TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – May 31, 2017) – TELUS (TSX:T)(NYSE:TU) and the Canadian Professional Sales Association (CPSA) have teamed up to establish new standards in sales training and certification. A recent survey by the CPSA revealed that Canadian businesses have difficulty finding qualified candidates to fill open sales roles, with 83 per cent citing prospective candidates’ lack of skills as the primary barrier to hiring. The collaboration between TELUS and the CPSA addresses this challenge. The new TELUS Sales Academy is a comprehensive national recruitment, onboarding and learning program designed to upskill and enable the future success of TELUS sales professionals.

The Sales Academy program will provide three graduated levels of accredited curriculums, with a focus on performance-based, progressive development for sales professionals. Drawing upon the CPSA’s expertise and national leadership in professional certification, the program will be validated to ensure its learning and development architecture meets the educational requirements to award Certified Sales Professional designations to TELUS’ 300+ sales team members.

“We had a vision and mandate to establish the most customer-focused salesforce globally, and have devoted significant time and resources to creating an industry-leading training curriculum for our sales teams at TELUS,” said Louis Morin, Vice President of Sales Performance Culture at TELUS. “Through our partnership with the CPSA, we have a tremendous opportunity to leverage our expertise to ensure that Canada’s up-and-coming sales professionals have the skills they need to make an impact – for their careers, their companies and the economy.”

The certification process – which will be led by TELUS sales leaders, members of the Sales Performance Culture team and trusted third-party learning partners – is expected to commence in the second half of 2017, with the goal of having the entire TELUS national salesforce certified by the end of the year. The planned professional certification framework will consist of new accredited learning opportunities, deliberate observations of in-field execution, and routine reviews of performance standards.

“This new collaboration with TELUS is a strong example of a Canadian company recognizing the need to grow and adapt their sales force, and taking the steps to get there,” said Peter J. Irwin, President and CEO of the CPSA. “With a generation of sales leaders approaching retirement over the next few years, the need to build a strong talent pool and set clear benchmarks has never been greater. We’re very proud to be working with TELUS to help them deliver on their business objectives of today, and set the stage for tomorrow’s success.”

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX:T)(NYSE:TU) is Canada’s fastest-growing national telecommunications company, with $12.9 billion of annual revenue and 12.7 million subscriber connections, including 8.6 million wireless subscribers, 1.7 million high-speed Internet subscribers, 1.4 million residential network access lines and 1.1 million TELUS TV customers. TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services, including wireless, data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, television, entertainment and video. TELUS is also Canada’s largest healthcare IT provider, and TELUS International delivers business process solutions around the globe.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed over $482 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 7.7 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Created in 2005 by President and CEO Darren Entwistle, TELUS’ 12 Canadian community boards and 5 International boards have led the Company’s support of grassroots charities and have contributed more than $60 million in support of 5,595 local charitable projects, enriching the lives of more than 2 million children and youth, annually. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

About the Canadian Professional Sales Association

The Canadian Professional Sales Association is Canada’s largest industry accredited sales organization. Established in 1874, the CPSA helps build knowledge and skills to improve sales performance through professional development programs, networking opportunities and exclusive member resources and benefits. The CPSA Sales Institute has also administered the Certified Sales Professional (CSP) designation for over 20 years. The CPSA’s 20,000+ members are found in almost every sector of the Canadian economy and cover a wide range of job functions, predominantly within commercial sales. The CPSA hopes to certify over 100,000 sales professionals in the Canadian workforce over the next ten years. This will address the skills and knowledge gap, helping Canadian businesses enhance their sales performance and drive their businesses forward.

Shane C Aube
Director, Marketing
Canadian Professional Sales Association
416-408-4667
[email protected]