Sales Course Details - Fees, Subjects, Syllabus, Duration, Eligibility, Career Scope

What is Sales

Every company and every industry needs marketing and sales. This means that candidates who study sales can work for pretty much any organisation they wish to, be it in retail, food and beverage, technology, or government. The study of sales gives students an understanding of what causes a company's success and failure, as well a deep insight into consumer behaviour and marketer-consumer relationships.

There will be sales as long as there are customers. As production of existing goods continues to increase and new products constantly get introduced to the market, there is increasing demand for sales experts to regulate consumers' interests and have them met accordingly.

Eligibility Criteria (UG & PG) of Sales

At different levels of study, the eligibility criteria for studying Sales are:

• For B.Com/BBA in Sales and Marketing- Candidates must have passed class 12 from a recognised board or university with a minimum aggregate of 50%.

• M.Com in Sales and Marketing- Students are eligible for an M.Com degree if they possess a valid B.Com or B.Com(Hons) degree from a recognised university or board, with a minimum 50% aggregate score in the qualifying examination.

• MBA in Sales and Marketing- Students who have a valid Bachelor's degree in any discipline within minimum 50% aggregate marks in the qualifying examination for the same are eligible to sit for MBA entrance exams. 

Entrance Exams for Course in Sales 

Students interested in studying Sales have two options at the Bachelor's level. They can either study a Bachelor of Commerce with a Sales and Marketing specialisation, or they can opt for a Bachelor of Business Administration with specialisation in Sales and Marketing. The former is a Commerce-focused degree which covers the fundamentals of Commerce such as Finance, Economics, and Accounting. 

Admission into the B.Com course requires Mathematics as an important eligibility criterion. BBA, on the other hand, is a course focusing on business and management and is a professional course which equips students with necessary management skills such as operational and managerial skills as well as marketing knowledge. 

Entrance Exams for B.Com/BBA in Sales and Marketing 

Admissions to this course are mostly conducted based on the students' marks in the 10+2 examination. Certain colleges, however, conduct their entrance exams such as- 

• Delhi University Entrance Test (DUET) is conducted by Delhi University to offer UG, PG, MPhil, and PhD aspirants admission into any of its institutes. Conducted in online mode once every year.

• Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Entrance Exam is the university's admission test for UG and PG aspirants, conducted either at the university level or by respective departments (departmental test).

• Christ University Entrance Test (CUET) is conducted for admissions into BBA, B.Com, B.Tech, and many other UG courses under Christ University.

• Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) entrance exam conducts admissions for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in offline mode once every year. 

Entrance Exams for M.Com in Sales and Marketing

Students who have completed their Bachelor degree in B.Com can further opt to pursue a Master degree in M.Com Sales and Marketing. Some of the entrance examinations conducted for admission into the top colleges for M.Com include: 

• ANUPGCET, a state-level entrance examination conducted by Acharya Nagarjuna University, Gunter and all its affiliated colleges in the state for those who wish to pursue PG courses in different fields. The exam is conducted in offline mode.

• Allahabad University Post Graduate Admission Test, or AU PGAT in short, is conducted at the university level for admission into a Master's programme of study under Allahabad University. It is conducted once a year in the online as well as offline modes.

• PESSAT or the PES Scholastic Aptitude Test is conducted by the PES University for UG and PG admissions into the college in any stream. 

Entrance Exams for MBA 

MBA entrance exams are conducted both at the national level and the university level, with high demand for the course meaning high competition in these exams. Some of the top examinations which grant students admission into the best colleges for MBA include: 

• CAT, or Common Entrance Test, nicknamed the "mother of MBA entrance exams", is conducted by the IIMs at a national level. The examination is generally conducted in November each year, and the scores are accepted for admission not just by IIMs but for other top colleges as well.

• Xavier's Admission Test (XAT), one of the oldest management exams in India, is conducted by XLRI and the scores are accepted as primary admission criteria by India's top business schools.

• Management Aptitude Test (MAT) is conducted by the All India Management Association (AIMA), a popular exam conducted four times a year for admissions into top B-schools.  

Required Skillset for Sales

A career in sales means a hectic lifestyle of planning, estimating, strategising and communicating. This line of work, although a little tiring, can be seamless if the professionals possess certain key skills such as:

• Communication: Strong communication skills form the foundation of a successful sales career because it helps facilitate smooth relationships with clients and ensures that one can tactfully put across plans, ideas, and buyers' pain points.

• Business Acumen: Sales experts should have strong business acumen so that they may use business-level information to communicate ROI and relevant pain points.

• Negotiation: A critical skill in the business world, sales professionals, must follow a disciplined process of negotiation to avoid high-stake negotiations that may result in a loss.

• Buyer Research: Sales professionals should always try to be on top of buyer-related information, for instance, market trends, types of buyers, the competitive landscape, etc. They should have strong research skills to keep track of buyers' companies and possible triggers for sales.

• Time Management and Planning: Sales professionals often land with too much on their plates, and without effective time management and planning skills, it may be very difficult for them to tactfully deal with each of the pieces of work while ensuring there has been no oversight.

• Storytelling: While storytelling may be considered a component of communication skills, this is a distinct requirement because sales experts must be clear and concise, authentic and engaging when pitching ideas to customers. 

• Judgement: Sometimes, sales reps need to make decisions very quickly without any time to weigh out the pros and cons. In such cases, they must be savvy enough in their judgement to make the right call.

• Collaboration: When managing a group of people or a bunch of resources, sales reps must know how to orchestrate them well together.

• Presentation: When making a presentation for a client, sales professionals must have the skills to keep it concise, to the point, and focusing only on what is important. A mistake as simple as wasting an impatient customer's time can cost the sales dearly.

• Territory Management: Territory management is all about a sales expert's ability to analyse market factors and their target accounts because a high-potential territory which hasn't been maximised is the last thing anybody wants.

• Social Selling: Social media being an integral platform for advertisement and sales today, sales professionals should know their way around social media networks, if not gain expertise in them.