Scale the Sales Economy: Thought Leaders Discuss Numbers, Opportunities for Sales Professionals
On Tuesday, December 8, Virtanza joined leaders from UCI’s Department of Continuing Education, the Orange County Business Council, and Eastridge Workforce Solutions to discuss Sales - as a career choice, an industry, and as a driver of economic recovery. Dr. Wallace Walrod, Chief Economic Advisor with Orange County Business Council and Managing Partner of Tech Coast Consulting Group, spent the first part of the online gathering sharing key employment statistics and setting the stage for panelists to offer perspective.
With fresh labor market information at the ready, Dr. Walrod pointed out that there are currently 43,000 open sales jobs in Orange County. According to Acclaim, a job board sourcing over 1,000 different sites, there are actually 118,085 total sales jobs in California. With starting salaries from $50K, $70K and even $100K+, Dr. Walrod says, “Sales is an undiscovered, tremendous career pathway, and one of the best professions to help accelerate one’s career, regardless of industry.”
Though many sectors like Travel & Hospitality, Entertainment, and Food & Beverage have seen unprecedented unemployment, Adam Klaucke, Executive Vice President with Eastridge Workforce Solutions, a San Diego company specializing in workforce management and recruitment services, reacted to a mixed economic forecast with optimism. “In fact, November was our company’s best month on record,” he shared. “But it required significant adapting on my team’s part.” While Klaucke spent most of 2019 on an airplane joining Outside Sales representatives in face-to-face meetings, he reported not having flown since March and recognizes the major pivot his salesforce has made in 2020.
The Global Digital Economy is no longer on the horizon. It’s here. Such major pivots occurred at every company worldwide, and an entirely new set of demands and performance standards are being placed on sales professionals moving into 2021.
“There has never been a better time to learn and apply new sales techniques and technology skills,” Debbie Holzkamp, Founder and CEO of Virtanza, ENTHUSIASTICALly told webinar attendees.
Major employers in cloud technology, cybersecurity, online storage, and e-commerce are aggressively growing their teams, and there are intense expectations of those sales professionals who represent their products and services. Unemployed and under-employed people can accent previous valuable experience with in-demand sales technology and communication skills through short, stackable certificate programs like Professional Sales Readiness and Sales Management One at UCI. Entrepreneurs and business owners, too, have an opportunity to upskill and make an immediate impact on their bottom lines.
The scalability of online classrooms and the ease of implementation by training partners like Virtanza allows for greater accessibility to in-demand career pathway programs for diverse populations, added Stephan Muller, Academic Director of Business and Technology Programs through UCI’s Department of Continuing Education. Even before the unprecedented shifts and uncertainties in our world brought about by the pandemic, Muller’s department has pursued more and more partnerships that directly answer employer needs. “Introducing the employer earlier in the education process so that graduates are leaving with the skills they need to be successful from Day One continues to be a priority,” he said.
Such innovation and adaptation are key, and UCI’s Professional Sales Program is an excellent opportunity for people in the labor market who are looking for an opportunity to get training, find a job, and move forward.
“There is a hunger out there,” Dr. Walrod said in closing remarks. “What’s striking and encouraging is that there is a more structured, more formal pathway forward for people to enter the sales industry. Sales is an untold story, and we need to continue to tell people of the opportunities for very lucrative careers in sales.”
The entire webinar can be viewed here. Complete details of the Professional Sales Program at UCI are available here. Winter sessions of Professional Sales Readiness and Sales Management One begin January 7th and 8th.