Professional Sales

Sales is a common career entry point for many college graduates and a popular first job particularly for students majoring in a number of fields, including economics, international business, management, finance, operations management and Human Resources.

And yet, employers continue to report frustration with their inability to fill sales job openings. This is often due to a shortage of qualified candidates who possess the skills needed to step into a sales or business development role and succeed in a variety of industries and sectors.

Our Professional Sales major develops critical knowledge and perspective in the fields of revenue generation, business development and sales management, while nurturing an understanding of the role sales plays within an organization. This strategic mastery is coupled with pragmatic expertise, ultimately translating into success in the employment marketplace professional sales skills are highly transferrable across industries and can be applied in private and public companies, nonprofit organizations and social missions.

The skills and knowledge you will gain as a Professional Sales major are particularly well suited to a number of revenue generation and business development roles across a variety of industries and markets. Specific roles for Professional Sales majors include the following:

■ Account manager

■ Business development representative

■ Consultant

■ Customer service manager

■ Inside sales representative

■ Nonprofit development associate

■ Online sales manager

■ Outside sales representative

■ Sales operations analyst

■ Sales support specialist

■ Technical sales representative

SELECT EMPLOYERS

■ Amazon

■ athenahealth

■ Bank of America

■ Calvin Klein

■ Cisco Systems

■ Columbia Sportswear

■ CVS Health

■ DraftKings

■ Fidelity Investments

■ KPMG

■ L’Oréal

■ Marriott International

■ Peloton

■ Raytheon Technologies

■ Thermo Fisher Scientific

■ Toast, Inc.

■ Wayfair

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

Effective Selling

Sales Management

Sales Strategy and Technology

Internship in Professional Sales

Marketing Essentials

Interpersonal Relations in Management

ELECTIVES (TWO REQUIRED)

Managing Strategic Alliances

Effective Speaking

Negotiating

Talk at Work

Theories of Persuasion

Time Series Analysis

Managerial Communications

For the most up-to-date requirements, please refer to your Degreeworks Audit.

Prerequisite/Corequisite Structure

Courses Prerequisite/Corequisite

MG240 MG116

MG360 MG116

MK250

PRS339 MK250 and at least 36 completed and in progress credits

PRS343 MK250 and at least 36 completed and in progress credits

PRS373 MK250 and at least 36 completed and in progress credits

PRS421 (Pre- or Co-Req) PRS339, (Pre- or Co-Req) PRS373, at least 50 completed or in-progress credits, and a minimum overall GPA of 3.0.

PRS vary by course

Footnotes:

1 These courses may not be taken as Pass/Fail.

2Students not eligible for PRS421 will take a Directed Study approved by the Director.

3The Professional Sales electives can be fulfilled by the following courses: EC382, IDCC320, or SO264.

4The Elective guidelines is available on the Registrar’s website.

Additional Notes:

Context & Perspectives

 Students must take 1 course in each of the 6 themes of Context and Perspectives. Courses are unique to each theme; no course can satisfy more than one theme.

 Courses must be taken in at least 3 different departments (ex. PH, EMS, HI). This means that students can do a maximum of two courses in one department.

 Any number of courses can be shared with majors or minors, but a single course cannot count for both a major and a minor. Additionally, a single course may not count in more than one minor.

 Courses that satisfy the Contexts & Perspective requirements may not satisfy any of the required Arts and Science electives.

 Context and Perspective courses may count for the Modern Language requirement for BA majors

 Context and Perspective courses may not count for Arts and Science or Unrestricted electives for both BA and BS majors.

Course Sharing Rules

 Up to three courses may be shared across different majors

 No courses may be shared between any major and any minor.

 No courses may be shared between any minors.

 A single course of any kind can be shared up to three times: o Example 1: If a student has three majors, a single course can count for all three majors. o Example 2: If a student has two majors, a single course could count for a Context & Perspectives course and both majors.

+ These courses comprise the Business Administration Minor.

^These courses along with the following courses: EC112, AC215, MG215, and MG313 are required to complete the Business Administration Major.

This sheet has sample occupations, work settings, and employers associated with Bentley and this major. You are not limited to these options when choosing a career path. The options for this major are designed to get you thinking about occupations related to your interests and a particular field of study.

CONVENTIONAL Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas.

ENTERPRISING Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading and managing people and making many decisions, and sometimes require risk taking.

INVESTIGATIVE Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve research in searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

SOCIAL Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

ARTISTIC Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require selfexpression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

REALISTIC Realistic occupations frequently involve work that is practical, mechanical and hands-on. This occupation may require working outside, and does not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.