Sales Management

Chapter 9
Chapter 9

Training the Sales Force

 Learning Objectives
• Understand the meaning of training and development
• Appreciate the challenges in developing a training programme
• Examine the training process in sales organizations
• Comprehend various methods of training
• Know the various methods of evaluating the effectiveness of
training programmes
• Examine the process of designing a sales training programme
• Understand the socialization process in organizations
 Sales Training
Objectives:
• Improves the performance of the salespeople
• Leads to a better performance

Challenges:
• Will the training programme be effective in solving a problem?
• Will the investment in it be justified?
• Will it produce the desired or intended results?
Theories and Principles of Sales Training

• Training is based on the process of learning a sequence of

programmed behavior and the appreciation of this knowledge to
the work environment for the smooth conduct of the desired
activity in the context of the sales organization.

• It is a process of making people aware about the desired way of

functioning in organizations
Theories and Principles of Sales Training
• Improves performance in the current job and prepare for an
intended job responsibility in the future.

• Helps employees in personal growth and prevents human

obsolescence.

• Helps to develop a correct response reinforcement. The drive that

maintains this process is motivation.
Role of the Trainer, Training Process and
Levels of Analysis
The success of the training programme depends on the ability, skill,
and motivation of the sales trainer

The Training Process

Levels of Analysis
Training need assessment
Organizational level
analysis
Design and conduct of a training
programme Task level analysis

Evaluation of a training Individual level analysis

programme
 Training Needs
 Identification of specific problems
 Anticipating impending and future problems
 Management requests
 Interviewing and observing the personnel on the job
 Performance appraisal
 Questionnaire survey
 Checklist
 Attitude survey
 Interpersonal skill test
 Designing and Conduct Phase

 Location

 Job Instruction Training (JIT)

 Presentation options
 Types of Training

 Cross-functional training

 Team training

 Creativity training

 Literacy training
 Training Methods
• Didactic method
 structure the lecture
 reinforce the Message
 aid concentration
 material used for the lecture
 make it memorable for the participants
 deliver with dynamism
 use questions

• Visual support
• Participative
• Conferences
More Training Methods and Evaluation
Phase
• Seminars
• Discussions
• Role play
• Case study
• Fishbowl
• Workshops
• Sensitivity training
• Transaction analysis
• In-tray exercises
• Transcendental meditation

Evaluation phase is the last stage in the training process where the
effectiveness of the training programme is assessed.
Deciding a sales training programme
Five key decisions:
1. Deciding on the training objective

2. Deciding on the content of the training programme

3. Deciding on the method of training
4. Deciding on the arrangements made for the execution of the
training programme

5. Deciding on the procedures to evaluate the training programme

Popularly known as the aim-content-method-execution-evaluation

(A-C-M-E-E) decision
Process of Sales Force Socialization
Anticipatory Accomodation stage Outcome stage
socialization stage
Initiation to task Overall satisfaction

Realism

Role definition Mutual influence

Congruence of Internal work

evaluation motivation

Congruence

Initiation to group Job involvement

• https://youtu.be/DqIRaTkgqFg

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuw8hxrFBH8