A self-paced online program from Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business. Build stronger sales presentations, sharper negotiation strategy, and more productive, lasting customer relationships — on your schedule.
Build the skills that turn prospects into long-term customers.
Today's buyers are more informed, more skeptical, and more resistant to traditional sales tactics than ever. The salespeople who succeed are the ones who can listen carefully, frame value clearly, handle objections without flinching, and earn the kind of trust that turns a single deal into a lasting relationship.
Sales Essentials is designed for sales professionals at every stage of their career — from those entering the field to experienced reps looking to sharpen their skills. Through engaging online modules taught by Virginia Tech faculty with decades of B2B sales experience, you'll build stronger sales presentation skills, sharpen your negotiation strategy, and develop more productive, lasting customer relationships.
A guided journey through every part of the modern sales conversation — from finding the right prospect to closing the deal and growing the account.
Understand the difference between transactional and trust-based relationship selling, and where you fit on the spectrum from stimulus-response to consultative.
Trust is the currency of long-term selling. Learn the five components of earned trust, the knowledge bases that build it, and where ethical lines actually sit.
Map the buying decision process, recognize different buyer categories, and learn to read needs accurately so your conversations land where they matter.
Master the question types and listening modes that move a conversation forward — including an introduction to SPIN, strategic probing, and non-verbal communication.
Build and drive a healthy funnel. Compare prospecting methods from cold outreach to referrals, and learn what you actually need to know before the first call.
Move beyond canned pitches. Practice customer-focused, adaptive selling that separates features from benefits and speaks to both rational and emotional buying motives.
Six keys to a productive sales dialogue, the use of check-backs and confirmed benefits, and how to sell to groups when more than one decision-maker is in the room.
Understand why prospects raise objections, the categories those objections fall into, how to negotiate through them, and how to close the deal with confidence.
The work that begins after the close: effective follow-up, complaint resolution, growing large accounts, and differentiating yourself from the competition over time.
The personal habits behind a productive sales career — goal-setting, territory and account classification, and the five stages of self-leadership that help you work smarter.
Practical capability you can apply to your next conversation.
If you sell — or lead people who do — this program is built for you.
You're entering the sales field or moving into a sales role from another function. You need a complete, foundational picture of how modern selling actually works — without the trial-and-error.
You've been selling for years and know the work. You want to sharpen specific skills — objection handling, negotiation, value framing — and challenge assumptions you've stopped questioning.
You manage a team that needs a consistent vocabulary and a shared process. Use the program as a baseline for your team — or as a refresher on the fundamentals you coach against every day.
You're the one closing deals for your business and you wear every hat. Pick up the structured skills and frameworks that let you sell with the consistency of a trained professional.
A practitioner-led program from the leaders of Virginia Tech's Sales Center, built on decades of real-world B2B sales experience.
Your instructors bring more than 45 combined years in B2B sales, sales leadership, and negotiation training — not just classroom theory. You learn from people who have actually carried a quota and led sales teams.
The curriculum is grounded in relationship and value-driven selling. You'll move past pitch-and-pressure tactics and develop the kind of selling style that holds up in a long sales cycle and a competitive market.
Fully online and self-paced via Canvas. Fit the modules around real work and travel without losing momentum — and revisit the material whenever a deal demands it.
Two Virginia Tech faculty members from the Pamplin College of Business, both leaders of the VT Sales Center.
Professor of Practice
Director, VT Sales Center
Brian brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry — in banking, M&A, and sales — including a senior role at a firm focused on teaching sales professionals to master negotiation and sell to executives. At Virginia Tech, he directs the Sales Center, leads the Sales Competition Team, advises the PSE sales fraternity, and chairs the Sales Industry Board. His teaching is centered on B2B sales skills, negotiation, and managing sales forces.
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Associate Professor of Practice
Associate Director, VT Sales Center
Mark brings more than 25 years of professional, hands-on B2B sales experience to the classroom. At SCA Tissue and Morcon, he held sales leadership roles in marketing, sales management, and business development, building customer bases both domestically and internationally. Before joining Virginia Tech, he served as Sales Professional in Residence at The College of Saint Rose, where he taught sales management, personal selling, and negotiation, and helped launch a standalone Sales Management major.
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Questions? Reach out to our team—we're happy to help you decide if Sales Essentials is the right fit.
