Virginia Tech's Center for Forest Products Marketing and Management will offer its third annual short course on "Advanced Sales Training in the Forest Products Industry."

The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 1, and continues 8:30 a.m. to noon Friday, April 2. The one and a half day event will be held at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center in Blacksburg, Va.

The course's objective is to offer individuals in the forest products industry ways to develop self-management and communication skills to become more successful salespeople. Topics will include: good salesmanship, effective communication to improve sales, asking effective questions to improve sales, sales negotiations, improving sales through effective time management, trends in the industry, improving sales by improving attitude, and relationship selling for the wood products industry.

The course is open to salespeople in the forest products industry who care about customer-salesperson relationships and wish to enhance skills in communication, time management, and negotiation.

Along with Virginia Tech's forest products marketing center, sponsors for the short course include the Virginia Forest Products Association, Hardwood Manufacturers Association, and Virginia Tech's Continuing and Professional Education Department.

Instructor for the course is Bob Smith, associate professor and Extension specialist in forest products marketing. Smith, who directs Virginia Tech's forest products marketing center, has more than 15 years of experience in personal selling and wood products field.

All those interested in the course can register online at www.conted.vt.edu/astfpi/ or print a brochure from the website: www.cfpmm.vt.edu.

For more information or a copy of the brochure, contact Bob Smith at rsmith4@vt.edu, Joanne Buckner at ctrfpmjo@vt.edu, or visit the CFPMM website.

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 study 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.

Written by Jasmin Dizon, Public Affairs Intern

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