Salespeople, your time is now.

In this episode, I am joined by Andrew Hough, CEO of the Association of Professional Sales, known as the APS.

The APS is professionalising the sales sector. By providing qualifications, professional membership, lettered accreditations and upholding standards of ethical selling, sales people can for the first-time progress along a structured career path, with the same level of skill, trust and career prospects as other established professions.

For sales lead companies this means a significant step change in sales effectiveness, calibre of sales employee, engagement in skills & behaviour improvement and reduced cost of sale.

For the sales professional this means a clear long, qualification led career path that rewards them in more ways than just this year’s bonus.

Andy, is a seasoned sales professional, with 20 plus years experience. He is a seller, he has led and managed sales teams as well as living through the changes that the industry is facing.

He and the team at the APS are on a mission to professionalise the role of sales, in the same way, that Accounting, Engineering, Lawyers and Marketing are. 

He shares his vision of what this looks like, how sellers can go about do this. 

We discuss how the team at the APS has successfully lobbied the UK government for this to be recognised under the Apprenticeship Levy, and more importantly how businesses can access this funding from UK Govt.

We also discuss where he believes the role of sales will be in the next 10 years.

You can connect with Andy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhough/

Find out more about the APS here - https://associationofprofessionalsales.site-ym.com/

The Apprenticeship Levy here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-levy-how-it-will-work/apprenticeship-levy-how-it-will-work