International Trade Week

As it is International Trade Week, why not take a look at the Transforming International Sales Results course, available on the EM3 funded Innovation South Virtual Campus (ISVC).

Organised by the Department for Business & Trade (DBT), the aim of International Trade Week, which runs until Friday November 10, is to help UK businesses grow by selling their products and services overseas.

This is hugely important to the EM3 region, which covers north and central Hampshire and west Surrey. As the UK’s fourth largest economy, our productive and highly skilled region makes a significant contribution towards our country’s innovation and growth, exporting goods and services around the world worth more than £24 billion a year.

However, a shortage of skilled business-to-business salespeople threatens to hold back many businesses.

It is a serious issue, highlighted by labour market intelligence and employers’ insights shared by the Enterprise M3 Skills Advisory Panel (SAP) indicating that more needs to be done to train and recruit people with strong B2B skills, particularly to find new global trading opportunities outside the European Union.

B2B sales occupations have consistently appeared in job posting data from the LEP area, showing constant demand from employers looking for talent to sell their products and services.

It is a direct result of this information and SAP discussions that the Transforming International Sales Results course was made available on the ISVC platform.

The course is funded by the Department for Education through its Strategic Development Fund and is a collaboration between Activate Learning and the Institute of Sales Professionals.

Topics include how to generate a sales pipeline, the importance of qualifying and quantifying opportunities, successfully completing the sales cycle to win business and expanding your business overseas.

DBT offers valuable guidance and support for UK exporters details of which can be found here. To find our more about International Trade Week and its events, please follow this link.

If you would like to know more about the ISVC or about the work of the SAP, please contact EM3 Skills Strategy Manager, Jamie Mackay, by emailing jamie.mackay@enterprisem3.org.uk.