8 – Training of Sales Personnel

Introduction

Salesperson training will never be out of date. Organizations will require training as technology develops, new individuals enter the workforce, and firms try to improve. The phrase “training” may vary (for example, it is now referred to as learning, coaching, facilitating, and so on). Still, the premise stays the same—people constantly need assistance in mastering new abilities, applying new knowledge, and/or changing their attitudes.

Many people overlook the fact that training is a skill that requires learning. Expert trainers understand the time and effort it takes to master this skill. Even novice trainers recognize that training is a difficult task. However, those who aren’t trainers often don’t know where to start.

8.1 Training Course

Aim, substance, technique, execution, and assessment are the five important considerations when developing a sales training programme. These are known as the A-C-M-E-E judgments. Specific training objectives must be identified, materials must be decided, training methods must be chosen, execution preparations must be arranged, and procedures must be established to evaluate the results.

Salesmen must be trained to become skilled. A gifted athlete requires guidance and practice to perform at his best, just as a salesperson requires adequate training and development. Following selection, staff should receive formal training that includes organised programmes with timetables, lesson plans, visual aids, and other teaching devices, as well as systematic reviews and evaluations.

Informal training entails the ongoing growth of sales personnel. The supervisor’s primary role is to work with salespeople, investigate their operations, and advise them on improvements that should be made. It is also referred to as field coaching.

Training differs depending on the stage of a salesperson’s career. Salespeople come from various backgrounds and have varying levels of expertise and learning skills; thus, they each have unique training requirements. Another aspect influencing the type of training is the stage of the salesperson’s career.

A salesperson’s career cycle is a conceptual framework that defines the stages of a salesperson’s profession. This cycle is divided into four basic parts.

1. Preparation
2. Development
3. Maturity
4. Decline

Salesperson’s Career Cycle

8.1.1 Preparation

The emphasis for the salesperson should be on orientation and training. He should be informed about the setting in which he will be working, as well as about the firm and the products he will be selling. At this point, selling instructions and fundamental selling techniques are critical. Experienced salespeople new to the organisation must sometimes become acquainted with the company’s policies and practices.

8.1.2 Development

This is the second stage of the salesman’s career when he begins to produce results. He should be supervised and given on-field instruction. He should be able to spot difficulties and avoid developing negative behaviours.

8.1.3 Maturity

The salesperson’s productivity plateaus during the maturity period. He works “smarter than harder.” Refresher training may be required occasionally to retrain and acquaint him with new concepts and procedures. They may also be offered new challenges, transferred to other regions or territories, or promoted to more responsible roles. Career plateauing can occur as a result of insufficient training. A lack of proper training hinders growth and development.

8.1.4 Decline

The salesperson is an issue for management at this point. A significant amount of motivational retraining is required. The salesman’s productivity drops dramatically and is challenging to reverse.

Training delivered at the right moment fosters good working habits and mitigates the effects of detraining.

8.2 Aim of Training

The first stage in training is to define a training programme’s particular and general goals. General goals are broken down into specific goals articulated in operational terms. These can be classified into two types:

1. Identify initial training needs.
2. Continuing sales training programmes.

1. Identify initial training needs:

The analysis of three significant elements helps identify the initial training demands of a sales training programme.

Job Specification

The job specification specifies the qualifications required to do the job. The collection of job descriptions should be scrutinised for hints to the areas where new employees are most likely to require training.

Trainee’s Background and Experience

The difference between the qualifications listed in the job specifications and those held by the learner shows the type and amount of training required. However, it is not always practicable to tailor training to individual variations, and time and money are saved by putting all recruits through the same programmes.

In all organisations, determining the recruits’ true training needs is critical to establishing early training programmes that benefit both the employer and the trainee.

Sales-related Marketing Policies

An analysis of sales-related marketing policies is also required to evaluate initial sales training needs, as differences in products, markets, and selling methods and policies determine differences in training programmes.

For example, selling highly technical goods necessitates extensive product training, whereas selling non-technical goods necessitates simple introductory sales training programmes.

2. Continuing sales training programmes:

Identifying continuous sales training needs entails identifying the training needs of experienced sales professionals that are felt due to changes in the market, product, marketing policies, processes, organisation, and even the sales personnel themselves.

8.3 Content of Training

Not all sales training programmes have the same training content. It differs amongst companies because of variances in products, markets, corporate policies, trainee ability and experience, and organisational scale. Each initial sales training programme is divided into four sections: product data, sales techniques, markets, and corporate information.

Product Data

Product training is determined by the nature of the product. If the product is highly technical, more than half of the programme will be dedicated to product training; if the product is non-technical, only a limited amount will be required. However, in all circumstances, the salesperson should know the items, their uses, and applications to meet the client’s information demands.

Sales Technique

There are two points of view in this case. Some sales managers feel that if a person has an attractive personality, a nice appearance, a decent voice, reasonable intelligence, and knowledge of the product, he can sell it effortlessly. However, most people believe that new salespeople need basic sales training. The majority of businesses concur with this viewpoint.

Markets

The salesperson must understand the customers’ names, where they live, and what they are interested in. The salesperson should also know the customer’s purchasing history, motivations, and financial situation. However, training in this environment should not be static; rather, it should be ongoing because markets are constantly evolving.

Information About the Company

Essentially, the company should inform the salesperson of the company’s price strategy, product services, spare parts and repairs, credit extension, and customer relations.

To boost employee morale and job effectiveness, the company should also provide sales personnel with information about their selection process, training programmes, compensation, incentive systems, advancement requirements and opportunities, savings and retirement plans, medical and insurance plans, etc.

8.4 Methods of Training

The training material determines the proper training strategy for a training programme. Some important and relevant sales training methods include lectures, conferences, demonstrations, replaying, case discussions, impromptu conversations, gaming, on-the-job training, programmed learning, and correspondence courses.

8.4.1 The Lecture

A lecture is a technique of learning in which the trainer instructs the pupil. Trainees primarily observe and listen, while some forms of teaching allow for questioning.

Advantages

– It is less expensive than alternative methods.

-If the first sales training is brief, it is the only way to cover the needed training content.

-It is the only feasible approach to managing instructions when the training group is too large. Still, it can also provide suitable training to smaller groups by summarising major subjects.

Disadvantages

-The emphasis is on teaching rather than learning.

-There is just one-way communication between the trainer and the trainee.

8.4.2 Personal Conference

The personal conference is an unstructured and informal method that varies depending on the personality of the trainer and the trainee and the topics covered. The trainer and trainee work together to solve challenges such as making the most of selling time, route planning, call scheduling, and dealing with atypical selling situations.

8.4.3 Demonstration

The demonstration technique of training involves sales managers planning and carrying out a sales call on a customer or prospect while the salesmen are being trained to sit silently by. The strategy is best suited for teaching new salespeople.

8.4.4 Role Playing

In this strategy, the trainer first outlines the conditions and various personalities involved. The student is then instructed to perform the roles of those characters in various settings. Finally, the trainer and the trainee evaluate each player’s efficacy and propose ways to enhance their performance.

Thus, role-playing is “a way of human connection involving realistic behaviour in a fictitious situation.”

The following are the benefits of the role-playing method:

The emphasis is placed on learning by doing.

-The importance of human sensibility and connections is emphasised.

-Results are known immediately.

-Trainee interest and involvement are typically high.

-Trainees learn to accept criticism from others, and the group quickly realises that good ideas benefit everyone.

-Role players engage in introspection by evaluating their performance.

-Role-playing allows you to acquire valuable tactics and build acting experience.

8.4.5 Case Discussion (Learning by Doing)

The case is a data collection (real or fictional, written or oral). A miniature explanation and summary of such data expose difficulties and problems that require solutions or action on the trainee’s part.

When trainees are given instances to analyse, they must identify the problem and make provisional recommendations through group discussions.

8.4.6 Gaming Simulation

This method is similar to role-playing, but it has the distinct feature of using highly controlled and created circumstances based on reality, and players receive informational feedback.

Advantages

-Participants learn quickly because they are immersed in gameplay.

-Players improve their ability to identify significant elements influencing decisions.

-Information feedback features are included in games.

Limitations

-Playing requires a minimum time, usually three to four hours, which is insufficient to offer the desired learning experience.

-Because game designs are built on standard decision-making processes, the rules frequently prohibit uncommon or novel approaches.

-Poorly constructed games may impede rather than help.

8.4.7 On-the-Job Training (Coach-and-pupil Method)

In this instance, professional coworkers, bosses, or a particular training teacher mentors and instructs salesmen. They learn the task through personal observation and practice and handle it on occasion.

This approach consists of three steps. First, the coach, who is an experienced salesperson, describes specific selling circumstances and explains various strategies and approaches. The coach then makes genuine sales calls, accompanied by the student, and discusses each with the trainee afterwards.

The coach then supervises the trainees as they make sales calls, with each one ending in a discussion and evaluation.

8.4.8 Programmed Learning (Teaching by Machine Method)

A programmed instruction is a series of steps commonly set up through an electronic computer’s central panel to guide the completion of a desired operation or service. It entails breaking knowledge down into meaningful components and then properly arranging these to make a logical and sequential learning programme or package for use with the machine.

However, because of their high operating costs and other limitations, programmed instructions have not generally been used for sales training.

8.4.9 Correspondence Programs

Correspondence courses are used by companies with highly technical products and small but widely distributed sales staff to familiarise experienced sales personnel with new product development and applications.

It is particularly appropriate as an intermediate training approach when students are geographically dispersed yet regularly gathered for lectures, seminars, role-playing, and other instructions.

8.5 Execution of Sales Training

The fourth phase in the A-C-M-E-E strategy for sales training is execution. It entails the following four significant decisions:

1. Who will be the trainees?
2. Who will be the trainers?
3. When will the training take place?
4. Where will the training site be?

Who Will Serve as Trainees?

The following are the general criteria for identifying trainees:

1. Reward good performance.
2. Punishment for poor performance.
3. Convenience of trainee and trainer.
4. Seniority: The greater the seniority, the more excellent the opportunity for added training. The more senior you are, the more opportunities for additional training you will have.

Who Will Serve as Trainers?

The trainers who provide instruction during the various training phases are:

Initial Sales Training: If initial sales training is a line function, training is allocated to the top sales executive; if it is a staff role, training is assigned to the personnel director.

Continuing Sales Training: The top sales executive oversees continuing sales training. The top sales executive is best positioned to identify the need and plan and implement the sales training programme.

Sales Training Personnel: In large organisations, the sales training director reports to the chief sales executive. The director provides some training directly, while district sales managers provide the rest decentralised.

Sales Training Staff: In small businesses, top sales executives delegate training to assistant sales managers or district managers.

Outside Consultants: Outside specialists are sometimes recruited to conduct aspects of sales training programmes relating to sales strategies such as telephone selling, prospecting, and so on.

When Will the Training Be Held?

1. Never, ever stop listening.

2. Never, ever stop learning.

3. Never, ever quit training.

In general, training programmes are held on an as-needed basis. However, many elements must be considered when planning one.

Programs for Initial Sales Training: The timing of first sales training programmes is determined by the number of new employees taught each year, which is determined by the size of the sales force, sales personnel, turnover, and management plans for changing sales force size.

For example, if many salespeople are hired, training programmes are arranged several times yearly. In contrast, training programmes are scheduled infrequently if a few salespeople are hired.

Continual Sales Training: The fundamentals of an efficient sales training programme are that learning must be continuous—new material must be assimilated, and other concepts must be updated in light of new developments. This necessitates that each salesperson’s training continues for as long as he is on the job.

Retraining aids in the following areas:

1. New refinements of selling techniques.
2. New product applications.
3. New customer problem.

4. New selling aids.
5. sales aids.

Training programmes are held at either centralised or decentralised locations. The centralised programme generally delivers better product training, but it incurs higher expenditures in sending learners to the central site. However, decentralised training has much more fundamental flaws. It cannot be carried out properly unless it is overseen by high management. As a result, top management should adopt an ad hoc foundation for centralised and decentralised training.

8.6 Evaluation of Training Programs

This is the final, but not least, step in the training process. The evaluation process includes comparing the training program’s goal with the results and measuring the influence on the salesperson.

There is no clear way to measure the influence of training, although specific ways may indicate whether the results are beneficial or harmful. They are as follows:

1. Market share percentages
2. Written Tests
3. Observers who work with sales personnel.

True, the effectiveness of the training programme is heavily reliant on the trainers. As a result, management reminds employees that “if the trainee hasn’t learnt, the trainer hasn’t taught.”