What Degree is Best to Succeed in Sales?

Written by Dr. Mellani Day, Dean of the School of Business and Technology at Colorado Christian University

You may be asking yourself, "Which type of degree should I get to best prepare me for a career in sales?" It can be a bit overwhelming in today's fast-paced whirlwind of change. Should you focus on social media? Personal selling? Big data analytics and direct marketing? Well, that got complicated pretty quickly, didn't it?

Before rushing into the details

It is important to take a pause and define what you mean when you are thinking about a career in sales. The sales process occurs in virtually every type of company, for-profit and nonprofit, retail, manufacturing, business to consumer, business to business, online, face to face, domestic, international, worldwide, and so on. Even a marriage proposal is a sales proposition! With so many options, how do you know where to begin?

It is precisely because there is such a variety of options that it is important to find a program that provides a grounding in the basics supporting the gamut of potential applications.

It would require a program that gives you tools, strategies, and theories to help you hone your critical thinking, writing, and presentation skills to creatively and innovatively apply those basics regardless of the outlet.

This program would also need to give you a foundation in other areas of business and economics. You would want to develop an understanding of human nature and buying behavior in this modern age of technology, including how generational and international cultures prefer to receive information. You would also want to build skills in research and data analytics so that you could find just the right potential buyers. You would want to ground your thinking and sales efforts in truth and the highest of ethics as applied throughout your program.

Building on these foundations

The degree you choose should then provide you with exposure to the many potential outlets of focus for sales efforts in a variety of scenarios — public relations, interactive, social media marketing and direct sales, supply chain and business to business, retail and business to consumer, to name a few. Most importantly, because of the pace of change in the business world, it is paramount to have a program that teaches you to continue to learn. If you stop learning, the competition will roar past you.

So, are you sold on which type of degree is best to succeed in sales? You will find all of these necessities and more within a bachelor's degree in marketing and sales from the College of Adult and Graduate Studies at Colorado Christian University.

Colorado Christian University does not guarantee any job placement as a result of earning this or any other degrees offered by the university.