Professional Selling: A Study of ECU College of Business Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand East Carolina University College of Business students’ perceptions of sales as a career and to learn these students’ awareness and interest in the ECU Professional Selling Certificate. ECU’s College of Business offers a Professional Selling Certificate to students of any major. I hypothesized that many ECU students may not be aware of this certificate. My purpose in this project is to learn about student opinions of sales as a career and the Professional Selling Certificate offered by ECU. The questions that guided my project include “Are ECU College of Business students aware of the Professional Selling Certificate?” and “Are these students interested in pursuing sales as a career?” In order to answer these questions, I surveyed over 400 ECU College of Business students on their awareness of the Professional Selling Certificate (PSC, from here) and their perceptions of sales as a career. The results show that just over half of students surveyed (54.8%) are aware of the PSC. Just under half of students surveyed (45%) have an interest in pursuing sales as a long-term career, while many more would be willing to begin their career in sales regardless of long-term plans (56.9%). Conclusions drawn from this research include that ECU College of Business students believe that their programs prepare them for a career in sales. Marketing majors specifically show greater interest in sales careers than other majors, followed by management majors.