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Studies & Degrees in Sales

Sales, taught in Spain as técnica comercial or dirección comercial, is the part of business studies that deals with finding customers, understanding what they need, presenting a product or service, negotiating and closing an agreement, and keeping the relationship afterwards. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics describes the core of the job this way: sales representatives contact customers, explain the features of the products they sell, negotiate prices and answer customers' questions.

Courses cover sales and negotiation techniques, customer relationship management, the organisation of sales teams, market research, pricing, digital marketing and the basics of commercial law and logistics. Purdue University, for example, states that students of its Selling and Sales Management major learn the business-to-business sales process, sales force management, consumer behaviour and current trends in digital transformation.

Qualifications and levels

Sales can be studied at almost every level, and many people enter the profession with a general business qualification.

  • Vocational training in Spain. Two official FP qualifications of the Comercio y Marketing family lead directly to sales work. The intermediate cycle Técnico en Actividades Comerciales lasts 2,000 hours and is open to holders of the compulsory secondary education certificate. The higher cycle Técnico Superior en Gestión de Ventas y Espacios Comerciales also lasts 2,000 hours; its modules include the organisation of sales teams, sales and negotiation techniques, marketing policies, market research and digital marketing, and it includes a training period in a company.
  • University degrees. In Spain an official bachelor's degree has 240 ECTS credits; sales is normally a set of subjects inside a degree in marketing or business administration. In the United States some universities have a dedicated programme: Purdue University offers a Selling and Sales Management major with required internships or field experiences, and Illinois State University has a Professional Sales Institute focused on business-to-business selling.
  • Two-year colleges. Alexandria Technical & Community College in Minnesota offers a Marketing & Sales Management associate degree (AAS) and a Retail Management certificate.
  • Postgraduate and executive programmes. Business schools offer programmes in sales management for people who already work in the field. EIG in Granada, for example, teaches a Programa Superior de Dirección de Ventas that lasts six months, at weekends, for sales managers with experience; the school states that it leads to a título propio of ESIC University. EIG also teaches a master's in marketing management and commercial management of 60 ECTS credits over 11 to 12 months.
  • Short courses. Training companies teach sales techniques in courses of a few days or weeks, often made to measure for a company, as SDS Training in Madrid does.

For any programme that is not an official FP qualification or an official university degree, ask the school what recognition the qualification has.

Where to study

SpainExchange lists 40 active schools for sales. Almost half are in Spain (19), followed by the United States (9) and Italy (2); the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Austria, Hungary, Chile, Ecuador, Pakistan and Australia, among others, have one each.

In Spain the list includes CEU FP Madrid, CCC Centro de Estudios, Cerem - Escuela Internacional de Negocios and SDS Training in Madrid, EIG in Granada, IUSC and Criteria in Barcelona, and The Open Faculty in Murcia. In the United States it includes Purdue University, Illinois State University, the University of Washington, DeVry University and Alexandria Technical & Community College. Elsewhere it includes Bocconi University in Milan, the International Business School in Budapest, Holmesglen in Australia, the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

Sales is taught in the language of the market it prepares for: Spanish in Spain and Latin America, English in the United States and Australia. Many of the Spanish providers teach online or at weekends, which suits people who already work.

Careers

Typical first jobs are sales representative, account manager, inside sales or telesales agent, and store or section supervisor. With experience, people move to key account management, sales team leadership and sales management. The Spanish Ministry of Education lists head of sales, sales representative, commercial agent and store manager among the occupations of the higher FP cycle.

Entry requirements depend on the product. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a high school diploma is generally sufficient for non-technical products, while representatives who sell scientific or technical products typically need at least a bachelor's degree; sales managers typically need a bachelor's degree and experience as a sales representative. For the United States, the Bureau projects little or no change in the employment of wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives from 2025 to 2035, with about 123,400 openings a year, and growth of 4 percent for sales managers.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a university degree to work in sales?

Not always. Many sales jobs are open to people with secondary education or vocational training. A degree is typically expected for technical or scientific products and for sales management.

Which vocational qualification in Spain prepares for sales?

The intermediate cycle Técnico en Actividades Comerciales and the higher cycle Técnico Superior en Gestión de Ventas y Espacios Comerciales. Each lasts 2,000 hours.

How long does a sales programme take?

From a few days for a course in sales techniques to two academic years for an FP cycle and four years for a bachelor's degree. The executive programme in sales management at EIG lasts six months.

Is sales the same as marketing?

No. Marketing studies the market and designs the offer, the price and the communication. Sales deals directly with the customer and closes the agreement. Many programmes teach both together.