As MDM reported last week, about 70 percent of respondents to a recent MDM survey are planning to hire new employees in 2013. Most of those say they are looking to add to their outside or inside sales staffs.

That bodes well for the students in the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Industrial Distribution program, many of whom are focused on sales careers in distribution. During my recent visit to the school, which I discussed in this blog, I observed one of the sales classes in which the students do an ongoing role play with a customer – played by Associate Professor Jim Toppen.

Toppen told me that his focus is on getting students to think beyond price and recognize the value they can add to the sale. “Salespeople will give the farm away … and I want to teach them they don’t have to do that,” he said.

Watch the following 4-minute video to hear more from Toppen about his philosophy on sales training.