Sales Strategies: Mastering the Selling Process

About this course: Selling is a life skill. As people, we interact with other people every day in many different types of situations. And if you stop and think about those various situations, many of them are sales situations. You might be interviewing for a job, or meeting a new potential customer, or trying to convince someone that your idea is the right one. These are sales situations, and in this course you will learn how high-performing salespeople use critical skills and disciplines to create success each and every time they interact with another person. You will learn how to acquire and delight customers, use selling skills in different contexts, tell powerful stories, manage the entrepreneurial selling process, and use the key tools required for success in building your company, your career and your life. This course is designed as an adventure of discovery. You will be tested, taught and transformed through a series of lectures, readings and real-world exercises that are designed to push you up and out of your comfort zone. We will explore both Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) selling and entrepreneurship issues and concepts. You will explore frameworks that define and clarify the knowledge, skill and discipline to be successful in selling. Your assignments will include a barter exercise, quizzes, and the creation of Craig Wortmann's practical and robust Sales Toolkit that consists of these ten tools: 1) A filtered target list 2) Your Sales Trailer℠ 3) The Art of the Sales Conversation 4) A prospecting script 5) An introductory email 6) A Qualification Questions Checklist 7) A list of Impact Questions 8) An Objections and Responses Checklist 9) A Proposal 10) Your Story Matrix℠ My goal with this course is that no matter what your current level of ability, we help you build your Sales Toolkit and master the selling skills and disciplines that will change your life!

Who is this class for: This course is for three main audiences: Sales people. This course will serve to build and fine-tune your selling skills and disciplines. The lectures, the exercises, and the tools we create will help you re-assess your approach to customers and will make you more efficient and effective in each and every "touch" in the sales process. Entrepreneurs. As they try to grow their businesses, entrepreneurs face an immediate challenge: how do I acquire and retain more and more customers such that my business has consistent and steady growth? This course is designed to expand and deepen entrepreneur's understanding of the sales process and the unique skills and disciplines they must master in order to be successful. Career changers. Most of us switch roles and careers a handful of times throughout our lives. These transition periods can be stressful, because looking for a new job or changing careers is just another form of selling: you are selling yourself! This course will help career changers gain a new perspective on the selling challenge and equip them with the key tools they need to write their next chapter.

Created by:  The University of Chicago

• Taught by:  Craig Wortmann, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship

  University of Chicago's Booth School of Business

Level Beginner Commitment 5 weeks of study, with 3-5 hours a week. Language English How To Pass Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. User Ratings 4.7 stars Average User Rating 4.7See what learners said Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

Help from your peers

Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.

Certificates

Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.

The University of Chicago One of the world's premier academic and research institutions, the University of Chicago has driven new ways of thinking since our 1890 founding. Today, UChicago is an intellectual destination that draws inspired scholars to our Hyde Park and international campuses, keeping UChicago at the nexus of ideas that challenge and change the world.

Syllabus


WEEK 1


Week 1: Get Ready!



Hello there! Welcome to Sales Strategies: Mastering the Selling Process! In Module One, you will learn how this course will help you develop the knowledge, skill, discipline of a High Performing salesperson! After completing this module, you will be able to: 1) List the benefits of attending of engaging in this course. 2) Understand the expectation for the next four weeks of this course; 3) Decide how you will take this course.


3 videos, 2 readings expand

1. Video: Welcome Video
2. Video: Meet Craig Wortmann
3. Discussion Prompt: Welcome - Why are you here?
4. Reading: How do I use this course?
5. Reading: To Sell is Human
6. Discussion Prompt: Selling Situations.
7. Video: What's a Sales Toolkit?

WEEK 2


The Entrepreneurial Selling Process



What does it mean to "Sell Like an Entrepreneur?" What is the "Entrepreneurial Selling Process" and how do entrepreneurs differ from professional salespeople? In this module, we will answer these questions and more, and we will start working through the "preparation" phase of the sales process. And, you will start to practice selling!


9 videos, 4 readings, 1 practice quiz expand

• Video: The “Entrepreneurial Selling” process
• Reading: “Entrepreneurial Selling”
• Practice Quiz: Entrepreneurial Selling Knowledge Check
• Video: “Salespeople” vs. “Entrepreneurs.” Who wins?
• Video: Entrepreneurial Selling Vs. Professional Selling
• Reading: Portrait of the CEO as Salesman
• Video: Sales vs. Marketing
• Video: How to target and filter your business’ first customers so you’re not targeting the entire human race
• Video: How to target and filter your next great job!
• Video: Filtered Target List Assignment
• Video: Lead generation. Let’s generate some leads! Video: Barter A Pen Assignment Reading: Three Lessons I Learned From Bartering a Crappy Pen Reading: Start Your Pen Bartering Exercise Discussion Prompt: Bartering a Pen Questions! Discussion Prompt: Bartering a Pen Stories Graded: Sales Toolkit - Tool #1: Filtered Target List WEEK 3 Selling Happens in a Conversation In our Selling Happens in Conversations module, you will continue to build out your own personal Sales Toolkit. You will learn the art and science of conducting effective and efficient sales conversations by designing your own "Sales Trailer" that describes what you do in the clearest possible way. You will construct an Introductory Email and a Prospecting Script that will improve your approach to potential customers. 5 videos, 1 reading expand Video: Working a room full of strangers is awkward and scary. It shouldn’t be. Video: Art of the Sales Conversation Model Reading: How to Reel Them In With a Boffo Opening Line Video: Designing your "Sales Trailer℠," the movie trailer of your business and the "Art of the Sales Conversation" Assignment Video: Building a prospecting script that engages people. Prospecting Script Assignment Peer Review: Sales Toolkit - Tool #4: Prospecting Script Video: Why bad emails happen to good people. Introductory Email Assignment Graded: Sales Toolkit - Tool #2: Sales Trailer℠ Graded: Sales Toolkit - Tool #3: Sales Conversation Graded: Sales Toolkit - Tool #5: Introductory Email WEEK 4 Qualifying & Handling Objections In our Qualifying and Handling Objections module, you will continue to build out your own personal Sales Toolkit by building skills and tools around Qualifying and Handling Objections, two critical elements to being a high performing sales person. You will learn how to engage and persuade people by asking Impact Questions, and then you will turn your attention to Proposing and Closing! 12 videos, 2 practice quizzes expand Video: Congrats…you found a lead. Is it qualified? Video: Qualifying Questions Checklist Assignment Peer Review: Sales Toolkit - Tool #6: Qualifying Questions Checklist Video: Impact Questions Checklist Assignment Discussion Prompt: When do you hear Impact Questions? Peer Review: Sales Toolkit - Tool #7: Impact Question List Practice Quiz: The Art of the Sales Conversation and Qualifying Video: Know Your Objections Video: Handling Objections Video: Handling Objections Model Video: Objection-Handling Checklist Assignment Video: Writing Proposals Video: The Proposal Assignment Peer Review: Sales Toolkit - Tool #9: Proposal Video: Closing Video: Resetting Expectations Video: Win-Loss Debrief. Making your customers fall in love with your solution. Practice Quiz: Objection handling and proposing Graded: Sales Toolkit - Tool #8: Objection-Handling Checklist WEEK 5 Running High Impact Meetings & Telling Great Stories In this Module, we will explore how high performers execute great meetings - one of the most frequent things we do in business. We will learn the five critical elements of running high impact meetings, and look at how these elements combine process and persuasion to set us apart. Finally, we will look at the power of story, and how we can capture, distill and tell our stories such that we increase our influence. 6 videos, 1 reading, 1 practice quiz expand Video: The five elements of Running High-Impact Meetings Reading: 3 Tips For Productive Meetings Video: Running High Impact Meetings Model Video: The Power of Story Video: Capturing, Distilling, and Telling Stories Video: Creating Your Story Matrix Video: Story Matrix Assignment Practice Quiz: Comprehension check on the “analysis phase” of the Entrepreneurial Selling Process and the power of stories Graded: Sales Toolkit - Tool #10: Story Matrix Graded: Barter a Pen Assignment