Starting next fall, Kansas State University will offer a major in one of the most essential business skills: sales.
K-State’s program for professional strategic selling will be the only one of its kind in Kansas and only the 19th in the United States.
“We are proud to be a national leader in sales education curriculum, and the addition of this major will allow us to continue to be an innovator in this space,” said Kevin Gwinner, Edgerley family dean of K-State’s College of Business Administration, where the program will be based.
“Sales are the foundation of businesses at all levels, and this new major will provide companies with a badly needed resource, resulting in excellent careers for our students — both within the state of Kansas and nationwide.”
The degree is an outgrowth of K-State’s National Strategic Selling Institute (NSSI), which currently offers a certificate in professional strategic selling. The institute attracted 180 students this fall, up from 14 in 2013, when it launched. The Sales Education Foundation has called the NSSI one of the best programs of its kind in the country.
One of the things that distinguishes NSSI has been its focus on real-world, experiential education – graduates are prepared for just about anything you can experience in an entry-level sales job. So far, the NSSI has achieved a 100 percent placement rate for its graduates.
“I talk to companies all the time that rave about the professionalism and preparedness of our students,” said Dawn Deeter, the NSSI’s director. “When you combine the work ethic and attitude of a K-State student with the selling skills we offer in our program, you get a dynamic prospect for a firm.”
By developing its sales training into a major, K-State will be able to provide an even richer experience to students.
“This highly specialized major and nationally recognized sales program reinforces the importance of joint collaboration between academia and corporate sponsorship,” said Kurt Auleta, senior vice president of Security Benefit, a corporate partner of the National Strategic Selling Institute since its inception. “The institute provides students with advanced business readiness skills that prepares individuals for the realities of an ever-changing global business environment. This unique program has resulted in high job-placement rates while lowering costs and increasing efficiency for new hire programs in the private business sector.”
