In an ongoing effort to further develop Technology Career Pathways for students and help the region’s employers fill the surging technical sales skills gap, UMBC Training Centers has expanded its Technology Sales Program with Virtanza Career Pathways to include monthly starts of its 13-week, synchronous, experiential course, as well as a Tech Sales Scholarship program jointly funded by Virtanza and UMBC Training Centers and earmarked for investment in Tech Sales leaders of the future.
“Career opportunities in Technology Sales mean competitive pay, upward mobility, and professional success now and into the future. We are committed to providing our students with access to such promising pathways,” says Jon Lau, President, UMBC Training Centers.
The explosive growth of technologies such as the Internet, Cloud, Cybersecurity, and AI has created huge business opportunities for Technology companies, and they require a skilled sales force to achieve their potential. UMBC Training Centers has partnered with Orange County-based Virtanza to deliver the intensive Technology Sales Program.
Says Debbie Holzkamp, Virtanza’s Founder and CEO, “We’ve created a Tech Sales Program packed with learning outcomes you can only get when you layer the premier technology training team with the proven results of our experiential sales program. Armed with this credential and the guidance of our Instructors and Coaches, our graduates can confidently pursue Technology Sales jobs across all industries and regions.”
Students begin with a thorough introduction to modern IT and computing technologies, focusing on the Cloud, Big Data and Cybersecurity. With industry knowledge as a foundation, learners then assess their sales aptitude, competencies, and strengths and position themselves for specific technology sales opportunities in which they know they will be successful. Role plays with real business cases, interactive guest speakers, and group assignments allow learners to fine-tune the sales cycle in real time, including needs assessment, writing proposals, negotiating, and handling objections, and closing deals. Critical lessons in sales technology and sales enablement platforms, as well as other digital tools, give students immediately transferable, in-demand skills. Upon completion, program graduates receive a digital badge from UMBC Training Centers and will have earned five Salesforce.com badges for their sales profiles. Throughout their training, students will also be prepared to earn two highly relevant Information Technology certifications: CompTIA IT Fundamentals+ and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified Cloud Practitioner.
