1. Sales Training: Objectives, Techniques, and Evaluation10
Sales Training: Objectives, Techniques, and Evaluation
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Military Training and Sales Careers
What skills
Can be trained?
Must be trained?
Are a pre-hire requirement?
What previous training has transferability and value?
Managers must focus on critical success competencies
Source: HR Chally Group (2007).

3. Identify key issues in sales training
Understand objectives of sales training
Discuss development of sales training programs
Understand training of new sales recruits and experienced salespeople
Define topics covered in a sales training program
Understand various methods for conducting sales training
Discuss how to measure costs and benefits of sales training

4. 10.1 Training Magazine’s Top Training Companies
Source: Source: Manage smarter.com October, 2007.

5. Sales Training Issues Who should be trained?
What should be the training primary emphasis?
How should the training process be structured?
On-the-job training and experience?
Formal and more consistent centralized program?
Web-based?
Instructor-based?

6. Sales Training Objectives
Increase productivity
Improve morale
Lower turnover
Improve customer relations
Improve selling skills

7. 10.1 Challenge of Effective Training: Follow-Up
Salespeople are a tough audience
Salespeople retain about 50% after five weeks
Management issues
Poor training implementation
Lack of measureable results
Lack of refresher courses/materials
Source: “Half Life of Sales Training,” American Salesman 49, no. 1 (2004), p. 23.

8. 10.1 Effectiveness of Follow-Up Strategies
Incentive compensation for new behaviors
Manager statement detailing expectations
Follow-up classes
Coaching by manager
Sharing experiences/practices among team
% Respondents Identifying Strategies as Effective
Source: “Half Life of Sales Training,” American Salesman 49, no. 1 (2004), p. 23.

9. 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

10. 10.2 Failure – Causes and Cures
Delivering “fad” vs. “function”
Off the shelf delivery
Unreasonable time constraints
Little reinforcement
Source: Heather Baldwin, “Rethinking Sales Training,” SellingPower.com, August 2006 online issue.

11. Shifts in Training New Sales Recruits
Companies with less than $5 million in annual sales are spending more on sales training per new hire - $5,500 worth of training per salesperson.
Training in smaller companies has increased from 3.3 months to 4.4 months.
Smaller companies are placing more emphasis on training than several years ago.
Companies are spending time and money on training experienced salespeople
Companies with more than $5 million in annual sales, are spending less money on training
Source: Christen P. Heide, Dartnell’s 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey: (Chicago: Dartnell Corp., 1999)

12. Shifts in Training Experienced Sales Recruits
Experienced sales reps are given, on average, 32.5 hours of ongoing training per year at a cost of $4,032 per rep
Continuing increasing amounts of training reflects a commitment to provide ongoing learning opportunities for senior salespeople
Companies are spending an increasing amount of time on product training and less on training in selling skills
Source: Christen P. Heide, Dartnell’s 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey: (Chicago: Dartnell Corp., 1999)

13. Sales Training Topics Product or service knowledge
Market/Industry orientation
Company orientation
Selling skills
Time and territory management
Legal and ethical issues
Technology
Specialized topics

14. Product Knowledge Topics
Critical information for rational decision-making
Company’s product specifications
Common product uses/misuses
Competitive products comparison on
Price
Construction
Performance
Compatibility
Technical products require more time on product knowledge training

15. Market/Industry Orientation Topics
Industry fit into overall economy
Knowledge of industry and economy
Economic fluctuations that affect buying behavior and require adaptive selling techniques
Customers' buying policies, patterns and preferences in light of competition
Customers' customers needs
Wholesaler and retailer needs

16. Company Orientation Topics
Company polices that affect their selling activities
Personnel
Structure
Benefits
Handling customer requests for price adjustments, product modifications, faster delivery, different credit terms
Sales manuals
Hard copy, online
Product information
Company policy information

17. Time and Territory Management
Sales trainees need to learn to manage time and territories
Time spent training out of the field is costly
80/20 rule applies:
20% of the customers account for
80% of the business and
Require the same proportion of time and attention

18. Legal/Ethical Issues
Federal law dictates corporate action or avoidance of action in areas of marketing, sales and pricing
Sales personnel need to understand the federal, state and local laws that constrain their selling activities
Statements made by salespeople carry both legal and ethical implications
Lapses in ethical conduct often lead to legal problems

19. Technology Notebook computers
Presentations
Connecting to company intranet or extranet
Delivering documentation quickly and accurately
Home offices eliminate the need to go to another office
Salesperson can be almost totally self-sufficient with
High-speed network connection
Computer
Printer
Cell phone
Effective computer use affords sales personnel more face-to-face customer contact time
Effective use requires training

20. 10.4 Internet Training Increased control over content Less costly
Comprises 15-20% of all training today
Expected to be 50% within 5 years

21. Specialized Training Topics
Specialized, job-tailored training most effective
Sample topics
Price negotiations
Trade show effectiveness
Reading body language
Addressing SCA

22. 10.5
Common instruction
methods

23. 10.5 Creative Sales Training
Effective training can take place beyond the classroom or computer
Requirements
Focus on knowledge, selling skills for success
Understand deliverables
Examples
Boot camps
Product “immersion”
Cooking classes

24. Keys for Effective OJT
Teaming - bring together people with different skills
Meetings - set aside times when employees can get together
Customer interaction - include customer feedback as part of learning process
Mentoring - provide informal mechanism for new salespeople to learn from more experienced ones
Peer-to-peer communication - create opportunities for mutual learning among salespeople
Source: The Education Development Center (

25. Classroom Training Advantages Disadvantages
Standard briefings in
Product knowledge
Company polices
Customer and market characteristics
Selling skills
Formal training sessions save executive time
Interaction among salespeople builds camaraderie
Disadvantages
Expensive
Time-consuming
Too much material = less retention
Role playing a popular technique

26. Electronic Training Methods
Online training $18billion industry (2006)
Makes J-I-T information possible
IBM plans 35% sales training to be over Internet
CD-ROM currently #1 delivery method
30% of server-based training over intranets
Effectiveness not well-documented
Not likely to eliminate one-on-one training

27. Measuring the Costs and Benefits
Sales training consumes substantial time, budget and support resources
Relationship between sales training and revenue is difficult to measure
Relationship between sales training and other broad objectives difficult to measure

28. 10.6 Training Road Blocks Training can’t solve the problem
Busy, jaded salespeople are not open to learning new skills
Conflicting methods and philosophies are taught at each session
The training isn’t relevant to the company’s pressing needs
The training format doesn’t fit the need
E-learning is overused, or used in wrong situations
There’s no follow-up after training
The trainer can’t relate to the sales team

29. Sales Training Costs
Training funds are often allocated with little regard for results
Results and benefits are difficult to measure
Difficult to isolate training impact from
Economic conditions
Environmental changes
Seasonal trends
Competitive activity
Etc.

30. 10.7 Evaluation options matrix
Source: Thomas Atkinson and Theodore L. Higgins, “Evaluation Obstacles and Opportunities,” Forum Issues, February 1988, p. 22.

31. 10.8
Overall ranking of evaluation measures