Planning Sales Training Programs

1. Planning Sales Training Programs 1/20

2. The Purpose of Sales training is to achieve improved job performance. • In the absence of training, job performance improves with experience. • Training substitutes for, or supplements experience, so sales personnel given training reach high job performance level earlier. 2/20

3. In most companies, the rate of sales personnel turnover is higher often for new personnel than for experienced people. • New sales personnel find themselves unprepared to perform their jobs satisfactorily, become discouraged, and leave the company. 3/20

4. The overall efficiency of a company's personnel-selling operation is influenced by the state of relations with customers and prospectus. • Sales training contributes through accelerating the process of learning through experience, for the newly recruited sales personnel. 4/20

5. Way of Looking at Sales in earlier generation • The older generation of sales managers • Sales personnel were given product descriptions, a territory, and an order book with instruction to “go out and sell!” • “Sink – or – swim” 5/20

6. Building Sales Training Programs • There are several types of sales training programs. • The most comprehensive and longest is training programmes for newly recruited sales personnel. • Many companies offer sales training programs for the sales personnel of their distributors and/or dealers. • Some programs are designed to develop individuals as sales trainers (full or part time). 6/20

7. Building a sales training programs requires five major decisions. • Training aims must be defined, content decided, training methods selected, arrangements made for execution, and procedures set up to evaluate the results. • Some sales training specialists refer to these decisions as the A-C-M-E-E decisions: • aim, • content, • methods, • execution, and • evaluation. 7/20

8. Defining Training Aims • Defining the general aim is not sufficient. • We must identify what must be done to achieve increased productivity. • Sales management perceives the training needs from which specific training aims derive directly. • Training needs, two types of programmes. • Initial Sales training programs and • Continuing sales training programs. 8/20

9. Identifying Initial Training Needs Ways to Train : • Job Specifications • Trainee’sbackground and experience 9/20

10. Sales-related marketing policies • Identifying Continuing Training Needs 10/20

11. Deciding Training Content Judge whether the sales training program planned is : - an initial or continuing program. - Initial sales training programs are broader in scope with more coverage than are continuing programs. - Initial sales training program must cover all key aspects of the sales person’s job. • Products, • Markets, • Company policies, • Trainees’ ability • Experience, • Organizational size, • Training philosophies. 11/20

12. Important Aspects of Sales Training • Product Data • Sales Technique • Markets • Company Information 12/20

13. Selecting Training Methods The new policy of training is to take the trainees on vacations and holidays. The training method almost certainly will be the lecture, supplemented, perhaps, with visual aids. 13/20

14. The Lecture Various Methods of Training : • The Personal Conference • Demonstrations 14/20

15. Role Playing • Trainees learn to accept criticism from others, and the group soon recognize that sound suggestions, benefit everyone. • When a trainee criticizes another’s performance, that individual has an incentive not to perform similar later. • Role players practice introspecting in the appraisal of their own performance. Videotaping makes self-criticism even more beneficial and objective. 15/20

16. The free – wheeling nature of role playing is conductive for generating new ideas and approaches. Defects inherent in stereotyped solutions become apparent. • In role – playing sessions for mixed groups, junior people have a chance to learn valuable tricks, and experienced personnel are kept alert as a matter of personal pride. • Role players gain acting experience, which may help later in handling difficult selling situations. 16/20

17. Case Discussion • Give and Take Discussion: A sales seminar begins with the trainer, group leader or some member of the sales force making a brief oral presentation, on an everybody’s problem. General give and take discussion follows. Gaming : Management Games. 17/20

18. On the Job Training • Programmed Learning 18/20

19. Correspondence Course • Group Versus Individual Training Methods: Lecturing, role playing, case discussion, and gaming are group methods. The personal conference, on the job training, programmed learning and correspondence course are individual method. 19/20

20. Conclusion Defining the aims is the first step in planning training. The decision on content derives from the aims, with initial training programs being more likely to feature content in the four main areas-product data, sales technique, markets, and company information. The third decision –that on training methods-requires planners to select those that will most effectively and economically convey the desired content. 20/20