Want to Climb the Corporate Ladder? Learn More about Sales!

About a year ago, I attended a panel of corporate recruiters who were all in agreement on one major point: sales skills are the most under-rated ability amongst non-sales professionals looking to take on senior management responsibilities. In most MBA programs, sales has often been given short shrift - treated as a mere footnote in marketing classes.

Truth is that many CEO's come up through the sales ranks. People in sales positions have tremendous opportunity to both get close to the customer and to directly effect buiness results. According to one VP of HR on the panel, people who were highly successful in sales at his high-tech company were well-positioned to write their own ticket down the line - whether their long-term goals involved staying in sales, moving into a marketing role, or taking on business development responsibilities.

Many MBA's have traditionally looked down on sales as either a short- or long-term career option. However, as increasing numbers of business schools, such as Stanford, M.I.T., Harvard, and the University of North Carolina, add sales process and management courses to their curriculum, sales may merit a closer look as a career option.