A Study of Predictors of Sales Training Effectiveness:

With specific reference to Pharmaceutical Industry

By

Komal Khandelwal Das

Under the Supervision of

Dr. Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay
Associate Professor
Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune

Overview of the Study

o

This study is designed with the objective of getting into

the details of sales training and further understanding
the factors that enhances the value of sales training
among organizations, sales professionals and others.

For the above mentioned purpose we have started by

reviewing the relevant variables through detailed
literature review.

This review covers theoretical developments over a

period of 54 years on sales personnel training over five
decades (1962 2015).

Overview of the Study

o

The literature review is followed by

exploratory qualitative research carried on
different
sales
professionals
from
Pharmaceutical industry.

The emerging variables have been modeled

and tested to establish a prominent
relationship between the predictors and Sales
Training effectiveness through quantitative
data analysis.

Literature Review
The review identifies related theme to categorize
Training effectiveness issues and significant predictors.
The, related literature is reviewed and categorized as :
1. Sales training
2. Performance Evaluation
3. Training Effectiveness
4. Predictors of Effectiveness
Organizational factors
Training Design factors
Trainee Related factors

List of the major variables in the literature.

CONSTRUCT
Trainee

Characteristics
General Self-efficacy
Perceived Effort
Pre-training, Motivation
Supervisor Support
Management Support
Learning Orientation
Trainees Content Satisfaction
Perceived trainer performance
Perceived usefulness of training
Training Course efficiency
Training Contents
Training instructor
Trainers Competency
Training Format
Training Effectiveness

SOURCE
Rasli,

2012
Huang, W, 2009
Long, L. K, 2005
Long, L. K, 2005
Jayawardana andPrasanna, 2008
Rasli, 2012
Sarin, Sego, Kohli, and Challagalla, 2010
Liu, 2007
Giangreco, 2009
Giangreco, 2009
Giangreco, 2009
Pelham and Kravitz, 2008
Dubinsky and Anderson, 2001
Rasli, 2012
Dubinsky and Anderson, 2001
Satin, Sego, Kohli, and Challagalla, 2010

Research Design
Mixed

method research

Qualitative

- In-depth interviews

Quantitative

data Survey of sales professionals in

Pharmaceutical industry
Initiated

with exploratory research.

Followed

by conclusive and Descriptive research

Research Questions

The literature review and qualitative study helped to prepare a basic

framework and hypotheses for testing.
The research questions acknowledged from the literature eventually led
to the development of the objectives for this research.
Followings are the three primary research questions in this investigation.
What

is the current state of sales training practices prevalent in the

pharmaceutical industry?
What

are the various organizational, individual and social

predictors that influence sales training effectiveness?

What

is the strength of relationship between the predictors and

sales training effectiveness?

Research Objective
In the study the basic objective was to understand the Sales Training practices in Pharmaceutical Industry in India.
The work also examines the relationship of Sales Training effectiveness with its various predictors.
Following are the specific objectives of this study:

To

study the current status of sales training effectiveness in the Indian

pharmaceutical sector. To identify the organizational and/or individual

predictors which manipulate the effectiveness of sales training.
To

evaluate the strength of association between the predictors and sales

training effectiveness.
To develop
To

a model to map effectiveness of sales training.

evaluate the critical success factors for pharmaceutical sales

training.

Sam ple

Size

The Qualitative data - In-Depth Interview of sales

professionals, casted reference guide with open-ended
questions based on research objectives and orchestrate 30
interviews of 26 trainees and 4 trainers.
[In qualitative research, saturation occurs within thirty
interviews or less (Thompson, 2004)]
In Quantitative the total number of questionnaires which are
collected from the field is 432 in number.
More than10 % of the data missing were dropped.
Dropped 32 incomplete questionnaires.
Therefore, the sample size for the study is 400.

Sam pling Procedure / Method

Pharmaceutical Sales professionals
Uttar Pradesh and Delhi
The cities included are Agra and Noida in the
state of Uttar Pradesh
Used Judgment Sampling for Qualitative and
Convenience for Quantitative research.

Analytical tools for Data Analysis used.

Exploratory data Analysis with help of SPSS
20 software.
Reliability test with help of SPSS 20 software.
Regression Analysis with help of SPSS 20
software.

Qualitative research
Through qualitative research following major factors emerged:

Training
Time

content,

management,

Effective

communication,

Innovativeness
Pre-training

and creativity,

motivation

Proposed Model For Predictors of

Sales Training Effectiveness
Perceived effort
Training Content
Perceived trainer
performance
Pre-training
Motivation
Supervisor Support
Learning
Orientation
Perceived
usefulness of
training

TRAINING
EFFECTIVENESS

Hypothes is
H1: Training Content influences Training Effectiveness.
H2: Perceived Effort influences Training Effectiveness.
H3:Pre-Training Motivation influences Effectiveness.
H4:Perceived Trainer Performance influences Effectiveness.
H5: Learning Orientation influences Training Effectiveness.
H6: Perceived Usefulness influences Training Effectiveness.
H7: Supervisor Support influences Training Effectiveness.

Constructs, with Items and Source.

Construct

Items
Can carry out sales tasks well by use of skills learned during the training program.

Can accomplish the job tasks effectively and efficiently due to skills acquired during

Adapted from

the training program.

Using the latest, knowledge and skills taught during training would help me to
progress well.

Training

Make fewer mistakes because of effective training.

Effectiveness

The value of sales task enhanced after training.

Capable of finish sales tasks rapidly and on time after training.

Sales Training made the individual more presentable by improvement in

Jayawardana,
and Prasanna
(2008)

communication skills and body language.

In sales routine, it is importance to learn innovative approaches to deal with the

prospects.

Learning
Orientation

It is important for the individual to learn from each selling experience.

Sarin, Sego,

Its imperative for a competent salesperson to continually improve the sales skills.

Kohli, and

How to be a superior salesperson is of primary significance to the salesperson.

Challagalla

The salesperson should be interested in learning whole lot of novel things about
sales in the sales job.

(2010)

The supervisor clearly communicates the importance of Sales Training.

The supervisor believes that there are true merits of getting trained.

Supervisor
Support

The supervisor uses a multiplicity of method to develop my sales skills.

The manager helps the individual know about his/her performance.

Individual found the training content/handouts very interesting.

Trainees feel frustrated because the training content/handouts are

complex.

Training
Content

The manager guides one on improving ones sales performance.

Individuals enjoyed learning from the training content/handouts.

The entire training was a great learning experience.

Undergoing Sales Training enhances individuals effectiveness on the

Jayawardana, and
Prasanna (2008)

Liu
(2007)

job.

Undergoing Sales Training makes it easier for the salesperson to perform

the sales job.

Perceived
Usefulness

Overall, the trainee find undergoing Sales Training useful for the sales Giangreco (2009)
job.

Sales Training increases trainees productivity.

Getting trained improves trainees job performance.

The trainee had put a lot of effort during last sales training.

It is important for the individual to do well in the sales training

program.

Perceived Effort

Individual didnt put much energy into the sales training program.

Long (2005)

Individual didnt try very hard to do well in the sales training

program.

Individual was motivated to learn as much as he/she could before

the sales training program.

Trainee was willing to try harder before the training program to

understand parts of the sales training program which were harder or
difficult.

Pre-Training
Motivation

Trainee was convinced to put more effort into the sales training

Long (2005)

program than other fellow trainees.

Individual was willing to exert considerable effort to learn the

contents of the sales training program.

Perceived Trainer
Performance

The trainers were able to impart knowledge.

The mentors were involved all participants.

The supervisors managed time well.

The trainers had in depth knowledge of their subjects.

Giangreco (2009)

Pilot Study
Variables

Type of variable

Number of
items in the
construct
before pilot
study.

Number of
items in the
construct
after pilot
study.

Cronbachs
alpha

Training Effectiveness

Dependent variable

.810

Learning Orientation

Independent variable

.873

Supervisor Support

Independent variable

.752

Training Content

Independent variable

.796

Perceived Usefulness

Independent variable

.892

Perceived Effort

Independent variable

.599

Pre-training Motivation

Independent variable

.741

Perceived trainer
performance

Independent variable

.697

Quantitative
Data
Analysis

Descriptive Statistics for the variables used in the study.

Descriptive Statistics
Training Effectiveness

Mean
5.4360

Std. Deviation
.79784

N
400

Training Content

5.2789

.95683

400

Perceived Effort

5.4152

.88333

400

Pre-training Motivation
Perceived trainer
performance
Learning Orientation

5.4315
5.4466

.85959
.81792

400
400

5.6141

.84343

400

Perceived Usefulness

5.5558

.79134

400

Supervisor Support

5.3151

.85893

400

Sample Profile
The analysis indicated that a major percentage of the respondents had
less than 5 years of work experience. 41.7%.of respondents had 6- 10
years of work experience.
Total sales experience in Pharmaceutical Industry.

More than 20 years; 4%

11 20 years; 12%

Sales experience in the current company.

More than 20 years; 7%

11 20 years; 16%

Less than 5 years; 42%

Less than 2 years; 36%

6 10 years; 42%
6 10 years; 42%

Training methods used

Duration of the sales training program

Computer Simulation
In Basket Exercise
Informal
Video Conferencing

More than a Month; 16%

Less than 1 Week; 42%

3 4 Weeks; 18%

1 2 Weeks ; 25%

Role play

5.80%
11.80%
14.50%
32.80%
36.50%

Demonstration

39.00%

On the job training

40.00%

Group discussion

44.00%

Case studies

44.00%

Classroom Lectures

70.50%

Major bulk of respondents i.e. 41.5% reported that they attended sales
training program less than a week . Whereas classroom was among the most
commonly used method of training.

Trainer details
54.30%

Education of respondent
38.50%
34.00%
24.00%
15.80%15.80%

Others; 1%
Post- Graduate ; 32%

Graduate ; 67%

Analysis of the chart shown below indicated that majority of respondents, 66.8% of them were
graduates.

Is Company a Multinational Corporation

Designation/Position

Senior Level Manager; 8% Trainee; 8%

No; 52%

Yes ; 49%
Middle Level Manager; 37%
Executive (Entry Level); 47%

Respondents Age

More than 45 years ; 2%

Less than 25 years; 14%
36 45 years; 16%

25 35 years ; 68%

Research indicated that majority of the sales professionals in the

pharmaceutical industry were aged between 25-35years occupying a large
share of 68.3%.

Data
Analysis

Correlation between variables

Pearson Correlation
1
2
3

IT Adoption
Inventory
Management
Supply Chain
Responsiveness

1.000
.538

1.000

.507

.571

1.000

Lean
Manufacturing

.571

.637

.591

1.000

Technology Upgradation

.539

.645

.539

.610

1.000

Flexibility

.596

.492

.528

.542

.538

1.000

Quality
Management and
tools

.665

.580

.551

.650

.609

.690

1.000

Awareness and
Training

.589

.536

.421

.485

.505

.474

.549

1.000

Regression
Model Summary

Model

R Square

Adjusted R
Square

Standard. Error of
Estimate

DurbinWatson

.741

.548

.544

.53881

2.049

Predictors: (Constant), Awareness and Training, Supply chain Responsiveness, IT adoption,

Inventory Management, Quality management standards and tools
Dependent Variable: Productivity Improvement

Analysis of Variance
Model

Squares Sum

Df

Mean Square

Sig.

Regression

139.310

34.827

119.964

.000d

Residual

114.674

395

.290

Total

253.984

399

Constructs : (Constant), Awareness and Training, Supply chain Responsiveness, IT adoption,

Inventory Management, Quality management standards and tools
Dependent Variable: Productivity Improvement

Beta Coefficients and Multi Collinearity statistics

Substandard Co-efficient

Standard Coefficient

Model

Collinearity
Statistics

T
B

Standard
Error

.733

.217

Awareness and
Training

.292

.055

Supply chain
Responsiveness

.249

(Constant)

Sig.

Beta

Tolerance

VIF

3.378

.001

.290

5.358

.000

.391

2.560

.039

.268

6.443

.000

.659

1.517

.177

.045

.187

3.921

.000

.501

1.996

.140

.043

.151

3.286

.001

.542

1.844

.177

.045

.187

3.921

.000

.501

1.996

IT adoption

Inventory
Management
Quality
management
standards and tools

Normal P-P plot

Results
Following variables significantly contributes to the
prediction of Sales Training Effectiveness
Perceived Usefulness
Supervisor Support
Learning Orientation
Pre-Training Motivation

Research Opportunities in Contemporary

Sales Training
How training can be used for providing strategic
advantage?
How management can ensure training is aligned to
customers needs and selling process?
How to manage the role of sales manager in
salesperson development?
How analytics can be incorporated to improve
coaching and mentoring?
How sales training can be delivered through
emerging technology?
How an organization can use sales training to
reinforce the code of conduct?

Concluding Remarks

Every sales business sustains on sales-force

performance and optimal 'performance' can be
achieved through effective training. Based on data
analysis, this work proposes four pivotal dimensions as
predictors of training effectiveness in the model.

The factors or predictors namely Perceived Usefulness,

Learning Orientation, Pre-Training Motivation and
Supervisor Support paves the path to Effectiveness
through formalized and tailored training framework.

There is a demonstrable connection between significant

predictors of training effectiveness and successful

Thanks