Novell Launches Worldwide Training and Industry's First Product Sales Certification Program

PerfectSell Courses and Materials Available Now

Successful completion of the PerfectSell courses and certification exam results in a sales representative's earning the Certified Novell Salesperson designation. In providing Novell channel salespeople with the same product sales training as Novell employees, Novell ensures customer confidence with the product knowledge of a Certified Novell Salesperson associated with a reseller, distributor or systems integrator.

Today's announcement signals a dramatic enhancement to the way Novell channel partners receive product sales training. "Novell has always been the leader in providing in-depth technical training seminars and courses. That leadership is now strengthened with a formal, sustained sales training curriculum," said Joe Marengi, executive vice president of worldwide sales for Novell. "We have responded to the field's request for hard-hitting, to-the-point sales training that will differentiate them from competitors."

Lee Klepinger, director of product sales training for Novell Education, said, "With this new program, Novell PerfectSell sales instructors are being deployed worldwide for direct training delivery to our field and partner sales representatives. This training and certification program extends Novell literacy to the realm of product sales training." Novell-authorized technical training, which has long been a hallmark of Novell, will educate more than 750,000 student customers in fiscal 1995 on Novell technologies, and is offered through Novell's 1,450 Novell Authorized Education Centers (NAECs) around the globe.

CNS also joins Novell's holistic certification program offerings: the Master Certified Novell Engineer certification for developing enterprise solutions; the Certified Novell Engineer for servicing and supporting networking and network applications; the Certified Novell Administrator for administering networking and network applications; and the Novell Productivity Specialist for ensuring end user applications productivity. Add to this list Certified Novell Salesperson, the industry's only sales certification ensuring product sales knowledge.

"Our customers' networks are exponentially increasing in complexity and their expectations of us map to that growth," said Richard Johnson, president of Accudata/USConnect-Houston, a Novell Authorized Platinum Reseller. "They require professional salespeople who are certified to represent vendor solutions. Novell's new PerfectSell training and CNS certification will help customers to identify the most competent salespeople and allow us to distinguish ourselves from competitors."

Diagnostic/Prescriptive Testing Saves Valuable Time

Unique to the PerfectSell program is a set of diskettes which allow salespeople to "test out" of any course and receive specific feedback on areas that need improvement. Each locally administered course includes a "diagnostic/prescriptive" test which results in a printed certificate of completion or instructs salespeople to review and re-test areas needing improvement, prior to retesting. The result is faster certification and productive time made available back on the job.

"Certified Novell Salesperson"--A Valuable Differentiator

After successfully completing or testing out of all PerfectSell courses, sales representatives can earn the CNS certification by passing a final mastery test administered by Sylvan/Drake Testing Centers. By becoming a Certified Novell Salesperson, sales representatives can address customer needs by selling Novell solutions, rather than product features and functionality.

Self-Paced and Instructor-Led Courses Available Worldwide

Self-paced courses, available in printed workbook format, lay the foundation for a series of instructor-led courses. Technology Fundamentals is a self-study workbook series that delivers an introduction to computers and local area networking. Understanding Novell Solutions is also a self-study workbook series that focuses on the broad range of Novell solutions for all kinds of users, from stand-alone PCS to networking and messaging solutions.

Instructor-led courses are being made available in most major cities worldwide. Selling Novell Solutions offers small- to medium-sized business solutions, as well as direction on creating and managing networks. Novell Corporate Solutions focuses on large and enterprise business solutions through integrating Wide Area Network (WAN) solutions. In addition, New Product Workshops are half-day modules that introduce new and future product solutions from Novell, as well as technology and solution strategies.

Innovative Sales Tools

The Novell Sales Reference Library is a complete reference kit for selling Novell solutions, including the Novell Buyer's Guide, Product Sales Guides, a marketing CD-ROM disk, and several other sales tools. In conjunction with the Understanding Novell Solutions self-paced course, a powerful new series of sales tools will be provided in the QuickLook Book. All sales tools focus on assisting the sales representative in identifying customer problems and increasing their sales opportunities.

Pricing and Registration

To order PerfectSell sales tools and self-paced materials: in North America, call 800-346-6855 or 801-373-6779; in South America, call 1-801-373-6779; in Europe, call 31-411-619-103; and in Asia Pacific, call 1-801-373-6779. For instructor-led classes, in North America, call 800-235-4779; in South America, call 612-897-0967; in Europe, call 31-3480-84652; and in Asia Pacific, call 61-2-320-5498. PerfectSell courses and tools sell for between US$25 and US$65 each. For more information about Novell Education programs, visit Novell's World Wide Web site at http://www.novell.com.

Press Contact:
Ren# Siegel for Novell Education
(510) 485-1717 voice
(510) 485-1117 fax internet rsiegel@novell.com