Sales training:development, execution & evaluation

Real World Sales TrainingAn Expert’s Viewpoint:

Whirlpool developed a sales training program that mirrored MTV’s The Real World. National training manager Jackie Seib helped come up with the idea of putting a dozen or so strangers (new salespeople) in a house full of Whirlpool appliances. The new hires stay in the home for two months, using the appliances and working with engineers to learn how they work. Seib says “We really wanted them to understand the appliances as a consumer would, so they can bring real-world stories about the appliances to the sales floor.”

Action

Real World Sales TrainingAn Expert’s Viewpoint:

Of the first 40 salespeople to complete the program, 8 were promoted—all attributing their success to the knowledge and confidence they received as a result of the training. Even though the program costs a bit more than the two-week classroom version, Whirlpool believes that the investment is worth it.

Result

Introduction

■ Sales training is the effort an employer puts forth to provide

sales people job-related culture, skills, knowledge, & attitudes

that should result in improved performance in the selling

environments.

■ Main idea behind training is to extract the best out of a

candidate in terms of performance on the job.

■ Experience is the best teacher, undoubtedly.

■ But training cuts short the time required to learn. It also

supplements what one learns by experience & improves the

effectiveness of the sales personnel.

Cont’d

■ Though innate skills are present

in every sales man, appropriate

training refines these skills further.

■ Sales people both born and made , do benefit from sales

training.

■ Training is therefore a supplement to experience and not its

substitute.

Aim of Training

■ Sales Techniques:Salespeople have an ongoing need to learn “how to sell”

■ Product Knowledge:Salespeople must know their product benefits, applications, competitive strengths & limitations

■ Customer Knowledge:Salespeople should know their customer needs, buying motives, buying procedures & personalities

Cont’d

■ Time and Territory Management:Salespeople should learn to maximum work efficiency.

■ Competitive Knowledge:Salespeople must know competitive offerings in terms of strengths & weaknesses.

■ Company Knowledge

Importance of sales training program

Increasing customer satisfaction.

Helping salespeople become managers.

Orienting new salespeople to the job.

Improving knowledge in areas such as product, company, competitors, or selling skills.

Lowering absenteeism and turnover.

Positively influencing attitudes in such areas as job satisfaction.

Improve morale

Cont’d

Obtaining feedback from salespeople.

Increasing sales in a particular product or customer category.

Lowering selling costs.

Increase productivity

Improve selling skills

Improve customer relations.

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

Microsoft Training Program

Sales Training Program

Training Need Assessment

■ Determine desired skill set and levels of performance

■ Assess salesperson’s actual skill set and levels of

performance

■ Analyze gap between desired and actual to determine training

needs

G

A

P

Actual

Desired

Cont’d

■ Managers should review these aspects of a salesperson:

background

previous job experiences

gaps between their qualifications and the required job activities

In the end need analysis should answer 3 questions

Where in the organization training is needed?

What should be the content of training program?

Who needs the training?

■ The key is to focus on performance objectives in terms of achieving successful results from training.

■ A primary objective of many training programs is to teach the sales force & distribution channel members how to be more productive.

■ A contemporary philosophy is that professional salespeople are advisers or consultants, not mere product pushers.

Determine Objectives

Determine Objectives

■ Increase sales or profits

■ Create positive attitudes and improve sales force morale

■ Assist in sales force socialization

■ Reduce role conflict and ambiguity

■ Introduce new products, markets, and promotional programs

■ Develop salespeople for future management positions

Cont’d■ Teach administrative procedures

■ Ensure competence in the use of sales and sales support tools

■ Minimize sales force turnover rate

■ Prepare new salespeople for assignment to a sales territory

■ Improve teamwork & cooperative efforts

■ Ensure awareness of ethical and legal responsibilities

Content Of The Program

1. Company knowledge

3. Knowledge of industry

and competitors

2. Product

knowledge

Sales training

program content

• What is the product?

• Why do people buy it?

• Who participates in the buying process?

• How do I differentiate the product?

• Who are the major competitors?

• What are strengths/ weaknesses of our product & competitors’ products?

• What are the product’s price and terms of sale?

• company’s policies

• company benefits

• office protocol

• payment methods

• expense accounts

• communication channels

• industry trends and competitive tactics

• competitors’ product knowledge enables salespeople to compare brands, highlight advantages of their own products, and overcome customer objections

4. Customer and

market knowledge

6.

Technology training

5. Selling skills knowledge

Sales training

program content

(1) prospecting

(2) planning the call

(3) approaching the prospect

(4) making the sales presentation

(5) meeting objections

(6) closing the sale

(7) following up

1. knowledge about using the latest sales force automation (SFA) technology for better customer relationship management

1. To understand the company’s products thoroughly

2. To know the customers’ markets

3. To relate to customers’ requirements

4. To become team coordinators

5. To stay in close contact with customers

Making Training Delivery Decisions

■ Making training delivery decisions

encompasses the following:

Who will conduct the training?

Will it be for individuals or a

group?

What method of delivery should

be used?

Where and when will the

training take place?

Who Is Going To Be Trained?

1.Initial sales

training program

2.Continuing sales training program

Types of

sales training

programs

Designed for

experienced

salespeople, these

programs are shorter,

but more intensive in

their coverage of

specialized topics.

Designed for newly

hired salespeople,

it is comprehensive

and usually lasts

three to six months.

There are four basic criteria:

1. Reward for good performance,

2. Punishment for poor performance,

3. Convenience (of trainee & trainer), &

4. Seniority (greater the seniority, greater the opportunity for added

training)

Who Will Give Training?

Initial sales training:

■ Top sales executive because of selling expertise

■ The personnel director because of training expertise

Continuing sales training:

■ Top sales executive – introduction of new products, adoption

of revised sales policies, perfection of improved selling

techniques, etc.

Cont’d

Sales training staff:

■ Large sales organizations often have a sales training director,

reporting to the Top sales executive

■ In smaller organizations, some top sales executives handle

some training themselves & also rely upon others s/a assistant

sales managers

Training the sales trainers:

■ Identification of the subjects that trainers should know

thoroughly- the company & its policies, the products, the

customers & their

Cont’d

Problems, the salesperson’s job and sales technique

■ Sales trainers must be effective teachers

“if the trainee hasn’t learned. The trainer hasn’t taught”

Outside experts:

■ Many companies hire outside experts to conduct portions of

sales training programs, generally relating to sales techniques

When Training Will Happen?

■ Timing initial sales training programs:

- It depends upon the number of personnel trained each year,

size of the sales force, sales personnel turnover &

management’s plans for changing sales force size

- In case of large number, programs are scheduled several

times a year

- In company with small sales force, these programs held

infrequently

Cont’d

■ Timing continuing sale training programs:

- Training & learning must be continuous- new information must

be assimilated & older concepts modified in the light of new

developments

- New products, new refinements of selling techniques, new

product applications & uses, etc. required continuous training

- Many companies integrate retraining programs into a series of

sales meetings or a single sales convention

Location Of Training?

1.Centralized

training

2.Decentralized

training

Location of

sales training

Decentralized training includes

office instruction, use of

experienced salespeople, on-

the-job training, podcasts,

blogs, webinars, and other e-

learning approaches.

Centralized training includes

organized training schools,

periodic conventions, or

seminars held in a central

location such as the home

office.

Instructional Materials & Training Aids

■ Manuals: contains outlines of the main presentations, related reading materials, statements of learning objectives for each session, etc.

■ Other Printed Materials: includes company bulletins, sales & product handbooks, information bulletins, standard text, etc. in order to furnish field sales personnel with up-to-date and needed information

■ Training Aids: like use of black/white boards with chalk or marker, projector screen, tape recording, playback equipment, etc.

■ Advance Assignments: includes preparing some written assignment, case study observations, role-playing activities, etc in order to save time outside formal sessions & to understand the purpose of training

Preparing, Motivating & Coaching Trainees

1. Preparing trainees

for training

3. Conducting

post-training reinforcement

2. Motivating trainees

during training

Preparing,

motivating,

and coaching

trainees

To motivate, trainers can follow these steps:

• use positive reinforcement

• use active training formats and variety

• encourage social interaction

• facilitate expertise sharing situations

• encourage goal setting

• A pre-training briefing tells participants the training’s purpose and objectives, why they were selected to attend, and the business need the sales manager hopes to meet.

• Use coaching (developmental feedback) via informal, give-and-take discussions between sales managers and salespeople for the purpose of reinforcing training concepts.

It is always difficult to measure the effectiveness of sales training.

Nevertheless, a reasonable attempt must be made to assess whether

current training expenditures are worthwhile and whether future

modification is required.

1. Determine what should be measured.

2. Determine the information collection method.

3. Determine the measurement methods.

4. Analyze the data, determine the results, and draw conclusions for

making recommendations.

Steps In The Evaluation

Methods Of Sales Training

■ On-the-job training (OJT)

■ Class room training

■ Role-playing

■ Electronic training methods

On The Job Training

■ Teaming - Bringing together people with different skills to

address issues.

■ Meetings - Setting aside times when employees at different

levels and positions can get together and share thoughts on

various topics.

■ Customer interaction - Including customer feedback as part of

the learning process.

■ Mentoring - Providing an informal mechanism for new

salespeople to interact and learn from more experienced

ones.

■ Peer-to-peer communication - Creating opportunities for

salespeople to interact together for mutual learning.

Classroom Training

■ Trainee receives standard briefings in

product knowledge

company polices

customer and market characteristics

selling skills

■ Formal training sessions avoid wasting executive time

■ Classroom sessions permit use of audio-visual materials and technical resources

Role Playing

■ Salesperson act out the part of a sales rep in a simulated

buying session.

■ Buyer may be either a sales instructor or another trainee.

■ Role playing is widely used to developing skills but it can also

be used to determine whether the trainee can apply knowledge

taught via other methods of instruction.

Electronic Training Methods

■ It uses internet for delivering quality learning experiences.

■ This method isn’t only effective but also very efficient.

At IBM , new representatives receive extensive initial training and spend 15% of their time each year in additional training. IBM has now switched 25% of their training from

classroom to e-learning, saving a great deal of money in the process. It uses a self study system called INFO-WINDOW that combines a personal computer and a laser videodisc. A trainee can practice sales calls with an on screen actor who portrays a

buying executive in a particular industry. The actor buyer responds differently depending on what the trainee says.

Cost & Benefit Analysis Of Training

According to American Society For Training & Development

(ASTD) US organizations (475)

• $164.2 billion spent on learning & development

• Employees averages 30.3 hours of training

• Top three areas of training were: managerial & supervisory,

mandatory & compliance, processes, procedures & business

practices

With this amount of money & time involved in training it become

absolutely necessary to compare the costs incurred & benefits

produced.

www.astd.org

Measuring Broad Benefits

■ Measuring improved morale and lower turnover.

■ Morale is measured partially by studies of job satisfaction.

■ Also includes measuring reactions & learning by asking the

trainees to complete an evaluation form either immediately

after the session or several weeks later.

Measuring Specific Benefits

■ Specific measures include measuring behavior changes &

using results to assess the effectiveness.

■ If effectiveness of training program is aimed at securing more

new customers.

■ Results are measured by tracking new account sales to see

whether they have increased.

■ If specific objective is to reduce customer complaints, then the

appropriate specific measure is whether customer complaints

decreased.

ALTERA

ALTERA makes chips that customers can continually reprogram, offering

an alternative to custom designs in the computing, car manufacturing &

consumer electronic industries. Over 5 year period beginning in 2002,

Altera spent nearly $11 million on empathy training. Reps went through

series of exercises to help put themselves in their customer shoes. One

method the “HOT SEAT” asked salespeople to imagine stepping up behind

a person & looking at the world through their eyes.. An empathy trainer

playing the role of customer would give the salesperson 10 minutes to ask

as many questions as he could to uncover what problems the customer

faced.