Professional Selling Certificate

Overview of Certificate Program

There are a variety of benefits for earning a Professional Selling Certificate. Some of these benefits include:

  • Notoriety - Less than one percent of universities in the United States have a sales program. This includes both professional selling concentrations and certificates.
  • Student Careers - MTSU has over 120 majors. Many of the graduates from these majors are hired into a sales position within their related field of study. Earning a professional selling certificate will give these students a competitive edge and allow them to stand out from their peers.
  • Retention - Sales force turnover rates exceed twice the national average for other positions. Within the first year, costs for a single new hire fall between $50,000 and $75,000; it is important for organizations to find and maintain qualified sales professionals. Prior research has shown that hiring students from a sales program lowers turnover by 30% and shortens the time to meaningful revenue production, adding tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to the bottom line (Sales Education Force, 2020, https://salesfoundation.org/#).
  • Purpose - The certificate program benefits the non-marketing student who would like to gain an understanding of the sales process or a non-degree- seeking individual who would like to use the program for career development.

Program Outcomes

Through completing a Professional Selling Certificate, participants will: 

  • Develop an understanding of the sales process
  • Utilize the Mel Adams State Farm Sales Lab in the completion of role play scenarios
  • Enhance understanding of business-to-business relationship development
  • Recognize the importance of customer relationship management database utilization
  • Apply coaching, evaluation, and critical feedback skills
  • Learn and display proper ethical, professional, and business behaviors

Requirements

Professional Selling Certificate

Marketing 

The Professional Selling Certificate requires 12 hours. Students seeking to complete this certificate should contact the Jones College of Business Advising Center to submit the application form or email Thom Coats for more information.

Required (9 hours)

  • MKT 3840 - Professional Selling

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission to the College of Business; junior standing. Principles, problems, and role of personal selling in the business environment. Buying motives, persuasion techniques, and steps of selling process are considered as they relate to different types of sales activities and products.

  • MKT 3950 - Business-to-Business Marketing

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. Survey of managerial decisions involved in the business-to-business marketing of goods and services.

  • MKT 4850 - Advanced Selling  3 credit hours  

    MKT 4850 - Advanced Selling

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3840; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. The sales function as it relates to business-to-business selling and strategic relationship development. Topics include relational selling, account management, negotiation, team selling, handling conflict and ethical dilemmas, and selling to buying committees. Learning through interactive lecture, role-playing, and sales force automation software.

Electives (3 hours)

Choose one from the following:

  • ACTG 3000 - Survey of Accounting for General Business

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: A college-level math course; ENGL 1010; sophomore standing. Accounting cycle given minor emphasis; financial statement analysis and managerial uses of accounting given major emphasis. May be used for general business minors or M.B.A. candidates who have had no previous accounting courses. (Not open to Accounting majors and students with credit in ACTG 2110 and ACTG 2120.)

  • FIN 3000 - Survey of Finance  3 credit hours  

    FIN 3000 - Survey of Finance

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Junior standing. Will not substitute for FIN 3010. An overview of the fundamental concepts and tools for financial decision making within a business firm. (Not open to business majors.)

  • FIN 3010 - Principles of Corporate Finance

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Junior standing. Theory of corporate finance, emphasizing wealth creation, valuation, risk, capital budgeting, and cost of capital.

  • MKT 3825 - Marketing Analytics

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: MKT 3820; junior standing; admission to the College of Business. A survey of the metrics most commonly used to measure marketing performance with special emphasis given to marketing mix metrics, market share metrics, and customer lifetime value.

  • MKT 3830 - Retailing and E-Commerce

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. Provides an overview of the strategies involved in retailing. Covers critical retail determinants that consist of management of merchandise assortments, merchandise planning systems, buying strategies, pricing strategies, financial strategies, technological strategies, and store management. Special emphasis provided to digital and omnichannel retailing strategies. Consumer issues explored including customer buyer behavior, customer service requirements, and the retail communications mix.

  • MKT 3850 - Digital Marketing and Promotion

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission to the College of Business; junior standing. Psychological, sociological, legal, and marketing environments of promotion; the promotion mix consisting of advertising, publicity, personal selling, and sales promotion; and the development of promotion objectives, strategies, and plans.

  • MKT 3855 - Product Management

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; MATH 1530 or PSY 3020 or BIA 2610; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. Issues pertaining to marketing of products. Examines topics of interest to product managers including product life cycle, sales forecasting, new products, product positioning, and brand management.

  • MKT 3900 - Social Media Marketing

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. Discover how to leverage the power of social media to impact an organization at various levels. Focuses on crafting quality content to execute a successful marketing strategy. Gain real-world experience in identifying an audience, content development, increasing user engagement, follower acquisition, social media advertising, influencer marketing, social media analytics, and measuring the return on investment (ROI). 

  • MKT 3910 - Consumer Behavior  3 credit hours  

    MKT 3910 - Consumer Behavior

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. Buyer behavior as an influence in marketing decisions; special attention given to the processes of motivation, perception, attitude, learning, and interaction.

  • MKT 4510 - Global Marketing  3 credit hours  

    MKT 4510 - Global Marketing

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: MKT 3820; admission to the Jones College of Business; junior standing. Helps students understand and assess global market opportunities, development of market strategies in the international marketplace, and techniques of entering the international market. Examines cultural, social, economic, political, legal, and geographic elements. Particular focus on the role of the marketing mix elements in an international application.

  • MKT 4800 - Sales Management  3 credit hours  

    MKT 4800 - Sales Management

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. Management functions as applied to field sales force. Includes sales organization structures, selection and training of sales personnel, sales compensation, supervision and stimulation of the sales force, and evaluation of sales performance.

  • MKT 4870 - Services Marketing

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MKT 3820; admission into the College of Business; junior standing. The role and scope of marketing in service entities, including impact, issues, and domestic and global trends.