Professional Documents
Culture Documents
10
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
What skills
What previous training has transferability and value? Managers must focus on critical success competencies
10-4
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
10-5
10.1
10-6
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?
10-7
Increase productivity Improve morale Lower turnover Improve customer relations Improve selling skills
10-8
Salespeople are a tough audience Salespeople retain about 50% after five weeks Management issues
Source: Half Life of Sales Training, American Salesman 49, no. 1 (2004), p. 23.
39%
Follow-up classes
43%
Coaching by manager
46%
59%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
10-10
Top management not dedicated to sales training Lack of buy-in from frontline sales managers and salespeople Salespeoples lack of understanding of what training is supposed to accomplish Salespeoples lack of understanding regarding application of training to everyday tasks
10-12
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.
10-13
10.2
Analyzing the training needs of the sales force
10-14
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
10-15
Source: Christen P. Heide, Dartnells 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey: (Chicago: Dartnell Corp., 1999)
10.3
Length and cost of sales training for new hires
Source: Christen P. Heide, Dartnells 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey: (Chicago: Dartnell Corp., 1999), p. 143.
10-16
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
10-17
Source: Christen P. Heide, Dartnells 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey: (Chicago: Dartnell Corp., 1999)
10.4
Source: Christen P. Heide, Dartnells 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey: (Chicago: Dartnell Corp., 1999), p. 145.
10-18
Product or service knowledge Market/Industry orientation Company orientation Selling skills Time and territory management Legal and ethical issues Technology Specialized topics
10-19
Companys product specifications Common product uses/misuses Price Construction Performance Compatibility
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
10-21
Handling customer requests for price adjustments, product modifications, faster delivery, different credit terms Sales manuals
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
10-23
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
10-24
Insurance industry suffers bad reputation of unethical behavior Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA) created in response IMSA certification requires
Ensuring salespeople pursue ethical practices Ethical practices training for all agents and staff Administering an exam for all sales professionals
10-25
Technology
Notebook computers
Home offices eliminate the need to go to another office Salesperson can be almost totally self-sufficient with
Presentations Connecting to company intranet or extranet Delivering documentation quickly and accurately
Effective computer use affords sales personnel more face-to-face customer contact time Effective use requires training
10-26
Increased control over content Less costly Comprises 15-20% of all training today Expected to be 50% within 5 years
10-27
Price negotiations Trade show effectiveness Reading body language Addressing SCA
10-28
10.5
Common instruction methods
10-29
10.6
Source: Christen P. Heide, Dartnells 30th Sales Force Compensation Survey: (Chicago: Dartnell Corp., 1999), p. 141.
10-30
Effective training can take place beyond the classroom or computer Requirements
Focus on knowledge, selling skills for success Understand deliverables Boot camps Product immersion Cooking classes
10-31
Examples
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
10-32
Classroom Training
Advantages
Standard briefings in
Disadvantages
Formal training sessions save executive time Interaction among salespeople builds camaraderie
Expensive Time-consuming Too much material = less retention
Product knowledge Company polices Customer and market characteristics Selling skills
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
10-34
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
10-35
Training cant solve the problem Busy, jaded salespeople are not open to learning new skills Conflicting methods and philosophies are taught at each session The training isnt relevant to the companys pressing needs The training format doesnt fit the need E-learning is overused, or used in wrong situations Theres no follow-up after training The trainer cant relate to the sales team
10-36
Training funds are often allocated with little regard for results Results and benefits are difficult to measure Difficult to isolate training impact from
10-37
10.7
Source: Thomas Atkinson and Theodore L. Higgins, Evaluation Obstacles and Opportunities, Forum Issues, February 1988, p. 22. 10-38
Improved morale Lower turnover Higher customer satisfaction Managements commitment to quality and continuous improvement Measuring changes in skills, reactions and learning assists both new and experienced sales personnel
10-39
10.8
Overall ranking of evaluation measures
10-40