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Specialized Sales Major

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Specialized Sales

2,620 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
153 Master's Degrees Annually
#120 in Popularity
$45,080 Median Salary

Types of Degrees Specialized Sales Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many specialized sales, merchandising and marketing graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree 2,620
Associate Degree 1,481
Basic Certificate 849
Master’s Degree 153
Undergraduate Certificate 61
Graduate Certificate 27

What Specialized Sales Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to specialized marketing were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Specialized Marketing Majors

Specialized Marketing majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

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  • 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 Specialized Marketing Majors

A major in specialized marketing prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

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  • 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.
  • Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Abilities for Specialized Marketing Majors

As a specialized marketing major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

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  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Specialized Sales Major?

People with a specialized marketing degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title Job Growth Rate Median Salary
First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers 4.9% $73,390
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers 3.8% $39,630
Lodging Managers 4.0% $53,390
Parts Salespersons 5.0% $30,430
Sales Agents, Financial Services 6.2% $64,120
Sales Agents, Securities and Commodities 6.2% $64,120
Sales and Related Workers 10.6% $33,220
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products 5.2% $58,510

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Specialized Sales?

2,620 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
85% Percent Women
35% Percent Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 2,620 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in specialized sales, merchandising and marketing in 2021, making it rank #120 in popularity. The major attracts more women than men. About 85% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of specialized marketing majors is as follows:

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 126
Black or African American 330
Hispanic or Latino 385
White 1,471
International Students 134
Other Races/Ethnicities 174

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Specialized Marketing, too. About 5.1% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

  • South Korea
  • China
  • Canada
  • Taiwan
  • Japan

How Much Do Specialized Sales Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The U.S. Department of Education found that students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a bachelor’s degree in specialized sales, merchandising and marketing made a median starting salary of $32,868 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $27,397 (25th percentile) and $37,792 (75th percentile).

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We don’t know for sure if all of these people took jobs related to specialized marketing so take that into consideration.

Salaries According to BLS

Specialized Marketing majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $40,480 to $69,480 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Median Salary for a Specialized Sales Major  ( 40480 to 69480 )
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Median Salary for a High School Graduate  ( 30000 to 57900 )
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250K
Median Salary for a Bachelor's Degree Holder  ( 45600 to 99000 )
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Median Salary for an Advanced Degree Holder  ( 55600 to 125400 )
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250K

Some careers associated with specialized marketing require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. 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 specialized marketing have obtained the following education levels.

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Education Level Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma 11.1%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) 31.8%
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) 4.9%
Some College Courses 5.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) 11.9%
Bachelor’s Degree 32.9%
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. 1.3%
Master’s Degree 1.2%
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. 0.1%

Online Specialized Sales Programs

In 2020-2021, 204 schools offered a specialized marketing program of some type. 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) 48 1
Certificate (2-4 Years) 0 0
Associate’s Degree 92 12
Bachelor’s Degree 6 1
Post-Baccalaureate 0 0
Master’s Degree 14 2
Post-Master’s 1 0
Doctor’s Degree (Research) 1 0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Other) 0 0

Is a Degree in Specialized Sales Worth It?

The median salary for a specialized marketing grad is $45,080 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 13% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $103,600 after 20 years!

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You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to specialized marketing.

Major Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management 416,590
Accounting 99,265
Finance & Financial Management 57,778
General Business/Commerce 56,042
Marketing 52,916
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 43,382
Human Resource Management 28,787
Business Support & Assistant Services 19,119
Hospitality Management 17,689
Management Information Systems 13,680
Entrepreneurial Studies 11,319
International Business 9,101
Real Estate 6,547
General Sales & Marketing 5,923
Business/Managerial Economics 5,667
Other Business, Management & Marketing 4,822
Construction Management 3,846
Insurance 1,809
Taxation 1,547
Business/Corporate Communications 1,029
Telecommunications Management 55

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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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