Release date: May 12, 2003
Contact: Terri Thornton, 404-932-4347 or territhornton@mindspring.com
KSU's Center for Professional Selling open for business
Center uses video, expert instruction to improve sales skills
The new state-of-the-art Center for Professional Selling at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University is offering its services to the corporate world. Businesses will now have the opportunity to contract with the Center for intensive sales training. The corporate program is called "Real World Selling: A Customer Centered Sales Development System."
"A terrible thing happens if nobody sells ... nothing!" says Sales Center co-founder Harry Maziar, Executive in Residence at the Coles College, and retired CEO of NSI's Chemical Division. "This Center offers businesses a chance to improve the performance of sales personnel, who are the key players in a company's success."
The Center, located in the Burruss Building on the KSU campus, features discretely placed video cameras that tape participants making one-on-one sales calls to buyers. The participants may then watch themselves objectively, and receive feedback from instructors and peers. This is supplemented with instruction by experts with decades of sales experience.
"Sometimes in order to improve, people have to get outside their comfort zone," says clinical faculty member Chick Waddell. "Observing themselves, then receiving useful feedback, is an enlightening experience for any salesperson," Waddell adds. " We have created a different experience than typical seminars provide. At the Center for Professional Selling we take it to the next level. We expect our participants to learn, but more importantly our participants master how to effectively apply what they learn."
The Center's mission is to improve and enhance the profession of selling by promoting its image, integrity and character. It debuted last month hosting the National Collegiate Sales Competition, which attracted students and faculty from 28 universities in the U.S. and Mexico. KSU is now the home of this annual competition.
"The feedback from visiting students and business people was extremely positive," says Center Director and co-founder David Shepherd. "Participants have the opportunity to practice as many role plays as they like -- thus honing their selling skills in a very professional, real world environment," he adds.
For more information about the Center, visit http://coles.kennesaw.edu/Selling
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Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive, residential institution with a growing student population of 15,600 from 118 countries. The fifth largest out of 34 institutions in the University System of Georgia, KSU offers 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
