Future Students
Why Consider a Major in Professional Sales?
Research shows that a surprising number of college graduates across all disciplines – not just business or marketing – become sales professionals even though they did not deliberately pursue this career path. One reason is availability and diversity of career options. Careers in professional sales are available across a myriad of industries, and provide more job opportunities than “hot” fields such as finance or IT. A second reason is career advancement. Salespeople are now highly involved in critical marketing activities such as product development, supply chain management, and strategic planning. In fact, long-term career prospects and advancement for those with sales experience are excellent. For example, more than 80% of Fortune 500 CEO’s spent a significant portion of their career in sales and account management positions. A third reason is compensation. Starting compensation and benefits in sales positions are among the highest available to any college graduate. Many recent graduates earn in excess of $100,000 per year only a few years after graduation.
While many students see a marketing or sales degree as the natural entry point to a career in professional selling, the fact is that most majors are involved in sales. For example, other business majors (e.g., finance, real estate, and accounting) find that their day-to-day jobs and responsibilities take on sales and account management themes at some point in their careers. Majors in the science, health, or professional fields (e.g., natural sciences, engineering, physical education, medicine, nursing, and law) find that they need sales experience to further their chosen careers.
Courses in the Professional Selling Major
In addition to all COB and Marketing Department required the following courses focus specifically on Professional Selling. The full official requirements and course map can be found on this FSU College of Business Marketing Department link.
Professional Selling (MAR 3400)
Open to all COB students. In this course, students learn the basics of selling from pre-sale preparation to prospecting, qualifying, needs analysis, solution presentation, closing, and relationship enhancement. Through guest lecturers representing diverse industry segments, students are exposed to a wide array of potential careers. In addition to class work, each student performs an introductory speech (elevator speech) to an industry professional at one of several FSU job fair events, and completes a Career Portfolio as provided by the FSU Career Center.
Advanced Sales Techniques (MAR 4415)
MAR 3400 is a prerequisite for this course which takes serious sales students to a level where they are prime candidates for a sales or management development position in a Fortune 1000 company. Students are exposed to a variety of advanced concepts based on widely accepted strategic selling concepts and participate in multiple video recording and analysis of their role-play sales call. Top students in this course qualify for either option (2) or (3) of the Sales Practicum (MAR 4946)
Sales Management (MAR 4403)
MAR3400 is a prerequisite for this course which prepares students for their future role in management by focusing heavily on data analysis for effective decision-making. Through lecture, readings of text and other materials, students are exposed to all elements of sales management including hiring, territory management, budget control, forecasting, and motivation. Students exercise their knowledge and decision-making prowess in a high-stakes competition for their course grade using a computer simulation that measures retained earnings.
Sales Practicum (MAR 4946)
MAR 4946 is a somewhat unique course in that students have three options as to how they complete the course. Requirements for this course are MAR3400 plus one marketing course for option 1 and MAR3400, MAR4415 and competitive selection for options 2 or 3. In this course students complete one of the following options: (1) a sales internship, (2) participation in a sales competition, or (3) completing a key accounts management project.