Sales Skills for Today: An Introduction to Entrepreneurial Sales
Learn how to sell in today’s complex marketplace and gain in-demand sales skills to accelerate your career progression.
Duration
12 weeksCost
$804
Develop the skills, competencies, and mindset of a high-performing salesperson
Created by the Entrepreneurial Sales Institute and credit-rated by Glasgow Caledonian University, this 12-week credential goes beyond sales training and will equip you with the entrepreneurial selling skills and sales mindset that you need to sell effectively in today’s challenging market.
Invest in your sales career and develop real-world sales skills
High performing salespeople will always be in demand, and strengthening your selling skills is a powerful investment for anyone working in sales or managing a sales pipeline with a revenue target.
Whilst the broad range of complex skills required to sell successfully in today’s world have evolved significantly, sales training has not. As a result, there is a global deficit of quality sales talent, with sales positions now rated as the second hardest job role to fill globally.
On this microcredential, have the opportunity to certify your sales skills to a professional standard by earning a sales diploma and develop the sales skills, competencies, and mindset that employers look for in their salespeople.
Upskill in entrepreneurial selling to drive high sales performance
Created and led by experts at the Entrepreneurial Sales Institute, this credential will help you develop your professional approach to selling, as you learn how to think about sales in a more considered, and results-orientated way.
Offering more than just sales training, this microcredential will help you to discover the value of understanding your buyer’s motivations, and build your collaboration skills for working with a prospect to ensure you close on time and mitigate risk.
You’ll finish the microcredential with a deeper understanding of how to think like a high-performing sales professional, as well as the motivation and skills to achieve as one.
Do I need to have experience working in sales?
Whilst some sales experience in a b2b sales environment is required to draw upon during course tasks, this microcredential is for individuals engaged in sales-related activities at any stage in their career. It aims to standardise the sales profession, and provide systematic and key sales knowledge to increase professionalism within the area.
How do I earn the final sales diploma?
The microcredential is assessed through a portfolio of work and impact statements that are submitted throughout the course. The credit-rated sales diploma will provide evidence of your sales competencies and understanding of this new approach towards sales as a complex profession.
This microcredential meets the standards set by the Common Microcredential Framework.
What skills will you learn?
- Become results-orientated, not task driven
- Improve time management skills
- Develop business acumen
- Collaborate with prospects
- Hone prospecting skills
- Learn relationship management
- Improve problem-solving
- Use adaptability and creativity in sales
- Build credibility as a sales professional
- Develop listening and questioning techniques
What you will achieve
By the end of the microcredential, you’ll be able to...
- Adopt a new approach towards sales as a complex profession
- Employ sophisticated sales skills in order to manage a more sophisticated buyer
- Have a deep understanding of relating the product to the market pain it fixes
- Have acute awareness of the buyer’s motivations
- Understand how to collaborate with your own business and the prospect
- Keep your “number by a date” central to all activities
- Be better prepared to manage the entire sales process
- Be better prepared to drive the prospect to a close on time
- Solve problems and mitigate risk
- Develop an understanding of yourself as a high-performing salesperson
- Develop enhanced resilience and self-motivation through continuous personal development
- Adopt an entrepreneurial mindset and drive consistency in behaviours
Are you eligible for this microcredential?
This microcredential is designed for anyone working in complex B2B sales environments, as well as those who work in a sales-related, revenue-generating role in other industries.
You do not require specific qualifications, but you do require experience managing a sales pipeline or administrating a CRM. You will be asked to draw upon your experiences throughout the course.
ESI’s curriculum defines the standard for professional sales today, and an ESI certification will enhance your application for professional sales roles and provide you with the skills to take the next step in your sales career.
Is this microcredential right for you?
This microcredential will draw on your unique sales experience – whether limited or substantial – to help you develop a mindset and skill set that will drive your performance.
An ESI sales diploma will showcase your expertise and enhance the employability of a range of sales professionals, including:
- Experienced sales executives or managers looking to strengthen and certify their sales skills.
- Existing sales or customer success practitioners with limited experience of managing a sales pipeline looking for a certification to support their career development.
Syllabus
What happens before, during, and after your microcredential
Before learning
You’ll be enrolled with the ESI and will get access to ESI’s digital learning content, as well as our online welcome area where you can start conversations with your fellow learners and read any announcements relating to your microcredential.
Course 1
From 5 Oct 2020
Introduction
Find out how you’ll learn, what to expect from the course, and how to navigate the digital learning space.
1 week
8 hours per week
Week 1
Welcome
- Set Yourself up for Success!
- How to Learn
- What is Sales?
Course 2
From 12 Oct 2020
Entrepreneurial Sales (Basics)
Learn about the basic concept and key principles of entrepreneurial sales.
1 week
9 hours per week
Week 1
Basics
- This Week
- Number by a Date
- The Winning Formula
- Summary
Course 3
From 19 Oct 2020
Business Issue
Explore the sales rationale for what you sell and how it relates to your relationship with your business and the wider market.
3 weeks
9 hours per week
Week 1
Sales Hypothesis
- This Week
- The Ten Questions
- Make it Real
- Summary
Week 2
Your Relationship with the Market
- This Week
- The Voice of the Customer
- Make it Real
- Summary
Week 3
Your Relationship with the Business
- This Week
- Collaborate with the Business
- Make it Real
- Summary
Course 4
From 9 Nov 2020
Impact Week One
Reflect on your learning so far and consider the impact your learning has had on your skills and understanding.
1 week
9 hours per week
Week 1
Impact Week
- Impact Statement
Course 5
From 16 Nov 2020
Customer
Learn the importance of understanding your buyer’s perspective and motivations and how to uncover the information you need.
3 weeks
8 hours per week
Week 1
The Other Perspective
- This Week
- Sales is All About the Prospect
- Make it Real
- Summary
Week 2
Motivation
- This Week
- The Types of Motivation at Play
- Make it Real
- Summary
Week 3
Questioning
- This Week
- Predictive Listening
- Make it Real
- Summary
Course 6
From 7 Dec 2020
Transparency
Learn the level of clarity you need to know – rather than think – that a deal will be done and how this affects your relationship.
2 weeks
8 hours per week
Week 1
Transparency
- This Week
- Shades of Transparency
- Make it Real
- Summary
Week 2
Your Relationship with the Prospect
- This Week
- A Collaborative Partnership
- Make it Real
- Summary
Course 7
From 21 Dec 2020
Impact Week Two
Reflect on your learning from the second half of the credential and submit two impact statements for assessment (deadline 6 Jan).
1 week
9 hours per week
Week 1
Impact Week
- Impact Statement
After learning
Once you have successfully completed the microcredential, you’ll receive a Professional Diploma issued by the Entrepreneurial Sales Institute which is credit-rated by Glasgow Caledonian University.
What you will receive
10 SCQF credits at Undergraduate level from Glasgow Caledonian University
GCU, a highly rated UK university, has credit-rated this microcredential. This means they have evaluated and assessed this Professional Diploma course against the Scottish Certificate and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Guidelines. The 10 SCQF credits are awarded at level 8 which is equivalent to 10 points on the European Qualification Framework at level 6.
Find out how credits work and where you can use them in our FAQs.
A Professional Diploma from The Entrepreneurial Sales Institute
What is a microcredential?
Microcredentials are designed to upskill you for work in rapidly-growing industries, without the time and cost commitment of a full degree. Your microcredential can stand alone as an independent credential, and some also offer academic credit to use towards a degree.
Complete online courses led by experts over multiple weeks with a dedicated group of professionals.
Test your understanding with online tutor-marked assessments and exercises.
Finish your learning and pass your assessments to gain an accredited credential.
Use your microcredential as evidence of your specialised skills and progress further in your industry.
Career-focused learning by Entrepreneurial Sales Institute (ESI)
For businesses attracting, selecting, onboarding, developing and engaging sales talent, this has become a major challenge. We help address these challenges with the Entrepreneurial Sales™ education programme.
This microcredential is endorsed by Verizon Connect
This syllabus is approved by Verizon Connect: “Through ESI’s sales education programme, we are now able to benchmark our team’s skills whilst they work towards a meaningful, University credit-rated diploma.” Michael Arkins, HR Lead (International).
Delivered by experts
Alan is a Co-Founder of ESI and has decades of experience in both multinational & start-up sectors having run businesses, commercial & sales organisations across the globe.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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When would you like to start?
Enrolment for this microcredential is closed. We aim to run our microcredentials every few months. Register to find out more about this microcredential and future start dates.
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FAQ
We can accept payments made by card (Visa, Mastercard and American Express) or PayPal via our online system.
You will have 14 days from the day the course starts to apply for a refund. If this Microcredential has any non-refundable costs they will be stated in the ‘Overview’ section above. You can find more information in our cancellation and refund policy.
Microcredentials are designed to fit around your life and timezone.
There may be live events as part of your studies, but these will be recorded and can be watched afterwards if you aren’t online for the live broadcast.
No, microcredentials are designed to be taken anywhere in the world. You won’t need the right to study in the country where the university offering the microcredential is based.
These credits are transferable and can be used towards further higher education qualifications such as a foundation or bachelor’s degree at Glasgow Caledonian University, or any other institution where academic credits are recognised.
Want to know more? Read the microcredential FAQs, or contact us.