Commercial Excellence Symposium: Sales as a Profession?

On August 27, Associate Professors Michel van der Borgh and Tobias Schäfers welcomed business experts, researchers, and CBS students to a symposium on current opportunities and challenges in sales. The event was part of the welcome week for our new students enrolled in the MSc program Customer and Commercial Development, and co-sponsored by the B2B Marketing Research Cluster.

After a research presentation on design-based selling by Michel van der Borgh, Sebastian Dahl, Regional HR Director at DS Smith Packaging, highlighted current developments in sales and explained the challenges of transforming an organization to solution selling. Next, Anders Bøgh Mortensen, Partner at North Consulting, and Jonas Rasmussen, Senior Consultant and recent CBS graduate, provided insights into sales and commercial analytics. The event was then concluded with a plenary discussion among the speakers and additional experts, Josephine Kim Mikkelsen, CBS student and Associate Consultant at Intellishore, Jakob Støvring, Partner at Implement Consulting, and Peder Pedersen, Regional Sales Manager at Hilti Danmark. Participants discussed the roles of sales and marketing, how digitalization affects sales and sales management, as well as career paths in sales.

Link to the MSc in Customer and Commercial Development: https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/kandidat/candmerc/msc-in-economics-and-business-administration-customer-and-commercial-development