Barrett Research invites you to express your opinion about whether ‘Selling’ should be an applied academic degree. Please complete our Graduate Degree for the Sales Profession’ survey and voice your views.
With the profession of Selling becoming increasingly more complex involving many more variables and the shift from product being at the heart of selling to strategic relationships, collaboration, true value, sustainability and transparency now on the agenda we believe it’s time for ‘Selling’ to step out under the shadow of Marketing and MBA’s to have its own degree status. Recently I was invited to speak at the Melbourne Business School’s MBA Entrepreneurs program on the topic of Selling. This was a great opportunity to put the topic of Selling on the agenda. The feedback was phenomenal – the mostly young students had many questions that needed answers to ranging from how to sell effectively, prospecting, what it the right way to sell, and the right sales mindset to name a few.
The emphasis was on the practical as well as the theoretical. Their concerns about having the Sales function and Sales Processes operating effectively in their start-ups and growing businesses were along the same lines as the questions many seasoned business owners and leaders ask every day. They were quite unaware just how much you need to know, learn and apply when it comes to selling, running a sales team and keeping up or ahead of your market on the sales front, especially now that social media is now making such an impact on sales and marketing.
While selling strategies have been around for years the actual function of being a sales person and sales leader have been poorly regarded and understood, however in recent years there has been a growing body shining light on sales as a complex and skilful profession with most of the academic work emanating from overseas. In Australia, there are currently topics or short courses (i.e. up to 7 hours duration) on the topic of selling at some Australian universities, however, they are not very comprehensive and do not cover all the aspects of Selling a skilled professional needs to know. There are certainly no Degrees in Selling in Australia. We understand that knowing how to sell effectively doesn’t happen until you get out in the field and start applying it, however, being well trained in the science of selling and understanding its many variables would help most people and businesses make a much better start. At last count there are 42 universities in the US with graduate and undergraduate sales courses on their curriculum.
At Barrett Research we view Selling as an applied science where it fits perfectly well into a business school framework and so do not see it on the pure end of academic education. I believe we need more accredited courses or at least dedicated business courses where people can properly study the science and art of Selling. Having tertiary trained sales professionals would certainly raise the standards of the profession.
We can take a leaf out of the procurement industry which is the fastest growing business profession. CIPSA has worked tirelessly to professionalise ‘purchasing’ and rightly so, given the enormous complexity facing the profession. There are now tertiary qualifications including degrees and post graduate programs in procurement.
To complete the survey, go to: ‘Graduate Degree for the Sales Profession’ survey
We will publish our survey findings soon.
Remember everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au, a Sales Training firm.
Sue,
An excellent idea!
I’ve got an MBA in corporate strategy, which taught me WHAT we could sell WHO, but not HOW it should be done. I’ve been learning “HOW” on-the-job for the last 15+ years.
Certainly we can do better for new students. As a discipline, sales draws heavily on persuasion psychology, organizational performance, pricing theory, copy writing skills… the list is long. And that before we even consider selling into specialty industries and markets- in my case, software and technology.
There is a great deal of room to develop Sales as an academic field of study. This is a worthy goal- keep it going.
Regards,
Gregg
Just took the survey. Very interesting considering my experience in the States and the UK previously…
One point to make – the ‘other’ function as a choice preference on the job role question list didn’t allow an ‘other’ answer.
In order to complete the form I chose the first option – but kept the ‘other’ details intact. It will give a false result but you’re hopefully on top of it already.
Sue,
I think you’re right to raise this issue – particularly given just how far ahead the US market is. As you know, I’ve argued for years that those of us “in†sales need to start acting and speaking of our profession in the same light as accountants, lawyers, engineers, etc.
There are many hurdles in front of this desire – not the least being the attitude of many of the branded sales process/training companies along with the prevailing mindset within academia.
But we have to change this mindset. We can’t keep doing what we’ve done for decades – buyers are more aware and more informed, technology is more complex, and there are no geographical boundaries.
Cheers Mark