Department:    BMT

 Course #:    141

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 Course Description  

Develop communication and problem-solving skills necessary to provide outstanding customer service. Learn the elements of successful customer relations within an organization. Build long-term relationships with customers through sales process including prospecting, creating product solutions, approaching the customer, creating & delivering the sales presentation, negotiating buyer concerns, closing the sale, and providing customer service and support after the sale.

 Prerequisite  

None

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0

Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Vocational Preparatory Required for ATA degree  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

1. Understand why people buy.
2. Prospect for customers and build relationships.
3. Develop positive telephone skills in handling customers.
4. Demonstrate ability to question and probe for information from customers.
5. Demonstrate the ability to use active listening skills.
6. Demonstrate effective intercultural communication.
7. Research product and industry and match product features to customer needs.
8. Demonstrate effective presentation skills.
9. Negotiate and close the sale; and provide service after the sale.
10. Demonstrate the ability to identify and handle various types of internal and external customers effectively.
11. Demonstrate ability to resolve customer dissatisfaction.
12. Demonstrate crisis resolution and problem solving skills.
13. Understand ethical sales procedures.
14. Demonstrate critical thinking and analytic skills through research and role play.
15. Use a computer to manage the sales process and as a presentation tool.
16. Work as part of a team through extended role play of sales process.
17. Understand what is customer service.
18. Communicate effectively with customers.
19. Effectively measure customer satisfaction.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2008 and affects outlines for 2008 year 1 and later.

2. Critical Thinking

Definition: The ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge within a discipline and about the ways in which that knowledge is constructed and validated and to be sensitive to the ways these processes often vary among disciplines.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
2.1 Identify and express concepts, terms, and facts related to a specific discipline.
2.2 Analyze issues and develop questions within a discipline.
2.4 Evaluate decisions by analyzing outcomes and the impact of actions.

3. Communication

Definition: Understanding and producing effective written, spoken, visual, and non-verbal communication.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
3.2 Recognize, produce and demonstrate appropriate interpersonal, group, and public speaking skills.
3.3 Demonstrate effective listening skills.
3.4 Produce academic and/or professional writing and integrate it into written and spoken projects.
3.5 Recognize, comprehend, and use non-verbal behaviors appropriate to a given context.
3.6 Recognize, comprehend, and use visual communication appropriate to a given context.
3.7 Adapt communication to diverse audiences and media.

6. Individual Awareness & Responsibility

Definition: Understanding, managing, and taking responsibility for one’s learning and behavior in varied and changing environments.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
6.2 Demonstrate standards of professionalism in manner, appearance, and setting appropriate to the context, including the classroom, workplace, and community.
6.5 Develop self-monitoring and self-advocacy skills to effect positive life changes.

7. Aesthetics & Creativity

Definition: Interpreting human experience through engagement with creative processes and aesthetic principles.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
7.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the creative process.
7.2 Demonstrate knowledge of aesthetic principles.
7.4 Demonstrate an understanding of the role of arts and creative expression in societies.

Course Contents

1. Personal selling and the marketing concept.
2. Personal selling opportunities.
3. Creating value with consultative/relationship selling.
4. Ethics in selling.
5. Developing product expertise and creating product solutions.
6. Buyer behavior.
7. Prospecting.
8. Approaching the customer by telephone , social or business contact.
9. Creating a sales presentation.
10. Using effective demonstration tools.
11. Negotiating buyer concerns.
12. Closing the sale.
13. Servicing the sale.
14. Understanding customer service.
15. Communications in customer service.
16. Coping with challenging customers.
17. Customer retention and measurement of customer satisfaction.