Course Offerings
The Sales Curriculum at Illinois State...
... a Major in Professional Sales
The Illinois State University Sales Sequence offers a specialized program of study to students, is officially noted on students’ transcripts and is the same as a major in sales and sales leadership. The Sales Sequence builds on the core requirements for a major in Marketing with students completing three required sales courses and two elective sales courses from the catalog of eight different courses in sales and sales management. Most sales students select the sales classes as their marketing electives. This allows them to simultaneously complete their degree in Marketing and the Professional Sales Sequence. This is academically the same as a double major in (a) Professional Selling and Sales Management and (b) Marketing.
As illustrated below, students electing the Sales Sequence complete two required courses (MKT 234 & MKT 334) and three elective courses selected from the extensive listing of sales course electives.
Required Courses - Complete two
MKT 234 - Personal Selling and Relationship Marketing
Introduces the basic concepts and skills of professional selling, including customer analysis, communication skills, effective openings and presentations, and effective follow-up with an emphasis on building trust, customer orientation, and managing long-term customer relationships. Classes are highly interactive and designed to develop selling concepts, skills and self-confidence through experiential exercises, role-plays and presentations using leading-edge technology in the sales learning labs in the College of Business.
MKT 334 - Sales Management
Includes theory, principles and practice of sales force management and leadership for manufacturing, wholesaling and service enterprises. Discussion topics include the full range of functions utilized in managing the contemporary sales force and include selling strategy, organizing the selling entity, territory analysis and planning, hiring and selection, coaching and training, motivating achievement, assessing performance and compensating and rewarding the sales force.
Elective Courses - complete three of the following sales electives:
MKT 311 - Marketing & Sales Forecasting
Develops an understanding of forecasting concepts and builds skills in performing a variety of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. Applications include determining market and sales potential, estimating future sales, determining territory assignments and target markets. This is a highly interactive class, emphasizing actual forecasting applications through real-world exercises and projects.
MKT 324 - Advanced Personal Selling & Negotiation
Building on and further expanding the students' understanding of the basic selling process and skills, this course integrates the latest negotiation theories and practices to enable students to master relationship selling and complex selling situations. Students will experience enhanced ability and confidence to effectively negotiate win-win solutions and sell themselves, their ideas and their market offerings in an increasingly competitive environment. In doing so, the course takes a highly experiential perspective and uses a sequence of real world-based projects to build and reinforce specific selling skills and competencies.
MKT 325 - Key Account & Relationship Management
This course focuses on major account management, the supply chain, purchasing units, segmenting and targeting organizational markets along with team selling. As a result of this course's emphasis on building relationships with customers for maximized loyalty and retention, students will gain the ability to segment markets, target accounts with the highest potential and develop strategic account plans to effectively generate long-term buyer-seller business relationships. Extensive interaction with sales and business managers is incorporated throughout the course along with applied projects and exercises.
MKT 326 - Professional Sales Planning & Analysis
Learning activities for this course center on mastering the advanced skills and competencies associated with the consultative selling process, and developing sales territory planning and analysis techniques. The first half of the semester emphasizes gathering pre-approach information, planning sales calls, executing benefit selling strategies, gaining commitment and working with buyer resistance. The subsequent portion of the course involves activities designed to build students' proficiency in analyzing territory market potential, developing call schedules and territory routing routines, developing account goals and managing sales territory budgets. Students work with sales professionals and participate in sales call role plays, written reports and class presentations related to class assignments.
MKT 329 - Purchasing Policies & Procedures
This course develops a conceptual and practical foundation of knowledge regarding the nature of purchasing and materials management in contemporary organizational management. This foundation addresses both the nature of procurement and materials management. Participating students can expect to relate contemporary business paradigms of agility and relational business practices to the specific context of purchasing and materials management. Experiential exercises further enhance students' mastery and understanding of moving readily between concept and application.
MKT 398.03 Internship/Cooperative Education in Professional Sales
Internships provide students the opportunity to gain valuable experience working in a sales-related position for a business organization. Students benefit from the direct involvement in actual day-to-day business operations and having responsibilities that allow them to apply knowledge and skills gained in course work. The benefits to the student and the company are so great that companies are increasingly using internships as their major form of recruiting new employees. Students qualifying for this internship experience can receive letter-grade credit. Up to three credit hours can be counted toward the marketing major.
