Monroe Community College says a new certificate program is designed to bolster the skills of sales professionals.
MCC’s director of Workforce Development, Chuck Caples, says many are aware of job openings in technology and manufacturing, but a skills gap has also created opportunities in sales.
"Just the other day, there were 2,247 jobs that came up in this nine county region for sales,” Caples said. “That's an awful lot of opportunities not being filled. And that's a big part of what we as a corporate college we want to do, is to fill those skill gaps and get people into those jobs as quickly as we can."
The 12-week certificate program will train sales professionals on how to integrate newer technology with traditional skills to improve their employment opportunities. MCC has created the new course with Worldleaders Sales Solutions in Henrietta. It’s called Smart Selling: Business to Business Sales System & Sales Skills Development.
Caples says when local companies heard about the training, they enrolled some of their existing sales force. He says many of those employees have good product knowledge, but lack the skills necessary to succeed.
"Using technology, customer relation management tools and also integrating all of that back into the old sales techniques that remain constant, such as, how do you set appointments? How do you listen properly and present your solutions to their issues?"
Classes begin October 21.