Sales & Negotiation

This above all practical minor is for anyone who aims to convince people! Would you like to work in a commercial position within a company or maybe start your own business? Do you want to work in a business-to-business environment or rather in a business-to retail/consumer environment? Would you like to work at an advertising agency or rather at a tech company? Or do you want to become an account manager, broker or perhaps a buyer in, for example, the fashion industry?

Whatever your career will be, your position will require you to convince others of your ideas, vision, services and / or products, whether they are your colleagues, managers, suppliers and/or customers.

The commercial world is becoming increasingly complex for companies. That is why the skill to manage and maintain customer relationships and create partnerships is paramount. In order to make the right choices and be convincing in such a dynamic commercial environment, you need to have expertise in sales strategies, as well as the ability to manage contrasting views, interests and perspectives.

This minor Sales & Negotiation offers you knowledge of important sales processes and strategies within a commercial environment and contains a lot of training programs that will give you the opportunity to optimize your sales skills and negotiation techniques. You will learn transferable skills that are applicable in both business and private situations.

The minor consists of two modules of 10 weeks which contains 15 ECTs each. Each module consists of three main parts:

1. Sales Training – 14 ECTs (7 ECTs per module)

Learning to sell and convince other stakeholders is something you must actually do and experience!

Learning by doing is the key approach to optimizing your sales skills in this minor. Therefore, you will receive hands-on training and coaching by trainers with many years of experience in sales. In order to provide the personal attention and coaching required, we work with groups of up to 16 students. You learn the intricacies of the profession based on real-life cases and practical experiences of your trainer. You will be able to study the theory at your own pace by means of online video clips. The weekly physical training sessions will enable you to put theory into practice.

Your conversational skills will be tested during a sales conversation in a realistic business-to-retail context; you will participate as a representative of a well-known leading premium brand in a Business-to-Retail environment.

• In the first module of the minor, the focus of the training courses is on conducting structured sales conversations and developing convincing sales support materials.
• In the second module, negotiation is the central theme. Here you will learn how to negotiate in a structured way, how to convince others and how to increase the effectiveness of your sales conversation and negotiations.

1. Learning Community – 8 ECTs (4 ECTs per module)

Everyone has different ambitions within sales. One wants to have an international sales role, the other wants to become an account manager in fashion or in a technical business-to-business environment. One wants to become a real estate agent, and another wants to start his own business.

The Learning Community will allow you to deepen your knowledge to those facets of the sales profession that you are interested in. Based on personal learning objectives, you will develop a substantive portfolio. Theory and practice go hand in hand in the Learning Community. This way you determine your own sales assignments, and you will shadow with various sales professionals in professional practice. You will really make your own choices and be the architect of your own educational program. During the physical meetings you will be coached by trainers who have all worked in sales practice.

1. Supporting courses –  8 ECTs (4 ECTs per module)

Apart from the practical skills in sales and negotiations, you will need to lay the theoretical groundwork. Therefore, this minor offer two courses per module that support the Sales Trainings and Learning Communities. Within these courses, various topics are discussed that you need to know about to be able to execute sales within the company and to give content and meaning to the sales conversation. These courses are supported with online video clips and various online workshops.  In addition, guest speakers with hands-on experience in the field of business will share their insights. In a group you work on practical sales cases.

Each module consists of the following courses:

1. Module 1:
   1. Demand Generation – you will learn about the acquisition process and the key elements to the start of a successful sales process!
   2. Trade Marketing – you will learn all the ins and outs of sales and category management in a Business-to-Retail environment.
2. Module 2:
   1. Sales Strategy - You will learn the importance of a good sales strategy in a Business-to-Business environment and how to implement it.
   2. Account Management – This course is all about every aspect that is important for good relationship management.

 

Learning objectives

In this minor you will learn more about:

1. Developing and executing an (international) sales and account strategy.
2. Conducting a convincing and structured sales conversation
3. Developing negotiation skills and competences

Admission

Prior education

As the programme is of an advanced nature, a minimum condition for admission is successful completion of two years of undergraduate study in Commerce (120 ECTS)

 

English

The minimum requirement for English is European Framework B2. The Language Proficiency Report must be preferably completed by an English Language lecturer and accompanied by the application form. For more information: http://www.toefl.org. If you have any doubts, we offer you the option of having an interview to determine whether your level of spoken English is sufficient. The interview can be held via MS Teams.

You will be assessed by means of a portfolio as well as an oral assessment.

Important:

This minor is linked to Ondernemerschap & Retail Management (ORM-H).

You need this information for your application in Studielink.

Dutch or English

You can choose in which language you aim to follow this minor! For the Sales Trainings, Learning Community and Supporting courses, a choice can be made from two possibilities:

1. Dutch language. You follow all training courses and seminars in the Dutch language. The exams and assignments are also in Dutch. However, the literature and the various digital materials for this minor are in English. Your peers will be Dutch students of Avans and other Dutch universities of applied sciences. You can apply via this link, https://www.kiesopmaat.nl/modules/avans/AWO/61225/
2. English language. You follow all training courses and lessons in English. The exams and assignments are also in English. Your peers are students from other foreign universities of applied sciences, which gives a super fun, interesting and instructive international dynamic!

 

The literature and the various digital materials for this minor are always in English.