Executives, owners and branch managers of distribution businesses cannot afford to have inside sales people who are merely order-takers. The highly professional Inside Sales Specialist is emerging as a first line of defense in protecting and growing a distributor's profitability. The new course, "Essentials of Profitable Inside Sales -- Critical Skills for the Distribution Sales Specialist," in development by the ASA Education Foundation, accelerates that growth and development. Based on the job description from ASA's Employee Performance Improvement Tool Kit, this course teaches an inside sales person to incorporate customer needs, customer and transaction profitability, and gross margin requirements into their decision making process. When it's completed in late September of this year, the program will include the basic instruction course book, self-tests, final exam and certificate.

Contents include:

• The Expanding Role of Inside Sales
  
• Customer Service is Defined by the Customer
  
• Handling Problem Customers Effectively
  
• Generating Profitable Sales
  
• Pricing Practices that Improve Profitability
  
• Essential Selling Skills
  
• Becoming a First-Rate Distribution Sales Specialist
  
• Communications - The Key to Effective Selling
  
• How to Manage Your Time Effectively
  
• The Meaning of Professionalism in Distribution

For more information about this publication, or about any of the ASA Education Foundation offerings, call us at 312-464-0090 or visit www.asaef.org. We update our website regularly with a variety of valuable information and resources.