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Slides Chapter8

This document discusses the importance and process of global sales training. It notes that sales training provides benefits like higher performance, better customer relationships, and increased knowledge. It also emphasizes that salespeople must operate across distinct languages and cultures. The sales training process involves six stages: needs assessment, objective setting, planning, conducting training, evaluation, and follow-up training. Cultural factors shape how training content and styles are modified for different locations.

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188 views

Slides Chapter8

This document discusses the importance and process of global sales training. It notes that sales training provides benefits like higher performance, better customer relationships, and increased knowledge. It also emphasizes that salespeople must operate across distinct languages and cultures. The sales training process involves six stages: needs assessment, objective setting, planning, conducting training, evaluation, and follow-up training. Cultural factors shape how training content and styles are modified for different locations.

Uploaded by

simply_coool
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 8

Global Sales Training


Sales Management:
A Global Perspective
Introduction
Sales training can provide a variety of
benefits that include
Higher sales force performance
Improved customer relationships

More efficient time management

Less need for management supervision

Greater product and market knowledge

More comprehensive understanding of firm

policies
Importance of sales training

 Critical because of cost of sales call


 Sales activities must be efficient
 Sales force must produce satisfied customers
 Salesperson must also be able to operate
globally
 Distinct language and cultures
 At great distances from headquarters
 Training provides skills needed to succeed
Cultural Impact

 Culture impacts the sales process


 As such, this impacts all training activities
 National culture shapes the content and
presentation styles
 e.g. Malaysia comprised of three groups
 Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures can clash
 Standardize technical skills, but modify “soft”
supervisory skills to local culture
Need for Sales Training

 Sales personnel, whether new or


experienced, must be socialized
 Work ethics, job expectations, and ways of
conducting business
 Training process complicated by introduction
of race, creeds, and cultures
 Training allows firm to set standards for:
 Job accuracy and job expectations
Discussion Questions

 There are numerous potential benefits


related to sales training—are there any
potential downside?
 Why do you think some firms do not conduct
sales training?
The Sales Training Process

 Consists of six distinct stages:


 Needs assessment
 Objective setting
 Plan training
 Conduct training
 Evaluate
 Follow-up training
Needs Assessment
 The first stage is to determine the strengths and
weaknesses of skills, knowledge and attitudes (SKA) of
sales force
 Subjective assessment methods

 Upper management judgment

 Sales management judgment

 Training department judgment

 Objective assessment methods

 Interviews

 Surveys

 Performance measures

 End-of-course evaluations

 General assessment methods

 Organizational and sales training objectives

 Competitors’ sales training programs (benchmarking)


Training Objectives
 Set objectives or goals of training program
 Objectives address SKA “gaps”
 Should set SMART objectives
 Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and
Timely
 Total sales revenue will increase by 5%, over the
next six months, for the PBX product
 Objectives communicate the expected
outcome of the training program
Planning Sales Training
 Methods – theme, scope, coverage, length,
instructor, location, media and materials
employed
 Firms can use formal and OJT training
 Culture impacts the translations of materials
and the way instruction is presented
 Must be aware of time away from customers
Planning (continued)
 Program length – formal training is one or
two weeks in duration normally at a central
location
 Consult with local managers about holidays
 Length varies by:
 Industry, company size, adoption rate of high
technology, training budgets, and corporate culture
 Sales personnel should be taught:
 How to sell, company policies, product knowledge, local
market conditions, and their clients’ culture
Planning (continued)

 Training Methods
 High-tech – computer based and interactive
 Lecture, programmed, case studies, coaching,
role playing, business games, and discussions are
also utilized
 Training Location
 Physical location and availability
 Normally conducted off site for privacy
 Firms may select a centralized site
Planning (continued)

 Instructor Selection
 Sales manager, trainers, or consultants?
 Training Topics
 Select those that will satisfy objectives
 Product, market, and company information, along with
sales techniques, and socialization
 Firms often spend most time on product
knowledge and sales skills
 Will vary by industry and desired performance
Conducting Sales Training

 Put the planning stage into action


 Must remain flexible
 Training team in India without power!
 If a particular aspect of training not working
as planned, it should be changed
Evaluating Training

 Important to measure how well the training


achieved the goals set
 However, many variables can complicate the
evaluation of training
 There remain a number of ways to provide
evidence of training success
 Has funding been well spent?
 Did trainees learn and can they perform?
Levels of training evaluation
 Reaction
 Trainee response to the training program
 Getting accurate responses in some cultures
 Scales
 Numbers
 Openness
 Knowledge
 Measuring the knowledge or skill attained
 Tests/Exercises
 Early intervention to improve learning
Levels of training evaluation

 Attitudes
 About the customer, firm, and job
 Provides benchmark for how training applied
 Accuracy, objectivity, and friendship concerns
 Results
 What outcomes did training cause
 Most useful, but most difficult measure
 Many extraneous variables dilute measure
Other Evaluation Methods

 Compare outcome(s) to training objectives


 If objective was to increase sales of product PBX
by 5% over the following 6 months; did this
happen?
 Utility analysis permits computation of sales
training value
 Managers compute cost and gain to compute an
outcome utility
 Estimates lead to criticism
Follow-up Training

 Sales training continual


 Initial training to establish basic skills
 Follow-up training to reinforce basic skills, plus
teach new skills, knowledge, and attitudes
 Continual training imperative in global
marketplace
 Sales force may cling to local culture
 E.g. not rewarding merit in former Soviet Union
Summary

 Training provides benefits for the firm, the


salesperson, and the customer
 Training consists of six stages, which are
interconnected and dependent
 Culture making larger impact on programs
 “Softer” skills directly influenced by culture
 Difficult to evaluate training’s effect
 Training is an on-going activity
Discussion Questions
 Are any sales training stages within the
process more important than another? Why
or why not?
 List as many reasons as possible why it is
difficult to objectively evaluate sales training.
 Why is it important to conduct follow-up
training? How can high-tech methods help
with this responsibility?

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