Barrett Whitepaper: Should selling be studied at degree level at University?

There has been no officially recognized benchmark for professional salespeople at tertiary level. Finance, Marketing, Production, Engineering, Business Administration, IT, Research & Design, Human Resources, Logistics, Procurement and Entrepreneurship all have recognised tertiary qualifications. Because of their long standing involvement in sales and the development of sales professionalism, Barrett wanted to fully understand how people think and feel about the profession of selling being studied at Australian universities and business schools. Specifically, Barrett wanted to delve into the perceptual reputation of the profession of selling within our communities and the ‘usefulness’ of having sales qualifications at degree level, that aimed to improve the reputation of the profession and the people in it.

The study attempted to understand the state of existing development for sales professionals and how tertiary education in selling and sales would further assist in ensuring sales and selling is viewed as more professional.  This whitepaper’s results bring us to consider how people and business view selling as a profession and what we can do to professionalise selling creating a pathway for the 21st Century individuals to become sales professionals because the thinking and capabilities required to succeed in today’s complex sales environment are in the realms of the standards of MBA’s and other business qualifications.