Professional Selling

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

Skills and Abilities

• Identify ways to improve time management.
• Modify her/his presentation to match the social style of a specific buyer.
• Use listening skills to determine buyer needs.
• Awareness of how verbal fillers impact reception of a message.
• Discover the impact of verbal communication (i.e., word choice and tone of voice).
• Use different questions to uncover information.
• Interpret the meaning of various forms of non-verbal communication.
• Use and identify various aspects of non-verbal communication that can be used to enhance the sales presentation.
• Present a product/service effectively in a face-to-face or virtual sales setting.

Buying Process

• Understand the steps in the complex buying process typically used for big-ticket items and/or new purchases.
• Identify different types of customers and the critical purchasing factors that will most influence their buying decision.
• Uncover the types of organizational buying decisions and what a salesperson must do to be seriously considered in these buying situations.
• Identify the different people that can be involved in a purchase and their potential role in the buying center/decision.
• Discern the optimal communication channels to connect with those involved in the buying process.
• Select the most effective entry point into a prospect’s buying process.

Selling Process

• Identify the stages of the selling process from prospecting through follow-up.
• Craft a compelling sales message with awareness of verbal fillers and eye contact.
• State the qualifications for a lead to become a prospect.
• Compare the effectiveness of different types of prospecting techniques for various types of buyers and how these vary by organization.
• Use a questioning process like SPIN or ADAPT to identify buying issues.
• Identify various negotiation pressure tactics and know how to respond to them.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Quiz on chapters 1-5	112 points
Quiz on chapters 6-10	112 points
Final Exam on Chapters 1 to 10 and other course materials	170 points
Participation (Bio, 5 Thank You Notes, Personality Test, Intro Video, etc, discussion posts and responses to other student posts)	170 points
Speaker Series: B2C/B2B Masterclasses (Attendance, Reflection Activity)	112 points
LinkedIn Assignment	82 points
Trailhead Assignment	82 points
Sales Pitch Presentation	280 points
TOTAL	1,120 points

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
93–100%	A
90–92.9%	A−
87–89.9%	B+
83–86.9%	B
80–82.9%	B−
77–79.9%	C+
73–76.9%	C
70–72.9%	C−
67–69.9%	D+
63–66.9%	D
60–62.9%	D−
0–59.9%	F

Attendance/Participation:

Not specified.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

• Text: SELL 7 (2024) by Ingram, LaForge, Avila, Schwepker and Williams, ISBN 9780357901397
• Required Readings Book: SPIN Selling, by Neil Rackham, various publishers depending on the date of publication. First day complete students may find an e-text under Course Materials.