Learning Library Inc. - 1. Becoming a Successful Sales Professional: Skills For Sales Success

Overview

This course on the key ingredients of successful sales people is an integral part of the Skills for Sales Success Series, produced by the Canadian Professional Sales Association. Successful completion of this series, available both on-line and in a paper-based format can lead to designation as a Certified Sales Professional.

The skills needed to become a successful sales professional range from such things as attitude and ego-drive through to listening skills. At the foundation is the proper attitude needed to develop the other skills.

This course will help take the participants through the important things to remember about attitude and how it can affect both their lives and their work. The course also examines the difference between “being a victim” and “becoming an agent” in your own success, and how to achieve the latter. Finally, the course spends some time on the most common challenges to salespeople, including managing stress.

Learning outcomes

Key attitudes and skills needed to become a successful sales professional
How to meet the changing customer expectations
Understanding the difference between empathy and focus
How to create a balance between empathy and focus
The skills needed to develop a successful sales attitude
The role and use of “self talk”
Taking responsibility for your situation—agent and victim behavior
Identifying and managing stress

CPSA would also like to acknowledge that the Skills For Sales Success online learning project is made possible, in part, through funding by Human Resources Development Canada.

Syllabus

Introduction
The Roles of Empathy and Focus
Listening Skills
Attitude
Optimism
Ego-Drive
Managing Your Emotions
Managing Stress

Instructor: Barry LaValley

Barry LaValley, CSP, is President of LaValley Communications, a sales training, relationship management, and communications consulting firm based on the West Coast. Mr. LaValley has over 20 years experience as a sales professional and conducts sales training in both Canada and the United States.

Mr. LaValley is an active speaker, writer and educator in the areas of practice management and selling skills across Canada. He takes a unique approach to both topics and bases his education on understanding how the client perceives the sales process and how that affects how a sales practice is managed. In addition, he speaks and writes regularly on retirement lifestyle issues.

Mr. LaValley has been called “one of the best communicators in the Canadian Financial Services industry” by noted industry commentator Dan Richards, of Marketing Solutions. He has a solid reputation as a common sense, down to earth speaker on the topics he covers.