Wilfrid Laurier to Launch a Sales Training Program

There’s a severe shortage of talented sales people not just in Canada but worldwide. In fact, Kitchener—a marketing startup in Ontario—has to bring in sales executives from as far as 4,500 kilometers away. According to a Talent Shortage Survey, companies all over the world claim that there’s a significant shortage of sales skills from senior executives to junior staff.

That’s why Wilfrid Laurier University is looking to make a change. Starting this fall, the University will launch a sales training program to help get people interested in a sales career. Dr. Hugh Munro, the Director of the Laurier MBA program and a professor at the School, spoke to The Globe and Mail about the problem.

“There’s a stigma to sales. I think a lot of people’s exposure to sales is somebody who’s worked in retail—it’s certainly not something they want to do for a career,” he said. “In sales today, you’re working on behalf of the customer trying to make a difference for their business. You can have a very effective salesperson who is on the quieter side of things—he or she is empathetic, and they need to know what the company can bring to the table.”

Lack of talented sales people is an especially serious issue for startups. Of course, startups can’t grow, increase their reputation, or expand their opportunities without sales. The issue is that sales today is different. Instead of the hard-selling and cold-calling of the past, salespeople in the modern business environment have to know their product and how it can help their customers. That’s what Wilfrid Laurier hopes to teach in their new sales training program.

Students at the Lazaridis School of Business already have the opportunity to increase their sales knowledge with classes such as Sales Process & Management and Consumer Behavior. The new training program will provide another outlet.

regions: Toronto

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