video, relationships are one of the five key ingredients to make a good salesperson. Going to great places and client entertaining is often part of the job!
In the introduction Alistair explains why selling has a bad reputation and how the truth is actually very different. He gives an overview of a typical week and lists his favourite and least favourite parts of the job.
Assessing your sales mind-set
This part will help you to understand whether you’re suited to a job in sales and will prepare you for the inevitable assessments that you’ll undergo in interviews. It involves a locus of control test which essentially tests whether you believe you can control the events around you.
“Successful sales people believe that their destiny is in their own hands, in other words they make their own luck. Poor sales people will externalise fault, which means that if something goes wrong, it’s not their fault. Their excuses would be that it was bad luck or someone else’s fault.”
7 point checklist for sales job interviews
This section is pretty much self-explanatory. An in-depth video looking at what skills and traits employers are looking for. You can’t go far wrong in an interview with this checklist.
Knowing what to sell
This is an essential part of the course. To sell a product you have to know it inside out so it’s important to learn about a company and their products before you go to an interview. Salestrong provide a solution planner which will ensure you know everything you can about a product you’re selling. It will show that you understand about the value that they can create for their customers.
The key to selling
You need to know the customer just as well as the product. This section is based around a tool called the Impact Continuum. With the help of your potential employer this part shows you how the product can impact the customer. Showing this initiative in an interview will set you ‘heads and shoulders above the other candidates’.
How will it benefit you?
This course is an honest reflection of a career in sales. It doesn’t paint a picture of the perfect job where you do nothing for lots of money. What it does is explain why sales can be interesting, rewarding and ultimately profitable but how it will take dedication and skill to get there.
It is also an invaluable interview tool. Every section gives you advice on how to shine in the interview room and the tools to do it. You’d be a fool to enter an interview without this course.
What to do next?
All you have to do now is enrol! Don’t forget this course is completely free and is merely a tool to help you succeed in sales. It’s written and narrated by people who are obviously hugely passionate about sales and want to help people have the same success. Click here to enrol or visit Salestrong for more information. Another site with additional information about sales training is Cortec Learning.
Thanks for reading and enjoy!