Does Your Sales Curriculum Need a Refresh? Insights on How to Align Sales Curriculum With the Modern Sales Environment

Abstract

Sales education has experienced significant growth recently, both in the number of schools offering sales programs and in the amount of pedagogical attention dedicated to advancing the field. However, one area that has not been given adequate attention is the sales curriculum. To date, few scholarly articles have examined sales curricula from a broad perspective. More concerningly, the field of sales has changed significantly due to recent technological, generational, and pandemic-related shifts in the market. Accordingly, in the present article, we examine the current state of sales curricula by reviewing the existing curricula of the 70 member schools of the University Sales Center Alliance (USCA) in the United States. Furthermore, we conduct focus groups with former sales students now working in sales, as well as hiring personnel affiliated with USCA schools, to address how sales curricula should be evolved to reflect the modern sales role. In addition, we triangulate and validate these insights with data gathered from sales academics. Our findings suggest sales educators should rethink the composition of the standard sales curriculum.