The University of New Brunswick has launched an education hub to help fill skill gaps in the sales industry.
Associate professor and chair of applied research in sales Peter Kerr said the Atlantic Sales Performance Hub will help salespeople through academic research, educational articles, and industry engagement.
“We see a real gap in the marketplace right now, in terms of the skills required for professional sales,” he said.
Kerr explained that the profession has significantly changed over the years, with salespeople becoming business consultants.
He said with that change, salespeople need to develop interpersonal and interorganizational skills and also be able to develop solutions for customers.
The industry is also facing recruitment challenges, said Kerr, with employers struggling to find talent that has already been trained.
According to research by the Canadian Professional Sales Association in 2022, 73 per cent of Canadian businesses found it difficult to hire qualified salespeople, and 40 per cent of those hired had no sales training prior to entering the profession.
He said they will also aim to work with sales leaders in the region to understand their needs and update university sales courses to be relevant to the current market.
“There are a number of organizations in New Brunswick that would love us to see us as a steady pipeline for sales talent, because there is a gap in hiring right now,” he said.
Kerr said they’ve been working on the project for the past two years, and so far, they’ve generated several educational articles based on academic research and launched its 2026 State of Sales survey to identify areas where the industry has challenges.
He explained the survey results will be used to structure the program and its research around the sales industry needs.
Kerr added that their goal over the next year is to eventually host roundtables to engage sales leaders in the program and identify best practices to improve organizational performance.
