Program Overview

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Graduate Certificate in Sales Excellence

The Graduate Certificate in Sales Excellence is a 12-credit-hour online program designed to help students drive results through sales excellence.

Program Overview

This program aims to expand students' understanding of the sales process, negotiating, data-driven decision-making, and sales leadership.

What You'll Learn

• Gain an understanding of the consultative selling process, including sales call dynamics, identifying customers' needs, developing solutions, building customer relationships, and the tools and technologies that facilitate the sales process.
• Learn to negotiate in a variety of business and non-business settings.
• Understand how analytical techniques and quantitative models can enhance decision-making by converting data and information to insights and decisions.
• Understand the strategic and operational aspects of sales leadership, including successfully managing the sales force, developing sales forecasts, setting quotas and budgets, structuring the sales force, managing sales territories, hiring, training, and leading salespeople, developing effective compensation and incentive systems, evaluating the performance of salespeople, and analyzing the unit's sales volume, cost, and profitability.

Curriculum

The curriculum is comprised of four methods courses, which students can tailor to fit their interests. All of these courses are either required or electives of the MBA program offered by the College of Business. Students must earn a grade of C or better in each course to complete the certificate.

Required Course

• Managerial Marketing (GRBA 813): Development of analytical and decision-making skills, and an understanding of the market forces that influence those decisions. Major emphasis on the decision areas of product, distribution, personal selling, advertising, and pricing, as well as on the development of integrated marketing programs. Social, ethical, and global issues are also covered.

Elective Courses

• Data-Driven Decision Making (MRKT 850): Theory and strategic use of large marketing databases. Translating market data into insights for decisions like pricing, advertising response, resource allocation, and new product forecasting.
• Consultative Selling (MRKT 857): Teaches the consultative selling model and the skills that make it work, including interpersonal, communication, presentation, facilitation, and problem-solving skills.
• Sales Leadership (MRKT 858): Provides a conceptual and applied understanding of the strategic and operational aspects of successfully managing a sales force.
• Managerial Negotiations (MRKT 859): Designed to help managers and professionals deal with a broad range of negotiation issues, providing an understanding of the theory and processes of negotiations and developing skills that can be used to negotiate in a variety of settings.

Admission

Because applications are reviewed on a continual basis, students can start earning the certificate when it works best for them. Students in a UNL graduate business degree program wishing to pursue the certificate will not be subject to additional screening. Students seeking just a certificate will be reviewed by a faculty committee based on:

• Letter of interest
• Professional resume
• Undergraduate GPA
• Undergraduate transcripts
• Three references

Admission Recommendations

It is recommended that students have completed a bachelor's degree with a GPA of 3.0 or higher and have three or more years of professional work experience. Students with less than a 3.0 GPA but who have significant work experience (5+ years of professional experience) will be considered for the certificate program.

Supporting Documents

All supporting documents, including unofficial transcripts and test scores, are uploaded directly via the graduate application. Students are required to submit an unofficial transcript from each post-secondary institution they have attended during the application review process.

Official Transcripts

If admitted, students will be required to submit an official transcript sent directly from each institution they have attended to The Office of Graduate Studies.

International Student Transcript Submission

International students should refer to the Nebraska Office of Graduate Studies for transcript and document information.

Applying for Multiple Certificates

The College of Business offers multiple graduate certificate options. However, students pursuing multiple graduate certificates may not apply the same course to more than one certificate.

Prerequisites

Before applying, students must ensure they have met the prerequisites of a bachelor's degree. There are no other specific course requirements for admission to the certificate program.

Affordability

Since certificate programs are not eligible for financial aid, the cost is a key consideration. At a flat rate of $710 per credit hour, the certificate programs are some of the most affordable in the Big Ten.

Maximizing Investment

Completing a certificate can be a good way to get a feel for graduate-level classes and diversify expertise. Because the course credits earned while completing a certificate are transferrable, students can roll their credits into a master's program later on. If students are already enrolled in one of the MBA programs, they can use their MBA electives to earn this graduate certificate at the same time.