Virginia Tech offers forest products selling course
Virginia Tech’s Center for Forest Products Marketing and Managing recognizes that many professionals in the industry don’t have the training they need to begin a successful career in marketing forest products. Selling Forest Products is a program designed to address that need, especially today, in light of fierce global competition.
Virginia Tech will present its 10th annual short course covering personal selling and other principal marketing strategies on Dec. 1-2. The course will be held at The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center.
The agenda covers topics such as customer behavioral styles, developing a personal selling profile, locating customers, making a successful sales presentation, goal setting, the wood products industry, territorial management, and trade shows.
Participants should be new sales and marketing personnel in the forest products industry, those who want to improve their sales skills, and sales managers who would like to improve the effectiveness of their sales force.
In addition to Virginia Tech’s Center for Forest Products Marketing and Management, other sponsors of the course include Virginia Forest Products Association, Sloan Forest Industries Center, Hardwood Manufacturers Association, and Virginia Tech’s Outreach Program Development.
Instructors are Bob Smith, associate professor and extension specialist in forest products marketing and director of the Center for Forest Products Marketing and Management, and Robert Bush, professor of forest products marketing and associate dean for Graduate and Research Studies.
The deadline for registration is Nov. 1. Interested persons can register online at http://www.conted.vt.edu/sfp.
The College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top five programs of its kind in the nation. Faculty members stress both the technical and human elements of natural resources and instill in students a sense of stewardship and land-use ethics. Areas of studies include environmental resource management, fisheries and wildlife sciences, forestry, geospatial and environmental analysis, natural resource recreation, urban forestry, wood science and forest products, geography, and international development.
