Centre for excellence enhances companies’ sales capabilities

Increasing competition and more complex sales processes are posing new challenges for Danish businesses. As part of the EU’s greatest initiative in the field of sales excellence, CoVE SALES provides companies with access to new knowledge and targeted skills development.

The European initiative is a direct response to a rapidly changing global trading environment. Geopolitical tensions, new trade barriers and increasingly unstable supply chains are placing new demands on companies’ sales strategies, particularly in small, open economies such as the Danish one.

New demands for sales competencies

The Danish centre is led by University College of Northern Denmark (UCN) and was established in close collaboration with Intenz and Salesforce Denmark.

The centre is part of a new European network comprising six European centres of excellence for sales skills.

“The conditions for successful sales have changed dramatically, yet our study programmes and the way companies approach sales have not kept pace. There is a clear gap between the competencies that businesses require and those currently available. With this centre, we are bridging the gap between the latest knowledge, education and the practical needs of industry,” explains Karina Burgdorff Porsborg Jensen, Project Manager of CoVE SALES and assistant lecturer at UCN.

CoVE SALES brings together businesses, educational institutions and researchers to develop the sales competencies that are essential for the labour market of the future.

The CoVE SALES team in Aalborg comprises Benjamin Klavsen, Karina Burgdorff Jensen, Sarah K. Norre Andersen, Marlene Højmark Sørensen, Heidi Chung Huynh Studsgaard, Sara Møller Nielsen and Michael Wædeled Andersen.

Knowledge and tools for businesses

For companies, the centre provides direct access to knowledge, tools and competencies that support stronger sales performance and contribute directly to business growth.

Currently, 82% of Danish companies do not achieve sufficient returns from their sales efforts, and the majority of sales professionals working in Danish businesses have no formal sales education.

The impact of growing competition is evident at PakkecenterNORD, a company that helps online retailers and other businesses store, pack and distribute goods to their customers.

“Sales processes are under considerable pressure, and Europe is not at the forefront of innovation compared with Asia and the United States. Sales activities today must be far more digital, agile and be able to cross borders. We have become too constrained by traditional structures. Europe needs to make a determined effort to regain momentum in innovation, development, communication and sales. In this respect, CoVE SALES is an important initiative that can help drive a more modern approach to sales,” says Brian Lentz, Chief Executive Officer of PakkecenterNORD.

The wider European initiative is known as the CoVE SALES European Centre for Sales Excellence and is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Programme. The Danish centre will be headquartered in Aalborg and will also operate a branch office in Lyngby.

Learn more about CoVE Sales.