Part IV SALES FORCE COMPETENCIES

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Part IVSALES FORCE COMPETENCIES

• Chapter 8
• Sales Training

Teachers open the door. ??You enter by
yourself. Chinese Proverb
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SALES TRAINING PROCESS
Assess Setting Setting
Training Objectives Budget Needs
Planning for Sales Training
What Where Training
Trainers? Topics? to Train? Methods?
Developing the Training Program
Evaluating Training
Follow-Up Training
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SALES TRAINING OBJECTIVES
Why Train Salespeople?

• Increase sales or profits
• 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

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CONVERSATIONS
Sales Manager Says Salesperson Says Sales Manager Thinks
Do you think the customer will buy from us? What are the next steps? I dont know. Why did you leave without at least scheduling a follow-up call?
You pushed the buyer pretty hard. I closed the deal, didnt I? It may be the last sale you get with this customer. What happened to building relationships?
I noticed that 20 of your calls were on C accounts. I was in the area and they like to see me, so I call on them. The profits from these accounts dont even pay for the calls. You need to target better.
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Table 8-1 Cross-Tabulations from Company
Records
Experience Less than 2 year 392
21 86 2-5 years 593
29 145 5-10 years 565 5
152 Over 10 years 470
8 139 Regions Northeast 528
6 140 Southeast 520 8 161
Midwest 512 18 107
Southwest 421 26 111 West 544
21 131
Average Order Size per Salesperson
New Customers Per Salesperson
Total Customers Per Salesperson
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DETERMINING TRAINING NEEDS

• Judgment of
• Top Management
• Sales Management
• Training Department
• Interview With
• Salespeople
• Customers

68
73
60
59
25
Percent of firms indicating they often use
these assessments to determine training needs.
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DETERMINING TRAINING NEEDS

• Performance Measures
• Sales Volume
• Customer Service
• Other Measures
• Observation of Salespeople
• Attitude Surveys

56
51
38
28
Percent of firms indicating they often use
these assessments to determine training needs.
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STEPS IN PERFORMING A TRAINING ANALYSIS

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

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STEPS IN PERFORMING A TRAINING ANALYSIS

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

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Table 8-2 Average Cost and Training Period
for Sales Trainees
Consumer Industrial Service
5,354
9,893
9,060
Consumer Industrial Service
3.40 Months
3.80Months
3.80Months
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Table 8-3Average Cost of Training for Veteran
Salespeople
5,365
4,824
3,947
3,902
3,752
Median Spending
Under 5 5-25 25-100 100-250 Over
250 Million Million Million
Million Million
Company Size
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ALLOCATING TRAINING TIME

• Average
• Product knowledge 35
• Market/Industry Information 15
• Company Orientation 10
• Selling Techniques 30
• Other topics 10
• Total 100

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INDUSTRY JARGON

• What does HCFA say?
• DRGs are killing us.
• Is this level II in the POL regs?
• The LTC markets future looks good.
• The HME industry is changing rapidly.
• How about Reflotrons
• Spirometry
• Holters
• Oxygen Concentrators
• Thoracic Catheter

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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.

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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.

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Table 8-4 Media Used in Sales Training
Classroom with Instructor Workbooks/Manuals Role
Plays CD-ROM Audiocassettes Internet
77
54
44
39
34
32
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EVALUATING SALES TRAINING
Level of Evaluation What to Measure How to Measure When to Measure
ReactionsAre trainees satisfied? Perceptionsof training Course evaluation Instructor evaluation Survey Interview At the completion of training
LearningDid the training have its intended effect? Knowledge of course content Exams Self-assessment Interview At the completion of training and at points in the future
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EVALUATING SALES TRAINING
Level of Evaluation What to Measure How to Measure When to Measure
BehaviorAre the salespeople on the job using their knowledge and skills on the job? Skills Job performance Absenteeism Turnover Performance indicators Observation Managerial assessment Self-assessment Over the first year after training
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EVALUATING SALES TRAINING
Level of Evaluation What to Measure How to Measure When to Measure
ResultsWhat effect does training have on the company? Job satisfaction Customer satisfaction Sales Profits ROI Survey Experiments Managerial assessment A year after the training
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EVALUATING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS

• Reactions
• Trainees
• Supervisors
• Learning
• Performance
• Pre-vs. Post-Training
• Behaviors
• Supervisors Appraisal
• Customer Appraisal
• Results
• Bottom Line

86
68
63
31
64
41
40
Percent of firms indicating they often use these
evaluations to measure training results.
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Table 8-5 Sales Training Evaluation Practices
Measure Criteria Type Importance Rank Trainee
Feedback Reaction 1 Supervisory
Appraisal Behavior 2 Self-Appraisal Behavior 3 Bot
tom-Line Measures Results 4 Customer
Appraisal Behavior 5
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EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Notation O1 Results before sales training X1 Sales training O2 Results after sales training O2 O1 Difference in results
Experimental Group O1 X1 O2
Control Group O3 O4
Sales Training Effect (O2 O1) (O4 O3)
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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.