Training Salespeople

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Training Salespeople


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Sales Management

Planning

PersonalSales RepsSales

Managers

Recruiting

Training

Motivating

Supervising

Managing a sales force involves recruiting, hiring, training, supervising,compensating salespeople, motivating them to become problem solvers, and

providing the proper planning and backup support so they can perform their jobsproperly.

1) New sales forcetraining

2) Developingcurrent salesforce

OverviewSales

Environment


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Introduction

Training should follow the recruiting and

selection program

Company must decide how to train and recruit

efficiently and economically

(Source: Hite and Johnston)


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Objectives

Define training

Why train?

Learning principles

Structure

Content

Planning the training program


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Define training

Sales training- the effort an employer puts forth to provide salespeople

job-related culture, skills, knowledge, and attitudes that should result in

improved performance in the selling environments

(Source: Futrell)


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Why train?

Decreased turnover

Increase sales

Enhanced customer relationships

Shortages, inflation, and/or intense competition, longterm favorable and personalrelationships with customers take on added importance

Buyers market vs. Sellers market

Decreased costs


Better Morale

Improved time and territory efficiency(Source: Dalrymple et al)


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Why train?

Orienting new salespeople to the job

Improve knowledge

Lowering absenteeism and turnover

Informing salespeople

Obtain feedback from salespeople

(Source: Futrell)


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Planning is the single most important ingredient for developing a successful

training program

The most effective learning takes place when the new salesperson:

Has a predisposition about the importance of training. Perceives a need to learn a particular skill, or perceives some form of personal

reward for doing so

Can practice and apply the new knowledge in a setting similar to the actual

sales environment

Can receive supervision, support, and reinforcement from someone respectedfor having sufficient expertise in that skill to assist in the learning process



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Building Sales Training Programmes.

Define training aims

Determine the training needs

Initial

Continual

Decide training contents

Decide upon the trainer

Timing the training

Determine the training site

Instructional methods and training aids Canned vs. flexible


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Sources of Training needsInformation:

Input from Sales Managers

Job Incumbents

Upper Management Training Personnel

Customers.


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Sources of Training needsInformation

Performance Measures

Sales Volumes

Customers Service levels. Customer complaints.

Turnover rates.

No of sales calls conducted. Profitability.


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Sources of Training needsInformation

Organisational Objectives.

Sales training Goals.

Observations of salespersons skills.


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Content

Product knowledge

Company knowledge

Market knowledge

Selling techniques

Customer motivation

Non-selling activities


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Content

Product knowledge

Is the salesperson familiar with the features of the products

Can he/she express the benefits to the customers

Does the salesperson have a complete knowledge of competing products

Company knowledge

What does the company do?

What is the companies organization structure?

Who is responsible for what

What is the companies procedures? What does the company stand for?



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Content

Market knowledge What are the general business conditions?

Who and where are the industries involved?

Who is the competition and how do they operate?

Who are the customers and what are their needs?

The customers buying process

Selling techniques Prospect

Gather relevant information

Approach the prospect

Develop a sales presentation Anticipate and answer objections

Close the sale

Maintain continuing good relations(Source: Hite and Johnston)


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Content

Customer motivation

A salesperson needs to know how to develop enthusiasm within their prospects

Enthusiasm will help built confidence in the product

Non-selling activities Customer service- those activities that enhance or facilitate the sale and use of

ones product and service

Stocking shelves, planning promotions, training salespeople, processing orders,

delivering, maintaining and repairing products, answering complaints

Generating sales inquiries

Time and territory management

Paperwork


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Who trains and where?

Staff Specialists

Often centralized

Sales specialists prepares the materials and conducts the classes

Cons

Often times lack experience in realistic field-selling situations May cost small firms to much money

(Source: Dalrymple et al)


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Outside Specialists

Outside consultants may be entirely responsible for the training programs or brought

to conduct specific sessions

Often times tailor their training to specific needs of the firm or the industry

Cons May be unfamiliar with a companys selling situation



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Line Executive (usually sales managers)

Lends credibility to the program because of their sales backgrounds

May have better knowledge of how to sell, and they may better know what skillstrainees need in order to perform will in the field

More practical

Cons May not be trained to communicate the information to a group of people in a classroom

setting

May be preoccupied with current sales problems and do not have the time



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When and how much?

Many companies place new sales personal into the field after only a brief

orientation. In this case, the salesperson is expected to struggles and learn

for themselves Pros of this approach

Only those who stay with the company will receive the more expensive training

programs

The salesperson will have a frame of reference for the material taught in the training

sessions



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When and how much?

Waiting to train a salesperson has several disadvantages

Risking relationship with customers

Due to the risks, most companies will provide enough initial training so the

salesperson can function at some minimum level in the field. Advance

training will be added at a latter time.



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Training methods

Lectures Demonstrations

Primarily to disseminate information to groups

Group discussions/ Panels/ Role playing/ Simulations of games Involve groups in participative interaction

Manuals/ Bulletins/ Correspondence courses

Individual instructional methods used to disseminate information

On-the-job training/ Personal conferences/ Programmed instruction/ Jobrotation

Individual instructional courses that involve individual participation



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Training methods

Lectures Demonstrations

Primarily to disseminate information to groups

One-way formal discourse delivered to a group of trainees, typically passive

listeners

Pros- large amounts of information can be conveyed in a short period of time

Cons- lack of verbal feedback

May not be good for teaching selling techniques, time and territory management, andqualifying prospects



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Training methods

Group discussions/ Panels/ Role playing/ Simulations or games

Involve groups in participative interaction

Group discussions- best when the group is less then twenty Discuss common problems under the guidance of a discussion leader

Many points of view

May be a problem with inexperienced people

Panels- three to six experts

Give a short presentation and answer questions with regards to the topic

Role playing

Simulations or games (Source: Hite and Johnston)


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Training methods

Manuals/ Bulletins/ Correspondence courses

Individual instructional methods used to disseminate information

Manuals

Bulletins

Correspondence courses



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Training methods

On-the-job training/ Personal conferences/ Programmed instruction/ Job

rotation

Individual instructional courses that involve individual participation

On-the-job training

The quickest way to expose a new salesperson to the actual selling environment is

through one-to-one, on-the-job training

Exposing the trainee to a real-world sales environment where the techniques learnedin a formal training sessions can be observed and tried

Cons- objective of the sales call and the costs



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Training methods

On-the-job training/ Personal conferences/ Programmed instruction/ Job rotation Individual instructional courses that involve individual participation

Personal conferences

Provides two way communication Salespeople should have the chance to bring up problems and seek advice and counseling

Chance for positive reinforcement

Programmed instruction- the subject matter is broken down into highly organized,logical sequences that demand continuous responding on the part of the newsalesperson. If the answer is correct, the trainee proceeds to the next frame

Job rotation Pros- give the sales trainee many perspectives

Cons- time it takes to implement the program(Source: Hite and Johnston)


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Training Delivery Method

Face to face Instructor Led training.

OnLine Training.

WebcastWebinar

Podcasting

Blended approaches OnDemand (self-paced ) Training.


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Scheduling the training.

Whether Centralised or decentralized.

Timing of the training.


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Evaluation of Training

Trainee Feedback

Supervisory Appraisal\Self appraisal

Bottom line Measurement

Customer appraisal

Performance tests

Course evaluations

Coworker appraisal

Knowledge tests.


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Summary

The job description is the basic instrument for determining the training

needs

Well-designed training programs should follow basic learning principles

Planning the training program is essential to success



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Training Salespeople

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