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Business Students Learn the Softer Side of Success through Sandler Training

By Keith Morelli

Jim Marshall

TAMPA (November 13, 2018) -- Business grads may be wizzes at balancing the books, investment strategies and marketing a brand but, to be really successful, they must possess the essential skill of effective communication in the workplace.

“The Muma College of Business provides world-class education in accounting, business, finance, marketing, management and other related disciplines,” said Jim Marshall, owner and president of Tampa Bay Sales Development, who, along with his business partner, Clint Babcock, is an authorized licensee of Sandler Training. “but what sets successful graduates apart in today’s competitive business environment is their ability to effectively communicate their ideas and abilities to potential employers, collaborate with supervisors and coworkers, apply leadership and critical thinking skills in project management and secure win-win outcomes for all stakeholders.”

Sandler Training is the largest sales, sales management and leadership training organization in the world, with over 250 locations in 27 countries. The training is available to Muma College of Business students who want to learn the softer skills of success. Graduates who successfully complete the course receive a certificate along with their diplomas.

“Sandler has trained, developed and coached thousands of business professionals in hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies and organizations,” he said, “and we know what skills, competencies and behaviors those organizations are looking for when recruiting and hiring college graduates.”

The Business Workplace Skills and Best Practices course is intended to provide training and awareness of these concepts to help Muma College of Business grads in their job searches.

Marshall said what distinguishes Sandler Training from other, similar programs is the emphasis on instructor-led, continuous training and reinforcement over time.

“Many training programs offer effective transfer of knowledge via online or in short-term seminars,” he said. “But training in any professional discipline is not an event. It is a process and, like any highly accomplished professional, the learning and skill development never stops.

Marshall and Babcock bring more than 55 years of sales, management and marketing experience to the training table. They have coached hundreds of business owners, sales executives and managers. They have worked with business owners and sales professionals in industries such as advertising, sports marketing, IT services, software sales and development, manufacturing, transportation logistics, home improvement, HVAC, insurance and financial services.

Their expertise ranges from sales and management training in professional and business to business services to continuing education to new business development strategies, staff hiring and assessments.

Sandler Training of Tampa Bay has trained, coached and consulted with businesses and organizations for over 16 years. Sandler trainers worldwide, Marshall said, have had successful careers as sales and management professionals and use that expertise to train and mentor others on busines building and communication best practices.

“We were initially approached by the Muma College of Business to assemble a course curriculum for undergrads that was not focused on sales and business development,” he said,” but more so on effective interpersonal and communication skills in a business environment.”

“We worked with a team of hand-picked instructors from the Muma College of Business and spent a semester working them on course content and interactive exercises,” Babcock said, “similar to the training approach we employ with corporations in their environment.”

The class is offered to qualified undergrads who are interested in improving their soft skills with a goal of increasing employment opportunities and competing more effectively in a corporate and business environment. The Sandler approach fosters an attitude of leadership, and reinforces the development of communication behaviors, attitudes and techniques, as well as charting a unique roadmap to lasting success..

“Sandler provides ongoing, face-to-face coaching and reinforcement to assist in the implementation of best-practices by professionals who are dedicated and intent on growing their business,” Marshall said. “Our focus is not simply on the techniques that will help them become more successful. We also work with them on the on-going activities they need to implement and the sometimes-self-limiting attitudes and beliefs that may be standing in their way.”

The program was introduced to the Muma College of Business in the spring of 2017. It was then offered to undergrads as an elective in summer and has since expanded to an accredited and certified, three-credit-hour course to nearly 400 students this fall.

The first class will receive certificates at commencement next month. A number of those taking the course, Marshall said, “have reported a greater awareness of their interpersonal skills and have employed those in interviewing and internship opportunities.”