Effective Sales - An Overview (Coursera)

The sales functions are discussed with models and frameworks that support the planning process, which includes assumptions regarding the strategic guidelines, such as aggregate revenue targets, company’s earnings, and expected cash flow from the company’s operations. These variables are all related to the strategy of the company.
The target audience of this specialization include professionals with some experience in sales, they might have been promoted to a managing position recently, or they have plans to improve their expertise in the sales area to apply to more challenging positions in the future.
Prerequisite for this specialization is general knowledge of business concepts, models, and tools. Professionals who have concluded undergraduate courses of business administration, and also of different areas of knowledge, such as engineering, economics, accounting, and social sciences.
It’s also important to emphasize that sales involve a broad range of areas, there are products and services related to agriculture, petrochemical, automobile, aeronautics, chemical, pharmaceutical, medical, insurance, education, retail, and consulting industries, just to mention some examples. That means sales professionals are from all sectors.
Therefore, learners of different academic backgrounds may benefit from doing this specialization, which is structured to support sales planning and management from a methodological standpoint. And this approach applies to a diverse range of sectors.
The primary learning outcome of this specialization is the improvement of the sales planning and management competencies and skills, by providing a set of concepts, models, tools, and techniques to support the development of the sales plan structure, which will support the sale plan development.

Course 1 of 5 in the Strategic Sales Management Specialization

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Effective Sales Planning
Welcome to Effective Sales Planning module. This module brings a discussion about the sales functions and their interconnection to the strategy of the company. We’ll analyze the sales functions with a strategic view, in the sense that sales planning and management play a pivotal role to support the achievement of the strategic objectives of the company. Major issues of strategic sales planning are discussed, such as the potential dissonance between marketing and sales areas. We also do a historical perspective of the sales functions, the integration of sales to the strategy, and the sales strategy cycle overview to support the integration. The academic emphasis of this module is, therefore, in the process of improving the awareness about the importance of sales-strategy integration. By being aware of this integration, a sales professional will develop the sales planning process, which eventually will contribute to the whole sales management function.

WEEK 2
Strategic Sales Planning
Welcome to Strategic Sales Management specialization. This specialization course focus on providing conceptual and practical guidance on sales planning and management. The development of the specialization goes through the different phases of the sales planning process, keeping attention on the connection to the strategy of the company. Concepts discussed in this specialization aim to support the analyses on how to plan sales in alignment to the strategic guidelines of the company. The sales functions are discussed with models and frameworks that support the planning process, which includes assumptions regarding the strategic guidelines, such as aggregate revenue targets, company’s earnings, and expected cash flow from the company’s operations. These variables are all related to the strategy of the company. The target audience of this specialization include professionals with some experience in sales, they might have been promoted to a managing position recently, or they have plans to improve their expertise in the sales area to apply to more challenging positions in the future. Prerequisite for this specialization is general knowledge of business concepts, models, and tools. Professionals who have concluded undergraduate courses of business administration, and also of different areas of knowledge, such as engineering, economics, accounting, and social sciences. It’s also important to emphasize that sales involve a broad range of areas, there are products and services related to agriculture, petrochemical, automobile, aeronautics, chemical, pharmaceutical, medical, insurance, education, retail, and consulting industries, just to mention some examples. That means sales professionals are from all sectors. Therefore, learners of different academic backgrounds may benefit from doing this specialization, which is structured to support sales planning and management from a methodological standpoint. And this approach applies to a diverse range of sectors. The primary learning outcome of this specialization is the improvement of the sales planning and management competencies and skills, by providing a set of concepts, models, tools, and techniques to support the development of the sales plan, and then the plan implementation and control.

WEEK 3
Customer-oriented Selling
Welcome to Customer Centered Selling module.In this module, the focus is on the concepts that contribute to the connection between sales and strategy. One of the top issues in sales planning is the integration to the strategic guidelines of the company. And this module brings a methodological approach of practical methods that contribute to the planning process.How do we do it? By discussing prescriptions and recommendations that apply to methods, tools, and techniques that typically are involved when analyzing strategy. The discussions on the topics related to the strategy go through the lessons of this module, with a sales perspective on sight, which contributes to building the awareness on how to apply the methods to converge sales analyses to strategy analyses. And this academic development is the core focus that supports the integrative approach to sales planning and corporate strategy. The methods discussed in this module relate to the intelligence analysis, which is (or should be) applied in strategy analysis and formulation. Applying these methods with a sales standpoint contributes to the establishment of strategic sales guidelines, and these guidelines support the sales planning process.

WEEK 4
Strategic Sales Management In Action: Our Journey Begins
Welcome to Strategic Sales Management In Action – The start of the strategic sales management journey. This module serves as a guideline to develop the final assignment of Course 1: Effective Sales – an overview.In this assignment, the challenge is to analyze the context of a business case that presents sales related issues, due to the strategic challenges that executives of the company have been facing. The case description brings the business context of the company’s sector, which has an ongoing change that impacts the business of printing and graphics machine manufacturer. One of the most relevant impacts is the demand for the manufacturer’s customers, which eventually influences the potential sales of the manufacturer. In a nutshell, the assignment is about the analyses and approaches that would apply to support the sales functions of such a company.