Sales Gain Ground in the B-School Curriculum

The following is from the All Star Essays blog for April 11:

The Wall Street Journal's Career Journal carries an interesting feature today on the growing profile of sales courses in top MBA programs. ("More B-Schools Add Sales Courses," by Ronald Alsop, Career Journal, dated April 11, 2006.)

The growing respect paid to sales by b-schools is a noteworthy trend in itself. It also highlights a key aspect of MBA programs that people should consider before they decide to pursue b-school admissions.

Career Journal writes that b-schools traditionally paid limited attention to sales because selling was seen more as a skill than as a management topic. Only a few top b-schools, such as Harvard and Kellogg, offered sales management courses in the past. In recent years, however, additional b-schools, including Sloan, Stanford, and UNC, have made sales classes available to their MBA students.

Part of this change comes from schools' taking both a broader and a more detailed look at what selling means. Selling is presented as a skill with management value both inside and outside an organization. For example, a Proctor & Gamble executive who is involved in a sales seminar offered to University of Wisconsin students talked about MBAs drawing on sales skills to sell ideas inside their own companies.

In addition, more attention is being paid to the particular demands of different kinds of selling. MIT offers a course on high tech sales and sales force management. UNC is thinking about offering specialized classes on sales in banking, consulting, and other business sectors. A number of schools are offering sales courses in response to the needs of students interested in entrepreneurial careers.

But a second (and probably more important) factor in the growth of MBA sales courses is employer demand. Corporate recruiters value MBA hires who understand the relationship between marketing and sales – and they value b-schools that prepare graduates with that kind of understanding.

What should aspiring MBAs make of this?

A well-planned and well-taught class on sales and sales force management is a valuable option for MBA students, especially those whose previous work experience never involved direct contact with customers or clients. Sales are vital to any company's performance. The best product in the world is still a loser if nobody buys it. Managers need to understand how sales and sales personnel work in their industry and in their company.

However, aspiring MBAs should never lose sight of the fact that management education is about moving up to general management – not about doing a better job where you already are. Because sales is so clearly a crucial business function – and because it is such a lucrative field for those who do it well – we worry that the growth of MBA sales courses may lead some students to give other aspects of their educations less attention or respect than they deserve.

Let's be honest: if you're a smart and gifted salesperson and are happy to stay in sales, you don't need an MBA. You might benefit from some courses in managing staff or analyzing data, but you don't need a general business education.

More importantly, if sales are the thing you love doing, you probably wouldn't be happy in the kinds of positions that MBA grads move on to. Being a corporate executive is not about being the very best salesperson in the company. It's about seeing the big picture and managing the whole process. That's why people go to graduate school to learn to do it.

If you do want a career in general management, by all means take advantage of sales training that is available to you. As we said before, it's valuable for students who have not previously worked in or around sales. It's also valuable for anyone planning on starting their own business. But keep in mind that sales is just one of many areas you need to understand and function in to be an effective manager. The goal of your sales training should be to gain competence in managing sales along with all the other functions of your organization – not to become the world's best salesperson yourself.