SALES FORCE TRAINING

AT ARROW ELECTRONICS

MADE BY:NIKITA SANGAL

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Arrow Electronics was a distributor of electronic components

that began as a radio equipment retailer in 1935.

1977 - became the fourth largest electronic arts distributor in

US.

1979 - shares were listed in the NYSE.

1980 - became the second largest distributor in US.

1993- highest sales in North America.

Steve Kaufman joined Arrow as Executive Vice President

in 1982 and assumed the role of CEO in 1986.

He wanted to revive the college recruiting program, he

had started in 1984.

But he recalled the difficulties the company had faced in

retaining the talent in the organization.

So in order to introduce the program again they need to

find a way to retain talent.

REPAIRS Missing sales budgets

High employee turnover

Need of new sales representatives

Lack of loyalty among the employees

SPROUT’S PROGRAM

Upgrading the professionalism of the sales force.

The sprouts program was introduced in the organization to drastically

change the work force

Selling based on what the customers want now and what will they need in

the future.

Along with this, a training program for existing sales representatives was

also required.

The Sprout program was introduced in 1983.

Arrow was the first company to introduce this program

It trained its managers on how to interview college

students.

A structured interview was prepared for the students.

In 1984, Arrow sent executives to college campuses to

interview students

The selected candidates were sent to headquarters for

orientation and on the job training.

ISSUES IN TRAINING

Training in California was well structured whereas the

issues raised in other branches were:

Managers were not good trainers

Sprouts were not exposed to meaningful parts of the

business.

After the feedback of the program it was realized that a more

formal training program was needed.

A new program was introduced in 1985

Arrow rented Xerox training facility in Virginia.

The program included:

Classroom training

Company executives and professional instructors were

hired

Thirteen weeks of on the job training.

Three weeks of training before being sent to field

permanently

PROBLEMS FACED The company was facing the major problem of poaching leading to high attrition

rate in the company. Reasons of attrition were:

Hike in compensation was less when compared to other players in the industry

Delayed promotions

Lack of career advancement opportunities

Lack of support from senior managers

As a result, after 1985, the compensation structure was made deffered

Commision rates were increased.

They were given percentage of the account every quarter.

After two years of service they would get a hike in compensation,

but had 6-9 months of at risk pay in reserve.

Signing of non-compete agreements.

These efforts did not prove to be successful and the program

ended in 1988 as the company made major acquisitions which

brought in large group of salespeople

NEW PROGRAM

1997, kaufman decided to re launch its college recruiting

program

The company needed new energy into the company.

The company now had a sales force of around 1000 with an

attrition rate of 26-30%

The company needed to recruit 300 people a year.

To accomplish this college recruitment was a good option

where the company go for mass recruitment.