General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations

Types of Degrees General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many general sales, distribution, and marketing operations graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	1,460
Associate Degree	620
Master’s Degree	609
Basic Certificate	606
Undergraduate Certificate	56
Graduate Certificate	24
Doctor’s Degree	3

What General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to general sales, distribution, and marketing operations and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in general sales, distribution, and marketing operations should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations Majors

When studying general sales, distribution, and marketing operations, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations Majors

As a general sales, distribution, and marketing operations major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Can You Do With a General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations Major?

People with a general sales, distribution, and marketing operations degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products	5.2%	$58,510

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations?

According to recent stats this major attracts about equal numbers of men and women. Roughly 48% of the graduates are women, and 52% are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of general sales, distribution, and marketing operations majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	300
Black or African American	88
Hispanic or Latino	267
White	673
International Students	74
Other Races/Ethnicities	58

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, too. About 5.1% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations

Some degrees associated with general sales, distribution, and marketing operations may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to general sales, distribution, and marketing operations have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	4.6%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	19.0%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	3.6%
Some College Courses	2.7%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	5.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	66.2%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.3%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.4%

Online General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	44	6
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	108	16
Bachelor’s Degree	5	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	8	1
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to General Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to general sales, distribution, and marketing operations.

Major	Number of Grads
Professional Sales	1,267
Retailing and Retail Operations	960
Other General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketing Operations	226
Merchandising and Buying Operations	134

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Nick Nijhuis under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.