Professional Sales

Types of Degrees Professional Sales Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many professional sales graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	526
Bachelor’s Degree	516
Undergraduate Certificate	77
Associate Degree	38
Graduate Certificate	20

What Professional Sales Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, sales majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Sales Majors

Sales majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Sales Majors

When studying sales, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Abilities for Sales Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a sales student include the following:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Professional Sales Major?

People with a sales degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Energy Brokers	9.7%	$54,550
First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers	4.9%	$73,390
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers	3.8%	$39,630
Parts Salespersons	5.0%	$30,430
Sales and Related Workers	10.6%	$33,220
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products	5.2%	$79,680
Solar Sales Representatives and Assessors	5.2%	$79,680

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Professional Sales?

This major attracts more men than women. About 67% of the graduates in this field are male.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of sales majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	12
Black or African American	16
Hispanic or Latino	35
White	409
International Students	17
Other Races/Ethnicities	27

Geographic Diversity

Sales appeals to people across the globe. About 3.3% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Professional Sales Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Sales majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $40,480 to $64,860 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Professional Sales

Some careers associated with sales require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to sales have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	2.9%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	29.7%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	7.1%
Some College Courses	15.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	13.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	30.1%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	1.0%
Master’s Degree	0.9%
Doctoral Degree	0.0%

Online Professional Sales Programs

In 2020-2021, 92 schools offered a sales program of some type. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	22	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	23	2
Bachelor’s Degree	3	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Professional Sales Worth It?

The median salary for a sales grad is $45,080 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 13% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $103,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Professional Sales

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to sales.

Major	Number of Grads
General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations	3,440
Retailing and Retail Operations	1,025
Other General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketing Operations	233
Merchandising and Buying Operations	48

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Nick Nijhuis under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.