HarryCaray

HMFIC

Notable Contributor

Notorious Answer

Celebrated Contributor

+12

[POLL] MBA or no MBA?

MBA or similar post grad degree.

Do you have one? Working on it? Thoughts on it either way for working in sales?

Do you have an MBA or similar post grad degree?

Attached poll

Yes No No, but working on it now No, but I plan on it in the future

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🤷‍♂ Poll

🎈 Mentorship

25 comments

Sort by:

salesnerd

WR Officer

Head of Growth

Eh, I thought about it, but at this point it would be purely to further my education, I don't think it would help my business career dramatically.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

Yeah that's fair. People underestimate what you pick up organically with on the job experience. I think there's a lot of business professions where it's a must-have (like finance obviously), but not as vital in sales. Also depends on company culture and how much leadership values those degrees, if you're looking to get promoted.

salesnerd

WR Officer

Head of Growth

Yeah, for sure. When I worked for a F500 company that would have paid for it, it seemed like a good idea. But paying out of pocket for it isn't as appealing. Someday I might do it, but right now I'm learning enough on the job.

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

I want one. But I don't need one.

Incognito

WR Officer

Master of Disaster

@fuzzy same

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I don't want to give up six-figures of income for two years in order to pay six figures for a MBA program for which I see no clear benefit. It's not like sales organizations pay sellers with MBAs more.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

Does anyone in your sales leadership have one?

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I'm thinking back through all of employers and I think I've had one manager with a MBA...and that's it. No Directors, VPs, etc., with a MBA.

stratman

Politicker

Sales Engineer

I think an MBA was a lot more valuable when a lot less people had them.

SalesPharaoh

Big Shot

Senior Account Executive

once we can be physically in the institution I wanna try it

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

Agree with you there. Would you take a career pause and go full time or try one of the part time programs? That's a whole different part of the discussion - how to balance the job with getting the degree.

SalesPharaoh

Big Shot

Senior Account Executive

I would take a career pause definitely for two reasons one I'm not a multi tasker. Two is that I want to embrace the experience 100% with the extracurriculars, sports w/e you have there. My priority is to try getting into a top 10 institution in UK/USA.

Trinity

WR Officer

BusDev

It didn't make a difference for me but then again my concentration was strat planning. I learned more about sales from work experience.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

Yeah there's really no better way to learn about sales than to sell (and fail a lot at it)

pitchandputt

Executive

Account Executive

One of the most useless degrees that people just pick up without a specific goal in mind. No wonder schools market it so heavily and charge so much, even building out specific versions for people who aren't willing to go back to school full time ("executive" MBAs) - it's a cash grab.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

I definitely think they're overpriced. However, I wouldn't say it's completely useless. I don't have one, but I've taken some classes for one and it helped me get more conversational in pricing and ROI discussions as an example. But I also had zero exposure to it during undergrad.

Incognito

WR Officer

Master of Disaster

@HarryCaray

you hit the nail on the head. Having a background in business and business studies helps me see where my prospects pain points are much more clearly. If you can describe what you’re selling in ways they understand (aka - HOW YOU WILL MAKE THEM MONEY), you will win every time.

this is especially true in my industry where people get so caught up in the insurance jargon that the clients eyes glaze over and just see a price tag. They don’t understand that they may need to pay a bit more now, but the ROI is 40% - how many trucks does that buy? It’s like profiting from a whole job without doing any of the work! Etc etc.......

Incognito

WR Officer

Master of Disaster

I would get a PhD if I could - but only for fun.

currently doing the insurance equivalent, though (which is really not difficult). Just got my CRIS designation, and would like to start on my AFSB, but clients and prospects literally do not care. AFSB is more difficult because it requires accounting courses and takes roughly a year. CIC, ARM, TRIP, MLIS, CPCU, CRM.....CWCA..... there are lots if you feel like it. We have cont Ed requirements for our licenses so working on those gives us credits.

HarryCaray

Notable Contributor

HMFIC

What field are you in?

Incognito

WR Officer

Master of Disaster

@HarryCaray - in insurance? I specialize in construction firms and also do Surety bonding (not insurance).

premium size $250k - $10M. Average for my field is maybe $500k? Depends on what they do..... a paper GC has a much lower premium than a demolition contractor or bridge painter......

also depends on location. Anything in the 5 boroughs in nyc = $$$
+ anything involving height = $$$$$$
+ some ugly ass loss runs = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I would like to officially state that obtaining a license is approximately $900 and 90 hours.

Commissions typically run anywhere from 30-40% of revenue (revenue is 10% or so of premium for insurance. For bonds, it is 25% of premium).

for example, a $100,000 premium would equate to $10,000 of revenue to your company. You would earn $3-4000 in commission for new business. Every year they renew that policy, you also earn a commission (how much that is depends on your company, for some it’s 15%, others is 30%).

getting my CRIS designation (construction risk insurance specialist) cost approximately $500 and 55 hours. My company paid for it. It was entirely online and self study.

TL; DR - insurance sales can best be described as A+ money for C+ students 😂

newboy

Valued Contributor

Complete Sales team

Made me an ambivert from a nerdy introvert.

Worth for me

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

If we didnt put so much emphasis on them in the bios on hiring new executives i wouldnt even consider it

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Knowledge, yes ; power to boost career, umm unsure!

Senor

Contributor

CEO

Planning on getting one once my company offers to pay for it. Too expensive to self finance

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

I dont think you were supposed to be able to access that part of the site yet. I brought it up in an earlier post and seems like they fixed it as you’ve described.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

HarryCaray

[POLL] MBA or no MBA?

Do you have an MBA or similar post grad degree?

25 comments

Related posts

[POLL] Recruiters?

Poll : sales recruiters

Sales Professionals Poll