Because they're lighter on theory and research than other academic subjects, sales courses are surprisingly scarce in M.B.A. programs. "It's sad that something as important to the economy as sales shows up as a footnote in the principles of marketing course at most graduate business schools," says Andy Zoltners, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, which has long offered a class in sales-force management. 

 But the sales function seems to be slowly gaining more respect as a few other major schools, including Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina, create M.B.A.-level sales courses. Harvard Business School has taught sales management for many years, but lately it has been focusing more on the selling process itself, with lessons on making sales presentations to corporate customers, influencing people and closing the deal. 

 "Many people view selling as tactical and haven't taken the broader view that you will need sales skills even if you aren't managing a sales force," says David Godes, an associate professor at Harvard. "If you're going into consulting or banking, how do you get clients and how do you raise money?" 

 With professors like Dr. Godes in short supply, business executives often teach sales courses. Alston Gardner, founder of a sales-training firm, created an introductory class for North Carolina M.B.A.s that includes role-playing to sharpen their salesmanship. Now, he says, North Carolina is considering creating specialized versions of the sales course for consulting, investment banking and real estate. 

 Stanford takes a team approach, pairing a marketing professor with a business executive for its "Building and Managing Professional Sales Organizations" class. Together, they have written more than a dozen case studies, many of them drawn from Silicon Valley, that delve into such issues as ethics, international distribution, sales-force automation and integrating sales forces after a merger. Their class also includes a simulation exercise in which students struggle to reach sales quotas and get a feel for the pressure of making their numbers. 

 "We're thinking about how to expand beyond this one course," says James Lattin, the marketing professor. "But it's a challenge because there isn't a pipeline [of academics] to continue feeding faculty to teach and do research." 

 A growing number of M.B.A. students, especially those with an entrepreneurial bent, appear to be sold on the value of sales courses. Stanford's course, first offered in 2004 with 10 class sessions and 45 students, has expanded to 19 sessions and 110 students. This year, demand exceeded capacity, with about 50 students turned away. 

 At M.I.T., enthusiastic students recently formed the QuotaBusters Club. They hope to help fellow students with resumes and job interviews and create networking workshops and brown-bag lunches with alumni in the sales field. 

 "Although many CEOs come up through the sales ranks, a lot of business students still have this huckster, used-car-salesman image and think sales is not for them," says Joseph Lemay, a second-year M.B.A. at M.I.T. "What I want to do is sell large software packages to major corporations and that requires sophisticated selling and consultative services." 

 Steven Fransblow, another second-year M.B.A., is aiming for a sales career because of his desire to get close to the customer and to directly affect business results. "If you're good at sales," he declares, "you can write your own ticket." 

 M.I.T.'s " High-Technology Sales and Sales Force Management " course covers the waterfront -- incentive compensation, time and territory management, sales forecasting, hiring and firing sales reps, and prospecting for new customers. The course took shape after start-up companies told Kenneth Morse, managing director of the M.I.T. Entrepreneurship Center, that their biggest challenge was selling, not developing technology. 

 Corporate recruiters clearly welcome more sales content in the M.B.A. curriculum. "If schools provided more insights about selling, it would make their M.B.A. graduates more competitive," says Irene DeNigris, director of global university recruitment at Johnson & Johnson. "Understanding the connection between sales and marketing is critical." 

 Liberty Mutual Group has begun recruiting M.B.A.s into a fast-track sales training program that helps to fill the gaps in their graduate education. "We wish more schools would realize that we need smart people selling," says Mark Butler, an executive vice president for the insurance company. "Account executives with M.B.A. degrees can bring the financial understanding, planning skills and discipline necessary to become trusted advisers to our corporate customers." 

 At the University of Wisconsin, Procter & Gamble has developed a seminar covering persuasive selling, the art of negotiation and other skills, as well as a sales competition for M.B.A.s. In the contest, student teams pitch a new Pantene shampoo line to two P&G managers and a buyer from Target. 

 "Even if the students choose not to go into selling, they need multifunctional expertise to get into general management," says Doug Raftery, P&G's vice president of customer business development and the seminar instructor. "They will also gain a better sense of how to sell their ideas inside their own company." 

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