Apprenticeship Programme Overview
A Sales Executive plans their sales activities, leads the end-to-end sales interaction with the customer and manages their sales internally within their organisation.
They will be responsible for retaining and growing several existing customer accounts, and generating new business by contacting prospective customers, qualifying opportunities, and bringing the sales process to a mutually acceptable close.
Typically, a Sales Executive will deal with a single point of contact for each sale and will present a pre-considered value proposition. The entire sales process may be completed during a single customer ‘conversation’, or over a series of interactions.
Achievement of the standard meets the eligibility requirements for Sales Certification at Level 4 with the Association of Professional Sales (APS).
This programme is fully customisable.
What Will Your Sales People Improve?
Knowledge
- Organisational knowledge
- Product, service and sector knowledge
- Market knowledge
- Customer knowledge
- Commercial and financial acumen
- Digital knowledge
Skills
- Sales planning and preparation
- Customer engagement
- Customer needs analysis
- Propose and present solutions
- Negotiate
- Closing sales
- Gathering intelligence
- Time management
- Collaboration and team- work
- Customer experience management
- Digital skills
Behaviours
- Ethics and integrity
- Proactivity
- Self-discipline
- Resilience and self-motivation
- Continuous professional development
Developing Your Programme
Key to the success of your apprenticeship programme will be for MTD to work in partnership with you to develop your programme so that it reflects your mission, values and behaviours, harnesses core working practices, terminology and wherever possible aligns to or embeds in house training opportunities.
Working in partnership with our curriculum experts we will develop a programme that is unique to your organisation.
The programme will be designed around your exact requirements to ensure that you receive real, tangible outcomes that can be evidenced in the workplace.
Below is some further information about the entry criteria and structure of the Sales Executive Level 4 programme.
Programme Details
Programme
We’ll create a development schedule that aligns with your business requirements and availability of your people. Typically this programme takes between 18 to 24 months to complete.
Requirements
Learners will be required to have or achieve level 1 English and Maths and to have taken level 2 English and Maths tests prior to completion of their Apprenticeship.
English Support?
Learners will be supported to develop and improve their English and maths skills prior to sitting their Functional Skills exams by our specialist functional skills trainers.
Skills & Behaviours
Achieved through a programme of masterclass workshops, tasks, activities and research. The masterclasses can be delivered face to face or online delivered by our specialist trainers.
Coaching & Support
Learners will be required to demonstrate their skills, knowledge and behaviours in the work setting. This activity will be supported by one of our experienced skills coaches.
Assessment
Throughout their apprenticeship journey, learners will be given support to develop their understanding and approach to completing their end point assessment.
Programme Structure
This programme has been designed in a way that will maximise the performance of each learner. Learning the theory of a topic is great but it’s what the learner does to embed the learning and actually use it, that matters most.
All learning is reinforced with ongoing coaching, online resources and off-the-job activity to bring it all to life.
Each part of the programme supports the learner to apply their knowledge and skills via INTENT – IMPLEMENT – IMPACT.
- What did they plan to change?
- What did they change and how?
- What impact did it make?
Initial workshop and event about the programme and how to get a high grade.
Practical and engaging. Can be classroom based or delivered virtually. Run by best in class trainers.
To take in-between masterclasses and to help embed the learning. Self-study and in the flow of work resources.
Held between the learner, employer and skills coach to monitor progress and to make any adjustments.
End of programme assessment. Consists of activities like observations, evidence, tests and discussions.
Creation of a pre-programme learning and development plan. Includes goal setting and actions.
One to one development with a designated skills coach. Covers skills and an assessment progress review.
20% of the learner’s total working hours is used for “off-the-job” learning and development activities.
Our designated skills coaches will always be on hand to help your learners all throughout the programme.
Learners gain a pass, merit or distinction from their end point assessment based on their results.
Programme of 7 x 1-Day Masterclasses
Our masterclasses are facilitated by best in class trainers for each topic. Content, activities, tasks, exercises and discussions are covered before, during and after each session to bring the learning to life and to ensure that it is implemented.
- Organisational Knowledge and Product, Service and Sector Knowledge
- Market and Customer Knowledge and Engagement
- Commercial and Financial Acumen and Digital Knowledge
- Sales Planning and Preparation – Propose and Present Solutions
- Negotiating and Closing Sales
- Gathering Intelligence, Digital Skills and Time Management
- Customer Experience Management, Collaboration and Teamwork
Organisational Knowledge and Product, Service and Sector Knowledge
The following topics will be covered before, during and after each masterclass and as part of the off-the-job learning:
- Understanding your organisation’s overall strategy, vision, values and capabilities
- Linking your marketing and sales strategies to your overall company strategy
- Understanding where your role fits within your company sales and marketing strategies/objective
- Understanding the features and benefits of your product/service
- Linking your features and benefits to meet customer needs
- Competitor analysis – how does your proposition stack up?
- Understanding the nature of your sector and the likely forthcoming changes to it
- Understanding the legal, regulatory and ethical frameworks relating to your sector and role
Specialist Trainer Engaging Practical Customised Face to Face or Virtual
Market Knowledge, Customer Knowledge and Engagement
The following topics will be covered before, during and after each masterclass and as part of the off-the-job learning:
- Understanding how your market is segmented
- Targeting specific segments through effective product or service positioning
- Analysing the macro and micro-environment of individual customers
- Understand the challenges and purchasing motivations of your customers
- Discovering the internal and external factors that impact customer purchasing decisions
- Effective communication and interpretation of customer information
- How to develop a customer engagement style that effectively opens sales discussions
- Building rapport, enhancing customer relationships and adapting to different customer’s social preferences
Specialist Trainer Engaging Practical Customised Face to Face or Virtual
Commercial and Financial Acumen and Digital Knowledge
The following topics will be covered before, during and after each masterclass and as part of the off-the-job learning:
- How to gain a working knowledge of the principles of finance for sales
- Understanding profit and loss, margins, return on investment and budgeting
- Exploring the impacts of different types of costs on the business and the drivers of profitable deals
- Exploring the impacts of any discount or variation in terms of what is on offer
- Creating the balance of commercial financial drivers and financial acumen with the impact on the client
- Exploring a range of digital technologies, and how and when best to use them throughout the sales cycle
Specialist Trainer Engaging Practical Customised Face to Face or Virtual
Sales Planning and Preparation – Propose and Present Solutions
The following topics will be covered before, during and after each masterclass and as part of the off-the-job learning:
- Understand what excellence looks like end to end with your sales interactions
- Consultative selling techniques and approaches
- The DNA of a successful proposal – content and presentation styles and techniques
- Presenting your proposed product/solutions
- How to clearly articulate the value and benefit of the solution for the specific customer
- Techniques and strategies to draw-out and overcome common sales objections
- How to retain and grow existing customer accounts
- Prospecting techniques and approaches
Specialist Trainer Engaging Practical Customised Face to Face or VirtualNegotiating and Closing Sales
The following topics will be covered before, during and after each masterclass and as part of the off-the-job learning:
- Understanding the difference between selling and negotiating
- The 5 phases of a successful negotiation
- Planning and researching your customer’s likely desired outcomes and negotiating stance
- How to plan out and develop responses to likely objections
- Identify your own organisation’s needs, such as minimum price and acceptable terms
- How to negotiate and trade variables effectively
- Understand when to close and how to close at the right time
- Develop ethical techniques to close sales and confirm customers’ purchase agreement
Specialist Trainer Engaging Practical Customised Face to Face or Virtual
Gathering Intelligence, Digital skills and Time Management
The following topics will be covered before, during and after each masterclass and as part of the off-the-job learning:
- Collecting, analysing and interpreting market intelligence
- Using digital tools to conduct research and target customers
- How to deliver presentations and meetings using digital communication
- Complete accurate records and sales administration
- How to plan your sales and prioritise/manage your time effectively
Specialist Trainer Engaging Practical Customised Face to Face or Virtual
Customer Experience management | Collaboration and Teamwork
The following topics will be covered before, during and after each masterclass and as part of the off-the-job learning:
- What does customer excellence look like?
- Managing customer enquiries and issues effectively
- How to prevent and minimise customer concerns and complaints
- Handling all customer interactions professionally to the customer’s satisfaction
- Working as part of a sales team
- Work collaboratively with both internal and external stakeholders
- Working in cross-functional teams in relation to the effective delivery of your sales, such as finance and service delivery
- How to support continual business improvement by sharing best practice with sales team colleagues
Specialist Trainer Engaging Practical Customised Face to Face or Virtual
View our existing training programmes and those we have in the pipeline.
Understand the funding available for levy and non-levy employers.
Find out how to run a TNA within your organisation to identify skills gaps.
Get In Touch!
If you have got some training requirements in mind please call us on 0333 320 2883 or complete the online form below and tell us about what they are and we’ll get back to you with some options and costs.