If you’re a sales leader, you already know the importance of staying up-to-date with the best practices, technical skills, programs, and methodologies in your industry. So what if you could take your expertise a step—or two—further with courses designed to enhance your sales leadership skills?
Welcome to the ever-growing and ever-diversifying world of professional development certifications. Professional development certifications (we’ll just call them “certifications”) refer to certificates received upon successful completion of any formal course that enhances a particular set of professional skills. Better yet—these courses teach you skills you can use right away in your job.
“Not only do certifications prove your competence in specific disciplines within your industry, but the process of completing the course also helps you hone the skills you need the most. For sales leaders, these are vital benefits.” Says Abby Prince, ProSearch Director.
Here are a handful of certificates that we think every sales leader—from Account Executive to CEO—can use to improve their performance and that of their teams.
Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP)
A Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP) certification is designed for upper-level sales professionals. In this six-week online course, sales leaders and their teams will learn best practices for optimizing their current sales processes to increase sales through better understanding customer needs. A CPSP certification is especially valuable for sales professionals seeking to improve how to handle different types of customers.
Certified Professional Sales Leader (CPSL)
A Certified Professional Sales Leader (CPSL) certification is a little more fine-tuned to the specific issues sales leaders face on a daily basis. Offered through the Sales Management Association, sales leaders taking the CPSL course can expect to learn about influencing the behavior of people on their sales team through implementing people-centric leadership strategies and improving workplace communication.
Certified Master Sales Professional (CMSP)
The Certified Master Sales Professional (CMSP) certification is the most advanced certification the National Association of Sales Professionals has to offer. It’s a 14-month course that combines the content of two of the organization’s most popular sales courses (CPSP and CPSL)—plus an Advanced Sales Influence course and a whole year of private sales coaching. The CMSP course is designed for sales leaders looking to maximize their ability to close deals in any situation.
Certified Sales Executive (CSE)
The Certified Sales Executive (CSE) certificate is a great option for sales managers. Offered through Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI), this course shares today’s most successful sales strategies and practical implementation tips that can be useful for individual sales executives as well as entire sales teams. This course also teaches sales leaders how to build, communicate, and facilitate their visions within their teams for faster revenue growth and optimized sales performance.
Sales Training for High Performing Teams Specialization
Last but not least, we recommend the Sales Training for High Performing Sales Teams Specialization course offered by HubSpot Academy (also accessible through Coursera) for sales leaders looking to enhance the skills and processes of already high-performing teams. This specialization contains four distinct courses that cover everything your team needs to know from the fundamentals of building a successful sales career to choosing the right business strategy for your sales goals in a fast-paced environment.
Start With a Great Sales Foundation
Today, professional development certificates are available at your fingertips and typically don’t take much time to complete. What’s not as easy is finding the right talent to keep your sales team driving revenue up.
If you’re in this boat, it’s time to try CSS ProSearch to connect your business with the industry’s best and brightest sales professionals—fast!