IS A DEGREE NECESSARY FOR A SALES ROLE?
No. Let’s just be honest.
But the real debate is whether a degree is necessary for a successful sales role.
There is no “sales” degree but university can provide you with discipline, maturity, and motivation – qualities that every employer wants in an employee. In fact, some sales companies do require candidates to have a specific degree, if they’re specialising in a specific sector – such as finance or engineering. But is it the be all and end all? Let’s find out.
BUSINESS DEGREES?
Understanding business, the market, and the mindset it takes to sell has a massive impact on your ability to be a successful salesperson. Doing a degree in sales can provide you with:
Strong communication skills
Analytical and critical thinking
Problem solving and decision making
Presentation and report writing skills
An understanding of how to interpret and use financial data
Self-motivation, initiative and effective time management
Project and resource management
And the list goes on.
Nevertheless, the argument stands that unless students do a placement where they learn practical skills, they could leave university with just theoretical knowledge.
SOFT SKILLS OVER THEORETICAL SKILLS
Think of two 21 year olds. One just graduated from university, the other has been working in a sales/ customer environment since they were 18.
Which one has a head start?
This isn’t to say the graduate couldn’t soar with flying colours, but without work experience, they may lack certain soft skills, the right approach to sales and business acumen.
You may be a graduate reading this thinking, “how dare she assume I don’t have these things just because I went to university?”, and you’re right, because you may have these skills.
But your degree should never make you entitled to achieve more than your counterpart, because soft skills and work ethic hold far much more weight.
I asked Tim, our Founding Director, about what impresses him in a salesperson. He said:
“Resilience, personality, and hard work. If I can see someone has a drive to succeed – they have a strong chance of succeeding in sales. I think a degree has many positives but when looking at a career in sales, it’s not essential at all. As someone who didn’t go to university, I know first hand that talking your way into everything, building rapport with the right people is what gets you in the right places.”
HOW TO ACTUALLY GET INTO SALES
Well firstly, I guess we’ve resolved the question as to whether a degree is beneficial or not. Quick recap: yes and no.
Actually, 81% of sales professionals say you don’t need a degree to work in sales (Finlay James). But the things you will need are:
Interpersonal skills
Willingness to learn
Flexibility
Communication and negotiation skills
An understanding of sales
Which are qualities that don’t necessarily come from university, or even a job – it comes from passion and determination.
Here’s some great advice from Tim to end this article and give you something to think about:
“Think about the company you want to work for, think about what they sell and who they sell to. It's crucial if you want a long career in sales to care and believe in what you sell. I believe working in a call centre environment for 12 months at the beginning of your career is a great first step as you learn so much about customers and their needs.
- Written by Shannon Matthews
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