SLIM, the national body of marketing in Sri Lanka, continued its academic collaboration with the corporate sector by adding Astron Limited to its list of partners. The alliance with Astron Limited for the Certificate in Professional Selling (CPS) was made official on the 26th of August 2019 at the Head Office of Astron Limited in Rathmalana.
This partnership was initiated with the intention of providing the CPS qualification to the medical sales team at Astron Limited. The Certificate in Professional Selling (CPS) is designed to provide professional knowledge for sales teams to improve their understanding of sales, enhance their performance and to be in the forefront of today’s competitive sales culture. The CPS is a tailor made program including components like corporate culture management, consumer organization and buyer behaviour, personal selling–approaches and strategies, and effective communication skills.

The President of SLIM, Suranjith Swaris stated, “As the national body of marketing, SLIM plays a vital role in imparting marketing education to the nation. SLIM’s programmes groom professionals to stand as equals, not only with their local competitors, but also their global counterparts. The corporate sector in Sri Lanka continues to keep confidence in SLIM’s Corporate Solutions programmes as they effectively contribute towards enhancing the performance of their employees. Furthermore, from an individual perspective, the education pathway created by the Certificate in Professional Selling could take any sales person to the top of their careers, thereby contributing to the revenue growth of their employer.”

Johann De Zilwa, the Director/CMO of Astron Limited stated, “It is of utmost importance for us as a company to provide necessary education and training to our staff in order to bring about professional growth, and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our employees. As the national body of marketing in Sri Lanka, SLIM has proven its flexibility in conducting customized professional programmes for the corporate sector. We believe that the individuals who follow this educational programme will demonstrate developed skill levels that will reflect in both their personal and professional growth”.

The Certificate in Professional Selling (CPS) will facilitate Astron Limited in upgrading the skills of its employees by significantly increasing sales, enhancing the retention and loyalty of employees, and developing a well-equipped sales team. Qualifying in CPS will open new vistas in education for the Astron medical sales team. The Certificate in Professional Selling will be a stepping stone for the staff to continue their professional education and progress to the National Diploma in Sales Management (NDSM) and advance to SLIM’s Postgraduate Diploma qualification. 
Speaking at the event, the CEO/ Executive Director of SLIM, Sanath Senanayake said, “The corporate sector in Sri Lanka has endorsed SLIM Corporate Education programmes due to their effectiveness in enhancing the performance of their employees. The CPS is a tailor made program specially designed by SLIM for the sales professionals at Astron Limited, aiming at providing a sound understanding and competent level of sales management knowledge and skills to ambitious professionals. I am confident that this too will lead to a significant enhancement of staff capabilities at Astron Limited, which will ultimately drive the growth of the company.”
Roshan Karunathilake, the Head of Sales at Astron Limited, noted, “The corporate sector in Sri Lanka has confidence in SLIM’s programs since they effectively contribute towards enhancing the performance of employees. Our medical sales team will benefit immensely from this programme, which will develop them both as individuals and a team that excels in sales”. 

SLIM has always campaigned for high professional standards, greater recognition for the profession and marketing excellence in Sri Lanka through education, training and development. SLIM’s academic collaborations, help in its committed effort towards enhancing and developing marketing education in Sri Lanka and its commitment towards the profession. Further, SLIM has received the ISO 9001:2015 certification in recognition of its superior quality management system and the ISO 29990:2010 for Learning Service Provider (LSP), proving non-formal education and training services, which enables SLIM to retain and ensure the high standard of quality education for students.