If you’re planning to start a business or would like to hone your skills as a business owner or employee, consider enrolling in a sales and customer service course being offered during the spring semester at Missouri State University-West Plains.

Sales and Customer Service (EPR 130) is a three-credit-hour class that helps students learn the skills necessary to serve as an effective representative of a company with its customers. The class will focus on developing communication skills that establish and enhance customer relationships, university officials said.

“New sales simplified is not full of theories, but an action-oriented guide for sales people, sales managers and executives,” said Louis Kimble, instructor of the class. “It’s a field guide for any person trying to compete and win in a competitive market.

“This course will help you choose the right targets,” he added. “You will learn to build a plan to pursue those targets without giving up too early. You will learn to use all the weapons in your arsenal, particularly your sales story, to prove that you are a value creator and you deserve a seat at your dream client’s table. You will learn to work a plan and execute it flawlessly.

“If you’re a sales manager, this course will provide you with the tools you need to lead your team to success,” he said.

Customer service benefits everyone

The other topic covered by the course, customer service, can benefit everyone involved, including customers, employees and the management team, Kimble said.

“Well-trained employees are a key to your success. When your employees know how to find the best solution for each customer, you increase your chances of developing loyal customers,” he explained. “We are living in an era in which technology is moving at such a rapid pace, it can make our heads spin trying to keep up with the latest developments.”

Kimble has extensive experience in sales and customer service. He spent over 45 years in sales, sales management, customer service and customer service management positions, from a small company to a Fortune 25 company. He also has taught sales and customer service skills to many companies over the years.

“When I was region manager for Pitney Bowes in the late 1980s, my rep and I wrote the largest single purchase order in the history of the company, outside of their government sales, for $1.4 million with K-Mart,” he said.

Sales and Customer Service will be offered from 3 to 5:40 p.m. each Monday and Wednesday during the second block session of the 2021 spring semester, March 15 through May 6.

University officials announced earlier this fall that spring semester classes would be offered primarily in eight-week block sessions. The decision was made due to a possible surge in COVID-19 cases in the spring and as an effort to aid student success through more focused study on fewer classes during a shorter period of time.

Regular registration for the 2021 spring semester is going on now. For more information about spring semester classes or the registration process, visit the Missouri State-West Plains website at wp.missouristate.edu or call the registration and records office at 417-255-7979.