Improving ag sales skills the subject of training seminar

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

For the first time ever, the University of Saskatchewan Centre for Continuing and Distance Education (CCDE) is offering an intensive training seminar in sales skills specific to the agriculture industry.

The program, entitled “Skills for Sales Success for Agriculture Professionals,” will be held October 24, 25, and 26 at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

According to Kari Nicolas, the Program Co-ordinator for Agriculture Programs at the CCDE, “Anyone with a sales component to their job [can benefit from the course]. It deals with core sales competencies that are applicable to almost any position that involves even partial responsibility for sales.”

The Skills for Sales Success program will involve approximately 25 hours of classroom work over a three-day period. It is an intensive version of a 13-week program that has previously been offered by the centre.

“We designed the program to fit over a weekend because we’ve found that people simply can’t afford to be away from their desks for more than a couple of days,” said Nicolas.

The facilitator of the course is Fred Matiko, a Certified Sales Professional who has facilitated the longer version of the program for the department for nine years, and has taught an agricultural economics class offered at the university.

Nicolas said she also encourages agricultural producers to take the training course. “With diversification and the pursuit of new markets, producers are becoming their own sales people,” she noted. “The skills being taught through the program are applicable to all aspects of business.”

The course includes training in a number of important competencies, including consultative selling, relationship building, communications, strategic planning, time management and personal development.

The course curriculum has been approved by the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists as a professional development opportunity for agrologists and agricultural technologists. The registration fee is $424, which includes all course materials, lunches and refreshments.

Since this is the first time the three-day version has been offered, Nicolas said she is anxious to see how participants evaluate the program. “We will be checking with them throughout the course to make sure that we are providing what is needed, and they will be asked to provide a written evaluation to help guide us in the future.”

She suggested that the course may become an annual offering if the demand is present.

Information and registration forms for the Skills for Sales Success for Agriculture Professionals course are available online at www.extension.usask.ca/go/ag, or by calling (306) 966-5539.

For further information, contact:

Kari Nicolas, P.Ag., Program Co-ordinator for Agricultural Programs
University of Saskatchewan Centre for Continuing and Distance Education
Phone: (306) 966-5592