Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Training and Developing The Sales Force: Sales Management: Shaping Future Sales Leaders
Training and Developing The Sales Force: Sales Management: Shaping Future Sales Leaders
Chapter 9
1-1
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
Sales Training as a Crucial Investment
12-4
Sales Force Training-Issues
Further studies indicate that at the average
company, 9 out of 10 salespeople who have
been through training have been disappointed !!
In addition, customers often feel that salespeople
who serve them are not very effective
Question: Are sales training programs any good?
12-5
Sales Force Training-Issues
1. Many companies design training programs
without thoroughly assessing the training
needs
2. Customer needs/evaluations of salespeople
are often ignored in program design
3. Management does not reinforce the training
12-6
Sales Force Training-Issues
4. Training used to attempt to solve corporate
problems which are actually systemic,
strategic, etc.
12-7
Obstacles to Introducing Training
Top management not dedicated to sales training
Lack of buy-in from frontline sales managers and
salespeople
Salespeople’s lack of understanding of what
training is supposed to accomplish
Salespeople’s lack of understanding regarding
application of training to everyday tasks
Sales Force Training
12-9
The Training Process:
4-Stage Training Cycle
9-10
The Training Process:
Step 1
9-11
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
Determine Objectives
Assessment of Training Needs at Different Levels
9-12
Identifying Knowledge, Skills, and
Abilities (KSAs)
Sources of Training Needs Information
9-13
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
Determine Who Needs Training
Training needs may be identified from:
Quantifiable performance appraisal data
Customer satisfaction or CRM data
Training needs surveys taken by sales managers and
reps
9-14
Common Sales Training Topics
1. Product/service knowledge
2. Market/Industry orientation
3. Company orientation
4. Selling skills
5. Time and territory management
6. Legal and ethical issues
7. Technology
8. Specialized topics
What Content Is Needed?
Topics Commonly Covered
9-16
Product Knowledge
Companies that produce technical products
spend a greater amount of time on product
knowledge
KSA’s?
Product Knowledge
Step 2
9-19
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
What Content Is Needed?
Topics Commonly Covered
9-20
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
Staffing the Training Program:
Internal vs. External
Generally, internal trainer will have more
credibility
Exception: new technology, training offered by
developer
Dedicated sales training team within the firm?
Large number of people needing immediate training?
If the training is not specific or “generic”.
Outside technology partner to facilitate delivery?
9-21
Selecting Delivery Method
Classroom Face-to-face training
OJT Mentoring
Job rotation
(on the job training)
9-22
The Training Process:
4-Stage Training Cycle
Step 3
9-23
Scheduling the Training
Location
Travel, lodging costs
Lost selling time
Psychological “readiness” of the trainees
Timing of the training in the sales cycle
Time to complete pretraining assignments
9-24
The Training Process:
4-Stage Training Cycle
Step 4
9-25
Assessing the Results
WOW ! Only 28% of sales trainers have a
definitive method for measuring the value of their
sales training
Reaction
Learning
Behaviors
Results
9-26
Value to Individual
9-27
Value to individual
9-28
Value to Organization
9-32
Caselet 9.2 (continued): Questions
1. What potential areas of weakness can you identify in
TIC’s approach to sales training?
2. Do you believe that TIC’s sales training is appropriate
for its type of business and the number of salespeople
it has?
3. Did Bob Sullivan do the right thing in resigning? What
other steps could he have taken to improve his current
situation?
4. In this case, who should take responsibility for a
salesperson who needs help to perform at a higher
level? What do you think of Claire Boston’s advice to
Bob? What would you have said?
9-33