STARTS ON

DURATION

5 Months, online

4-6 hours per week

FOR TEAMS

Enroll your team and learn with your peers

Maximize your learning — benefit from up to 14% savings

Experience a comprehensive learning journey that unites two expert-led Kellogg Executive Education programs. Develop AI-informed strategic judgement and execution-ready sales capabilities for competitive advantage in an AI-influenced market.

Program Overview: Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies

The four-month Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies is for sales professionals and business leaders navigating rapid shifts in artificial intelligence (AI), digital buying behavior and revenue growth. Delivered by the Kellogg faculty, this bundle combines two expert-led certificate programs from Kellogg Executive Education: the AI Strategies for Business Transformation: Generative and Agentic Intelligence and the Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success programs.

This learning journey builds strategic clarity around AI for business, covering readiness, governance and impact evaluation, while strengthening structured, digital and AI-enabled selling capabilities. Together, these certificate programs equip leaders like you with the judgment to evaluate AI projects and the practical sales tools needed to inform AI-readiness, modernize execution and guide responsible adoption.

83%

of sales teams using AI saw revenue growth compared with 66% of teams that did not.
Source : Salesforce

Who Is the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies For?

The Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program is designed for sales and revenue leaders, professionals and founders who want to strengthen AI-informed decision making while modernizing sales execution and customer engagement.

This program is particularly beneficial for:

  • Senior sales leaders and executives who need AI-informed strategic fluency and modern digital sales systems to guide teams, improve sales effectiveness and modernize how selling is executed 

  • Sales managers and experienced sales professionals looking to upskill and improve performance across the sales cycle and become part of larger conversations on business strategy and growth 

  • Business development professionals seeking stronger cross-functional influence, clearer commercial judgment and data-informed decision making in customer acquisition and growth initiatives 

  • Founders and entrepreneurs directly involved in selling who want to modernize customer acquisition, sharpen pitches and build more repeatable and scalable sales processes 

What You Will Learn

The AI Strategies for Business Transformation: Generative and Agentic Intelligence program enables you to:

  • Assess the impact of AI, generative AI and agentic AI on business growth, productivity and innovation in diverse organizational contexts

  • Apply frameworks to assess AI readiness, including the AI Canvas 2.0, AI Radar 2.0 and AI Capability Maturity Model (CMM) ​

  • Identify high-value AI use cases across customer experience, operations and support functions — tailored to industry needs ​

  • Recognize the ethical, governance and societal implications of AI, ensuring responsible and ethical implementation ​

  • Design an AI transformation plan and a strategic transformation roadmap for an organization

The Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success program enables you to:

  • Assess your own sales mindset, habits and performance using proven techniques

  • Analyze team performance using specific leadership tools and behaviors​

  • Create persuasive sales stories using client context, buyer psychology and data insights

  • Apply digital tools and AI insights to improve your sales preparation and engagement

  • Identify strategies to build trust and credibility in professional networking and sales

  • Build a personalized sales toolkit with tools for each phase of the buyer’s journey

  • Develop a repeatable process for self-coaching and peer coaching

Why This Advanced Certificate?

By integrating the curriculum of Kellogg Executive Education’s two leading programs — AI Strategies for Business Transformation: Generative and Agentic Intelligence and Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success — the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program empowers you to navigate the future of selling with strategic AI insight and modern, performance-driven sales execution.

Decorative image relating to Comprehensive, expanded skill set

Comprehensive, expanded skill set

Build strategic AI judgment alongside modern sales execution skills to lead teams, guide decisions and strengthen revenue performance.

Decorative image relating to  Practical, real-world applications

Practical, real-world applications

Apply proven frameworks, case studies and real-world selling scenarios for immediate, practical impact.

Decorative image relating to Market relevance and demand

Market relevance and demand

Develop in-demand capabilities in AI-informed decision making and modern digital selling for today’s market.

Decorative image relating to Enhanced ROI and efficiency

Enhanced ROI and efficiency

Enhance forecasting, pipeline quality and execution consistency by implementing structured, data-driven sales processes.

Decorative image relating to  Hands-on learning

Hands-on learning

Engage in applied scenarios and role-play that directly strengthen customer engagement and sales credibility.

Decorative image relating to Enhanced credibility

Enhanced credibility

Earn two certificates of completion and an advanced certificate from Kellogg Executive Education.

Decorative image relating to  Cost-effective learning

Cost-effective learning

Save time while earning multiple credentials through a single, streamlined learning journey.

Decorative image relating to A broad network of professionals and experts - SEO

A broad network of professionals and experts

Connect with a diverse peer group of sales leaders, revenue owners and professionals across both programs.

Pathway to Kellogg Executive Scholar

Participants who successfully complete the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies will accrue points toward becoming an esteemed Kellogg Executive Scholar — a unique credential that provides you with the opportunity to customize your pathway to achieving your professional development goals.

Kellogg’s expansive program offerings allow you to build a variety of competencies that focus on practical application. More than learning to lead, the path to becoming a Kellogg Executive Scholar is about leading through learning.

What You Will Learn in the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies Program

The learning journey brings together complementary perspectives on AI strategy and modern sales execution. It equips you with the judgment to evaluate AI opportunities, strengthen customer engagement and lead sales organizations with clarity, collaboration and confidence in an AI-influenced market.

Module 1: Foundations of AI — From Prediction to Creation to Autonomy

  • Articulate the evolution of AI from traditional to generative for a specific use case​.

  • Discuss the trade-offs of using prediction and creation models.

  • Develop a roadmap for an AI initiative business case using the AI Canvas framework.

Module 2: AI and Customer Experience Management

  • Articulate where and how gen AI and agentic AI enhance customer experience across touchpoints.

  • Identify automation/AI use cases for internal marketing, sales and customer support functions.

  • Apply the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework to map AI and gen AI tools to the key deliverables for marketing, sales and customer service.

  • Identify personal hesitations and limitations for using AI and machine learning tools for certain job functions.

  • Design a personalized customer engagement strategy using gen AI tools.

Module 3: AI and Operations Management

  • Analyze current use cases for AI-powered robotics and autonomous systems in improving efficiency.

  • Create a conceptual hypothesis based on data sources within a case analysis​.

  • Identify focus points to further analyze a case analysis utilizing data exploration​.

  • Explore the role of key data variables in determining the predictability of failure within a case analysis​.

  • Apply gen AI to the Enerwind case study​.

Module 4: AI and Business Support Functions

  • Explore how gen AI is automating HR, finance and IT functions, from drafting contracts to managing payroll.

  • Identify HR functions that can be optimized by AI.

  • Utilize the JTBD framework to identify the pain points and future needs of HR functions.

  • Explore AI automation tools that can be used to optimize HR functions and pain points. ​

  • Develop a memo addressed to the chief HR officer that summarizes your identified functions and AI recommendations.

Module 5: AI Applications in Selected Industries

  • Discuss how gen AI is being applied across key industries, including health care, retail and financial services.

  • Discover how gen AI is reshaping product design, diagnostics and personalized financial services.

  • Develop a vertical-specific AI strategy for a chosen industry.​

Module 6: Generative AI and Creative Industries — Transforming Media, Art and Design

  • Explore the ethical considerations and IP challenges in AI-generated content.

  • Analyze the examples showcasing how AI is revolutionizing creative industries by co-creating with humans in media & entertainment, fashion and advertising. ​

  • Create a gen AI-powered product story for a brand.

Module 7: AI and Business Transformation — Strategy, Capabilities and Governances

  • Recognize the principles and best practices for AI governance to ensure responsible use.

  • Explore how organizations are moving toward zero-touch enterprise models. ​

  • Apply the AI CMM to an organization of your choice.​

Module 8: AI and Society — Ethics, Regulation and Jobs

  • Understand the broader societal impact of AI, including labor markets, policy and ethics.

  • Explore how businesses can leverage AI for social good while addressing the challenges it brings.

  • Discuss the future of work in an AI-powered world, including the role of human-AI collaboration.

  • Create an AI strategy memo addressed to the CEO of your chosen organization using the program’s strategies and frameworks. 

Module 1: Sales Mastery Through Deliberate Practice

  • Differentiate between knowledge, skill and discipline.

  • Assess how knowledge, skill and discipline work together to influence performance and mindset.

  • Discuss personal deliberate practice techniques.

  • Write a sales goal using the SMARTTSS (Specific, Measurable, Actions, Realistic, Time-Bound, Tools, Support, Stop) process.

  • Plan the steps to implement and support your sales goal.

  • Apply the 2X2 Feedback™ Tool.

  • Construct a personalized system for performance improvement using the five-part scaffold.

Module 2: Run Fantastic Sales Meetings: Differentiate Yourself by How You Run Meetings

  • Identify the components of a meeting agenda.

  • Discuss AI prompts that assist in building meeting agendas.

  • Determine the difference between surface-level and connection questions.

  • Create connection questions.

  • Revise the sales meeting agenda.

  • Execute pivots that maintain meeting momentum and reinforce meeting value.

  • Discuss personalized closing strategies and post-meeting communication that reinforce your professional brand.

  • Discuss additions of subdisciplines to plan for a future sales meeting guided by the Sales Meeting Agenda Tool.

  • Plan meeting strategy changes for virtual settings.

  • Construct a complete meeting plan — from preparation through follow-up.

Module 3: Practice Proactive Pursuit With Lead Generation and Cold Calling

  • Define your personal pursuit checklist.

  • Build a personalized preparatory plan using a tailored Proactive Pursuit Checklist Tool.

  • Develop a prospecting script.

  • Discuss revisions to the prospecting script.

  • Develop your network preparation plan with the Network Every Week Tool.

  • Differentiate between effective and ineffective networking actions in the first two gears of a conversation.

  • Apply the four gears of a networking conversation.

  • Construct a networking plan and an outreach plan for current and future networking.

Module 4: Sales Qualification and Objection Handling

  • Discuss the role of connection and discovery questions in sales.

  • Assess buyer readiness with qualifying questions.

  • Design impact questions tailored to specific client contexts.

  • Identify the levels of listening.

  • Formulate layered questions that drive conversations deeper.

  • Integrate active listening and objection-handling tools in a client scenario.

Module 5: Storytelling in Sales

  • Match stories to the curation category.

  • Curate stories from personal and professional experiences to fit various clients.

  • Construct your origin story.

  • Revise a constructed story to use the five C’s of the Story Canvas Tool.

  • Use AI to revise a constructed story to improve clarity, length and emotional impact.

  • Build a Story Matrix™ with the What’s Your Story?™ and the Story Canvas tools.

  • Build a personalized sales toolkit to implement immediately.

Module 6: Present With Panache: Persuasive Sales Presentations 

  • Differentiate between standing out and breaking through.

  • Design a presentation plan using the six preparation disciplines: goals, audience, structure, expert moves, opening & closing and practice.

  • Reflect on how persuasive techniques enhance audience engagement.

  • Design or redesign a slide deck using the three visual impact tools: hip-pocket frameworks, art and slides.

  • Construct a presentation aligned with the Present With Panache™ Tool and evaluation frameworks.

Module 7: Team for Impact With Elite Team Selling Strategies

  • Apply preparation strategies to team meetings.

  • Apply the process leader and perspective leader roles to a team meeting.

  • Apply the Six Rules of Engagement to plan team behavior in a meeting.

Module 8: Closing Sales Deals

  • Identify where a deal is stuck.

  • Differentiate between a stuck and a dead deal.

  • Discuss strategies to unstick a deal.

  • Match deal-stalling factors to deal-unstalling strategies.

  • Create a reusable and personal Get Deals Unstuck and Closed Tool.

  • Assess the completion of your next sales action.

Module 9: Bounce Back Better by Building Sales Resilience

  • Document your weekly habits in nine energy categories.

  • Plan targeted actions that enhance positive energy sources and address areas of depletion.

  • State a recurring negative thought or emotion.

  • State a transformative question to a recurring negative thought or emotion.

  • Apply the bounce phase to a setback through transitioning the negative label into positive momentum.

  • Apply the back phase to move forward after a setback.

  • Set immediate and stretch goals using the SMART and SMARTSS frameworks to achieve growth after setbacks.

  • Create a personalized, sales-focused resilience plan that applies the Bounce Back Better™ Tool to transform setbacks into actionable growth strategies.

Module 10: Personal Branding for Sales Professionals

  • Analyze how your personal brand affects your career.

  • Identify the style and substance in your current personal brand.

  • Balance the style and substance in your personal brand.

  • Define the building blocks of your personal brand.

  • Create your brand statement.

  • Match the sales tool to the seller’s journey.

  • Build a personally branded sales toolkit.

  • Match the sales tools to a cohesive personal brand strategy.

Live Sessions With Faculty

As part of the AI Strategies for Business Transformation: Generative and Agentic Intelligence program, these live faculty sessions explore how leaders apply AI responsibly and effectively across organizations.

  • Faculty Session 1:

This session explores effective collaboration between humans and AI, introducing the concept of appropriate autonomy and its levels. It highlights industry applications, autonomy risks and the rise of hybrid workforces and concludes with strategies for integrating AI into personal workflows.

  • Faculty Session 2:

Join a fireside discussion on applying AI for business transformation. The session covers strategies for cross-generational adoption, evolving AI interfaces, overcoming implementation barriers and rethinking learning frameworks for sustainable enterprise deployment.

Note: Live session details are not final. They are subject to change and may evolve based on faculty insights.

AI in Sales Toolkit

The Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success program enables the application of AI seamlessly into your sales process to improve preparation, engagement and follow-through. Through practical activities using free generative AI tools and tested prompts, you will apply AI to real-world sales tasks, strengthening client engagement, streamlining workflows and building efficiency and measurable impact across the sales cycle.

AI-enabled tools across the curriculum include:

  • Module 1: GPT-based planner for deliberate practice​

  • Module 2: AI meeting assistant for agendas and recaps​

  • Module 3: Using AI and a chatbot to assess buyer readiness

  • Module 4: Interactive chatbot for spotting buyer readiness

  • Module 5: AI for editing sales stories​

  • Module 6: AI for improving presentation structure and visuals​

  • Module 7:  Balance your style and substance with (AI) intelligence

Capstone Project

In the AI Strategies for Business Transformation: Generative and Agentic Intelligence program, you will gain practical expertise in building AI capabilities, ensuring ethical governance and fostering cross-functional collaboration to drive success. For this project, you will assume the role of a manager responsible for an AI project and craft a comprehensive “Memo to the CEO” that: 

  • Synthesizes the insights from user interviews to create a list of Jobs-To-Be-Done and pain points, organized by department or function 

  • Includes a detailed data governance framework for the client that will form the foundation for AI initiatives 

  • Presents a business case for each high-value AI use case using the AI Canvas 2.0

Sales Toolkit Workbook

Throughout the Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success program learning journey, you will work on a program sales toolkit workbook and apply concepts, frameworks and tools from each module to real-world sales scenarios. This project will help you design a personalized, actionable sales playbook of 30+ sales tools that enhances your ability to sell with clarity, credibility and impact.

Meet the Faculty

Profile picture of faculty, Mohanbir Sawhney
Mohanbir Sawhney

Associate Dean for Digital Innovation, McCormick Foundation Chair of Technology, Clinical Professor of Marketing, Director of the Center for Research in Technology and Innovation

Professor Mohanbir Sawhney is a globally recognized scholar, teacher, consultant and speaker in business innovation, modern marketing and enterprise analytics. He has written ...

Profile picture of faculty, Craig Wortmann
Craig Wortmann​

Clinical Professor of Marketing ​Founder and Academic Director, Kellogg Sales Institute​, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University​

Craig Wortmann has been a professor, salesperson and entrepreneur for more than 25 years. From IBM Corporation, where he was the #2 performer in his year-long classical-style ...

Guest Speakers

Profile picture of faculty, Bennie Fowler III​
Bennie Fowler III​

Director of Strategic Development, The Caprock Group​ Super Bowl 50 Champion (2016)

Bennie Fowler has built a career that bridges elite athletics and business leadership, progressing from NFL wide receiver to entrepreneur, investor and executive coach. His tr...

Profile picture of faculty, Scott Barghaan
Scott Barghaan

Limited Partner, Stage 2 Capital​ Adjunct Lecturer, Kellogg Executive Education

Scott Barghaan has more than two decades of experience in enterprise sales and consulting, with a focus on applying data, AI and process discipline to transform how revenue te...

Profile picture of faculty, Tiana S. Clark​
Tiana S. Clark

Founder of Audacious Academy​ Adjunct Lecturer, Kellogg Executive Education Keynote Speaker, BigSpeak Speakers Bureau Creator and Executive Producer, Soci Circle​

Tiana S. Clark has built a career defined by audacity, moving from the US Air Force to Fortune 10 organizations, higher education and entrepreneurship. Her guiding philosophy ...

Earn Three Distinguished Certificates

Upon completing the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program, you will receive three digital certificates from Kellogg Executive Education. These include a certificate of completion for the AI Strategies for Business Transformation: Generative and Agentic Intelligence program, a certificate of completion for the Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success program and an advanced certificate recognizing your completion of the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program.

Example image of certificate of participation that will be awarded upon completetion of the program

After successful completion of the program, your verified digital certificate will be emailed to you in the name you used when registering for the program. All certificate images are for illustrative purposes only and may be subject to change at the discretion of Kellogg Executive Education.

Note: This program does not grant academic credit or a degree from the Kellogg School of Management.

FAQs

The Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies is a five-month learning journey from Northwestern Kellogg Executive Education that combines two expert-led courses — the AI Strategies for Business Transformation: Generative and Agentic Intelligence program and the Mastering Sales: The Digital and AI Toolkit for Success program. These programs develop practical skills in artificial intelligence, business strategy and modern sales execution, culminating in an advanced certificate in AI for sales.

Learning sales online has become an effective way to develop sales techniques, sales presentations and closing deals without stepping away from professional responsibilities. High-quality online sales courses emphasize structured training, applied scenarios and practical skills that reflect real customer needs and modern buying behavior. Programs such as the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program are designed to help sales professionals build execution capability while strengthening decision making across lead generation, customer engagement and long-term relationship building.

The best sales program depends on career stage and objectives, but programs that combine sales management, business strategy and exposure to artificial intelligence offer broader long-term value. Certificate programs that go beyond tactics to include market analysis, strategic judgment and modern selling tools help professionals advance their sales career and leadership readiness. The  Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program is a structured, advanced certificate training program that supports sustained performance and long-term success in evolving sales environments.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how organizations evaluate opportunities, engage customers and forecast revenue. This training program examines how leaders can use AI to improve decision making across customer journeys, sales workflows and GTM motions while applying AI design tools responsibly and effectively in sales environments.

The Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies from Kellogg Executive Education combines two certificate programs. The AI Strategies for Business Transformation course focuses on generative AI, agentic AI, governance, ethics and AI for business programs and decisions. On the other hand, the Mastering Sales program focuses on structured selling, sales techniques, sales presentations and applying digital and AI tools across the sales process. Taken together, these programs offer a well-rounded learning journey that builds strategic understanding of AI at the organizational level alongside practical, execution-ready sales capabilities.

While each program is stand-alone, this learning journey provides a broader and deeper perspective. The AI-focused training builds clarity on evaluating AI opportunities and AI projects, while the sales program strengthens customer-facing execution, enabling professionals to connect strategic decisions with day-to-day selling performance.  Completing both programs as part of the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies demonstrates the ability to apply AI-informed strategic judgment while strengthening modern sales execution and performance.

This program is designed for sales managers, senior sales leaders, business leaders and founders interested in bolstering the entire sales cycle and applying AI frameworks to transform business growth. Experienced professionals seeking to strengthen sales management, customer engagement and AI-informed decision making will find this training particularly relevant.

Unlike standalone sales courses online, the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program offers exposure to both enterprise-level AI transformation frameworks and structured, execution-focused sales training. Participants develop a strategic perspective on AI adoption through established business frameworks while strengthening modern selling capabilities across prospecting, engagement and closing. This breadth of focus distinguishes this learning journey from single-discipline sales or AI programs.

Completing the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies results in three digital certificates: a certificate of completion for the AI Strategies for Business Transformation program, a certificate of completion for the Mastering Sales program and an advanced certificate for the completion of the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies program. Issued by Kellogg Executive Education at Northwestern University, these digital certificates reflect expertise in AI strategy and modern sales leadership and can be shared digitally on professional platforms, including LinkedIn.

Career impact depends on individual goals and aspirations, but participants complete the program with exposure to proven strategic frameworks, a practical sales toolkit and three Kellogg Executive Education at Northwestern University certificates that signal credibility in AI-informed decision making and modern sales execution. For sales, revenue and leadership professionals, this learning journey offers a structured pathway to strengthen AI judgment while elevating customer-facing performance and sales effectiveness.

The value of the Advanced Certificate in Sales and AI Business Strategies from Kellogg Executive Education comes from completing two expert-led programs that develop both enterprise-level AI judgment and modern sales execution capabilities. Participants gain exposure to strategic AI frameworks for business, a practical sales toolkit and three certificates from Kellogg Executive Education. This structured learning journey helps professionals build durable, market-relevant skills that support effective decision making, customer engagement and revenue performance as AI adoption accelerates across industries.

Didn't find what you were looking for? Write to us at learner.success@emeritus.org or Schedule a call with one of our Program Advisors or call us at +1 315 502 3308 (US) / +44 128 291 1923 (UK) / +65 3129 4131 (SG)

Flexible payment options available.

Starts On