To look at the seven year history of Top Sales World is to see one man’s dream of collaboration and community come true. The man is Jonathan Farrington—whose vision for development of sales forces now spans the globe.
To add to that vision, this month Jonathan is launching Top Sales Academy – an online, four level, multi-module, multi-trainer curriculum that a sales manager or salesperson can enroll in individually and truly call his or her own. The drivers of this undertaking are many, but the four that stand out are:
- Making training available to the 80% of salespeople that Jonathan believes are not being trained—a figure he believes has contributed to 50% of sales people not achieving quota for what looks like it will be 5 consecutive years.
- Providing salespeople with an affordable way to take control of their own training, when their organizations are not providing it.
- Providing many of the key figures in the industry (click here to see the full impressive list) a forum for giving back, by providing their expertise gratis to make development accessible to salespeople everywhere.
- Finding a way for professionals, many of whom normally compete, to collaborate.
Top Sales Academy is one more connector in the Top Sales World. The curriculum the Academy offers is impressive in its coverage of the core skills needed to succeed in a particular sales role. Four areas that make up the curriculum are:
- Sales Management
- Internal Sales
- External Sales
- Consultative Sales
Each course is made up of 10 45 minute modules covering the skills essential for success. For example for sales managers, there are programs such as: Leadership, Sales Coaching, Recruitment/Interviewing, Maximizing Sales Tools, and Emotional Intelligence. And for salespeople: Gaining the Appointment, Call Planning, Configuring Winning Solutions, Resolving Objections, Selling with Insight, Closing Sales. There are an additional 30 courses, all with the potential to positively impact participants’ careers. The courses are role specific, and each series of 10 courses comprises a full and integrated curriculum.
Each program will be delivered online over 10 consecutive weeks. Upon completion, salespeople and sales managers will have the option to be tested and receive certification.
Unlike all of the other resources offered by Top Sales World, there will be a small fee to enroll in the Academy to cover administrative and technical expenses and to foster commitment and ownership – that fee is $99 per Program.
Although the curriculum will be available to organizations, the Academy is unique in targeting individual salespeople and sales managers.
The tag-line for Top Sales World is inspiring the global sales community. As I think about Top Sales Academy, I am inspired by the training community coming together to raise the level of professionalism among the salespeople whose sales organizations, for many different reasons, have put training on the back burner, or for individual salespeople whose organizations have provided training, but want to continuously sharpen their skills.
Jonathan feels for many organizations sales is in a sorry state and he wants to do something about it. His message: “I want as many salespeople around the world to be touched by Top Sales World. I see the Academy as a way to really do something about what is going on in the sales space. It has the potential to change people’s careers and improve their chances of hitting quota. Rather than waiting around for their companies to make them successful, we can give salespeople a way to take control of their careers.”