“Increasing sales performance in the FE sector.”
The continuously changing landscape faced by the FE sector means that colleges need to gain a competitive advantage and explore additional income streams to manage reductions in funding.
The forecasted growth in apprenticeships and need to address the UK skills shortages present a great opportunity for FE Colleges. Hence, the need to maximise employer relationships to increase work based learning and commercial income has never been greater.
Introduction
In today’s skills and employment sector, competition for employer partnerships is fiercer than ever. Changes to funding, the imperative to deliver a market-led curriculum, exponential growth in apprenticeships and the need to diversify income all require employers to be at the heart of your organisation. In order to build a competitive advantage, you will understand the importance of developing high-value business partnerships with employers
Course Overview
This course will help you to develop the necessary core business development skills and techniques to ensure that you attract new employer customers and build professional long-term relationships.
By developing a solution sales approach to employer engagement, delegates will focus on impact selling techniques, create value propositions and develop a sales process that will increase apprenticeship and commercial training income – or any other employer services that you wish to expand and grow.
This course is aimed at business development professionals at all levels, as well as managers and staff across the organisation who need to build new partnerships with employers.
Session 1: Why Is Employer Engagement So Important?
- Develop your vision for employer engagement
- The external context – Why is employer engagement so important?
- Building employer training partnerships – Accountability and responsibility
- The “Employer Wheel” – Recognise the value of strategic partnerships with employers
Session 2: Successful Sales Behaviours
- Understand the 4 characteristics of successful sales professionals
- Sales behaviours deliver sales performance
- Developing a competitive advantage – How are you different from other providers?
Session 3: Solution Selling
- Use impact selling techniques to deliver sales success
- Develop solution selling models to increase sales performance
- Create value propositions – Communicating the value of your solutions
Session 4: Key Account Management
- Understand key account methodology
- Develop relationship management techniques
- Account Management v Key Account Management
- Profile existing key accounts – understand customer perceptions
- Create a key account template with milestones