10 Sales Training: Objectives, Techniques, and Evaluation McGraw-Hill/IrwinCopyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

10-2 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).

10-3  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

10-4 Training Magazine’s Top Training Companies Source: Source: Manage smarter.com October, 2007.smarter.com 10.1

10-5 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?

10-6 Sales Training Objectives  Increase productivity  Improve morale  Lower turnover  Improve customer relations  Improve selling skills

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.

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

10-9 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

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.SellingPower.com

10-11 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)

10-12 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)

10-13 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

10-14 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

10-15 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

10-16 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

10-17 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

10-18 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

10-19 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

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

10-21 Specialized Training Topics  Specialized, job-tailored training most effective  Sample topics  Price negotiations  Trade show effectiveness  Reading body language  Addressing SCA

Common instruction methods

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

10-24 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 (

10-25 Classroom Training  Advantages  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

10-26 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

10-27 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

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

10-29 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.

10-30 Source: Thomas Atkinson and Theodore L. Higgins, “Evaluation Obstacles and Opportunities,” Forum Issues, February 1988, p Evaluation options matrix

Overall ranking of evaluation measures