Indian Institute of Management, Raipur (IIM-R) conducted a two-day management development programme on ‘Increasing effectiveness in selling’ on January 17-18, 2014.
Prof BS Sahay, Director, IIM Raipur, was the chief guest of the inaugural ceremony and in his address he talked about the increasing demand of management development programme for working executives. He stressed upon the need of knowledge sharing with the industry and the society for the development of the human resources of the state and the nation. Prof Sanjeev Prashar, IIM Raipur and Prof Vinita Sahay, IIM Raipur, were the programme directors of the two-day progamme endeavored to transform selling from an occupation to an ever growing and self-rewarding profession. The programme was exclusively designed for sales executives, sales managers and sales trainers performing their present roles on any one or more of selling strategies ranging from the basic communication, persuasion and negotiation to the most complex ones of client profit planning and business development. The programme aimed at providing a platform to the practicing sales managers to think and exchange the ideas and practices in sales, selling and sales calls.
Professionals from the renowned companies such as Amul, BAlCO, VNR seeds, OSN Dubai etc. participated in the programme and learned the nitty-gritty of the effective selling strategies and techniques. The course contents included topics such as ‘techniques for effective prospecting’, ‘establishing rapport and gaining attention’, ‘self mirroring and self tests on sales compatibility’ and ‘effective and result-oriented sales presentation and demonstration’.
During the programme, interactive sessions with conceptual inputs, case analyses, in class exercises and problem assignments, based on a spectrum of industries and companies were held to develop and reinforce the key concepts of selling. These sessions were facilitated through psychological testing instruments, critical incident analysis, in basket technique, demonstrative role plays and dialogue exercises. The event concluded after the participants shared their experiences.