Versse Awarded SST Certification

The dialogue about certification started in March of 2007. Kestutis Cvetkovas, (second from the right) general manager of Versse, had ordered and read the SST book and conveyed an interest in SST certification for his firm. We exchanged numerous e-mails, conducted many Skype phone conferences and agreed to proceed.

The first step was for me to visit Vilnius, Lithuania's beautiful capital, and to conduct SST training for Kestutis and his partners at Versse in July 2008. Step two was for them to practice and master delivering SST training. This included translating training materials into Lithuanian, which was ably done by Versse partner, Jurate Balciunaite (first on the left). A Lithuanian publisher, Rgrupe, translated and published SST in Lithuanian.

The third step was for me to observe Versse deliver a SST program, which I did the first week of December 2008. They assembled a diverse training group of salespeople and managers coming from pharmaceuticals, insurance, windows and doors, dairy products, software, and HR outsourcing. They did a great job; the model was enthusiastically embraced by the participants; and I was happy to lead a champagne toast, as captured in the above photograph, while presenting the certification diploma. I look forward to many years of collaboration and thoughtful exchanges about personality, selling, and sales leadership with my new partners at Versse.

Dr. Arnold Tilden