Cathcart Institute Conducts Course on Relationship Selling for Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management
July 2004, Thousand Oaks, California – Jim Cathcart, President and CEO of the Cathcart Institute, Inc., conducted a three-day course in relationship selling to staff members of Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management in Malibu, California.
The course is designed to assist the staff in program recruiting, executive education recruitment and development, alumni relations, public relations and advancement. As the Graziadio School continues to increase and strengthen its ties to the business community, the course will assist business school staff in enhancing their approach to selling and building relationships to help ensure an ongoing and mutually beneficial outcome.
“Jim Cathcart brings to our staff substantial experience in the art of selling,” said Michael Sims, Executive Officer for Corporate and External Relations at the Graziadio School of Business and Management. “We are fortunate to have this opportunity to share in his insights in order to further develop our own sales capabilities.”
Cathcart’s sales philosophy is central to the course: Business should be practiced as an act of friendship, rather than merely as a process of negotiation. He teaches that the art of business is connecting with people profitably, not merely persuading them to buy. Each of the participants in the course will take the Relationship Selling Online Sales Readiness Assessment, a 32-question tool based on Cathcart’s book, Relationship Selling.
The Sales Readiness Assessment is simple to use; it is accessed by going to http://www.relationshipselling.net. After answering a series of questions, the participant is given a 36-page personal report showing exactly where he or she stands in each selling skill. It is also possible to have clients, coworkers and managers assess the participant to reveal a 360-degree assessment of their sales readiness. "Sales readiness is the combination of knowledge, skill and confidence in each aspect of selling," says Cathcart. Course participants will then apply their understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in selling as they experience Cathcart’s lectures and the related exercises and assignments.
Cathcart commends the Graziadio School of Business and Management for understanding that even institutions of higher education can benefit from teaching relationship selling. “It’s a great honor to be able to conduct training for such a world-class organization. I’ve long admired Pepperdine and it is impressive that the business school realizes the importance of practical, relevant knowledge to get results,” said Cathcart.