Asbury Business School Launches Professional Sales Certificate

March 19, 2024

The Asbury University Dayton School of Business (DSB) is pleased to announce the Certificate in Professional Sales, an 18-credit program providing formal recognition of significant training in professional sales available to Asbury undergraduate Business students. This program serves as a strong resume addition for students pursuing jobs in business or any field, with two routes to earn the certificate: The Asbury Sales Minor meets all requirements for the Certificate and is available to students in all majors. Students who have majors in Marketing, Sport Management and Business Administration can fulfill the Certificate requirements with fewer hours than the Sales Minor because some of the certificate requirements are also major requirements.

“Demand for salespeople continues to be strong, and research shows that graduates of university sales programs have a 30 percent lower job turnover rate and a 50 percent faster ramp up time,” said Dr. George Allen, who serves as associate professor of marketing and the director of the Asbury University Center for Professional Selling. “Sales can be a great long-term career, an entry point into a company of interest or a transitional job while waiting for a target position in another career area to become available.”

The certificate is awarded in conjunction with a bachelor’s degree from Asbury as a notation on student transcripts. Classes to earn the certificate include Principles of Marketing, Fundamentals of Professional Selling, Advanced Sales, CRM & Sales Technologies, Sales Management, and electives such as Sport Sales & Marketing, Persuasion, Social Psychology, and a Sales Internship.

“The certificate will be an indication to prospective employers that students have proficiency in selling skills, making them more attractive prospects for sales and other communication-oriented positions,” Allen said.

This year, the DSB celebrates 10 years of training leaders to be the best for the world. In 2014, Asbury University dedicated the School of Business given Howard Dayton’s and his late wife Beverly’s “service and sacrifice.” Read their story: https://www.asbury.edu/academics/schools/business/howard-dayton/. A recent addition to the DSB includes the Center for Professional Selling, which provides a formal avenue for sales education in the DSB.

“Students pursuing the Certificate practice their skills in Asbury’s state-of-the-art role play suite,” said Allen. “The Sales Role Play rooms allow students to develop their sales skills in offices that look like the kinds of offices in which they’ll be selling in their careers someday. The cameras and recording system allow students and me as their professor to review their role play performance so they can further improve their skills.”

The DSB offers five majors (Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Marketing, and Sport Management), five minors (Accounting, Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Sport Management), the MBA program, the M.S. in Accounting program, and the Online Business Management program. Learn more: https://www.asbury.edu/academics/departments/business/.

Students accepted into the Asbury +Grad MBA and M.S. in Accounting programs can take graduate-level courses during their undergraduate programs with nine graduate credit hours being included within the traditional undergraduate tuition. Learn more: https://www.asbury.edu/academics/degrees/graduate/mba/asburyplus1/.