Part IV

SALES FORCE COMPETENCIES

Chapter 8:

Sales Training

Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.

Chinese Proverb

SHOULD IT BE CALLED TRAINING OR EDUCATION?

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior occurring as a result of experience. Training is included in ones experiences. Thus, training is part of an individuals total learning experience.

What goes on in Sales Training?

SALES TRAINING PROCESS

Planning for Sales Training
Assess Training Needs Setting Objectives Setting Budget

Developing the Training Program

What Topics?

Where to Train?

Training Methods?

Trainers?

Evaluating Training

Follow-Up Training

SALES TRAINING OBJECTIVES

Why Train Salespeople?

Increase productivity

Create positive attitudes/improve morale Improved customer relations Reduce role conflict and ambiguity (turnover) Improve efficiencies (time and territory)

Introduce new products, markets, or programs

Table 8-1

Cross-Tabulations from Company Records

Average Order Size per Salesperson

New Customers Per Salesperson

Total Customers Per Salesperson

Experience Less than 2 year 2-5 years 5-10 years Over 10 years Regions Northeast Southeast Midwest Southwest West

392 593 565 470 528 520 512 421 544

21 29 5 8 6 8 18 26 21

86 145 152 139 140 161 107 111 131

Planning For Sales Training

1. 2. 3.

Assessing sales training needs Establishing specific objectives for the training program Setting a budget for the program

DETERMINING TRAINING NEEDS*

Judgment of: Top Management Sales Management Training Department Interview With: Salespeople Customers
25%

68% 73% 60%

59%

* Percent of firms indicating they often use these assessments to determine training needs.

STEPS IN PERFORMING A TRAINING ANALYSIS

1. Interviewed key members or management to find out what changes are needed in performance of the sales force.

2. Sent an anonymous questionnaire to customers and prospects asking:

What do you expect of a salesperson in this industry? How do salespeople disappoint you?

Which company in this industry does the best selling job?

In what ways are its salespersons better?

3. Sent a confidential questionnaire to each salesperson asking:

What information do most of our salespersons need? What information do you want to learn better? What skills do most of our salespersons need to improve?

STEPS IN PERFORMING A TRAINING ANALYSIS

4. 5. 6. 7. Did field audits (making sales calls) with 20% of the sales force? Interviewed sales supervisors. Discussed and agreed on training priorities with management. Determined trainable topics from information gathered in Steps 1-5.

How much should it cost?

Table 8-2

Average Cost and Training Period for Sales Trainees

Consumer Industrial Service

$5,354
$9,893 $9,060

Consumer Industrial

3.40 Months 3.80 Months 3.80 Months

Service

Table 8-3

Average Cost of Training for Veteran Salespeople

$6,000
$5,365

Median Spending

$5,000 $4,000 $3,000 $2,000 $1,000 $0

$3,947 $3,902

$4,824

$3,752

Under $5 Million

$5-$25 Million

$25-$100 $100-$250 Over $250 Million Million Million

Company Size

What do you train on?

ALLOCATING TRAINING TIME

Product knowledge
Market/Industry Information Company Orientation Average 35% 15 10

Selling Techniques
Other topics

30
10

Total

100%

Where do you train?

1. 2.

Centralized versus Decentralized Field Training

ON-THE-JOB SALES TRAINING

80% of a new field salespersons training should be focused on developing customer profiles, digging out account survey data, and building working relationships in the field.

15% of time can then be invested in learning about how your product or service is used by existing customers. The field is the place to gain product knowledge, not from an engineer or home office instructor.

ON-THE-JOB SALES TRAINING

Only 5% of a new field salespersons time, then, should be spent on developing selling skills. Again, the place to do this is face-to-face with real customers:

setting and testing real precall objectives asking for real opportunities to do business.

Understanding what has to be done to build selling skills can be mastered in 15 minutes. Doing it takes years of actual, not simulated practice.

Training Media

Table 8-4

Media Used in Sales Training

Classroom with Instructor
Workbooks/Manuals
77%

54%

Role Plays
CD-ROM

44%

39%

Audiocassettes
Internet

34%

32%

EVALUATING SALES TRAINING

Level of Evaluation:

What to Measure:

How to Measure:

When to Measure:

Reactions: Are trainees satisfied?

Learning: Did the training have its intended effect?

Perceptions of training Course evaluation Instructor evaluation Knowledge of course content

Survey Interview

At the completion of training

Exams Selfassessment Interview

At the completion of training and at points in the future

EVALUATING SALES TRAINING

Level of Evaluation:

What to Measure:

How to Measure:

When to Measure:

Behavior: Are the salespeople on the job using their knowledge and skills on the job?

Skills Job performance Absenteeism Turnover

Performance indicators Observation Managerial assessment Selfassessment

Over the first year after training

EVALUATING SALES TRAINING

Level of Evaluation:

What to Measure:

How to Measure:

When to Measure:

Results: What effect does training have on the company?

Job satisfaction Customer satisfaction Sales Profits ROI

Survey Experiments Managerial assessment

A year after the training

EVALUATING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS*

Reactions:
Trainees Supervisors
68%

86%

Learning:
Performance Pre-vs. Post-Training
31%

63%

Behaviors:
Supervisors Appraisal Customer Appraisal
64% 41%

Results:
Bottom Line
40%

*Percent of firms indicating they often use these evaluations to measure training results.

Table 8-5

Sales Training Evaluation Practices

Measure Trainee Feedback Supervisory Appraisal

Criteria Type Reaction Behavior

Importance Rank 1 2

Self-Appraisal
Bottom-Line Measures Customer Appraisal

Behavior
Results Behavior

3
4 5

BUILDING A SALES TRAINING PROGRAM

Treat all employees as potential career employees. Require regular re-training. Spend time and money generously. Salespeople and sales managers must take the lead in developing what goes into the program.

In times of crisis, increase, rather than decrease, the training program.