Sales Training Program and User Experience and Delivery - Essay Example

Sales Training Program Instructional Strategies Purpose Human resource professionals are handed with the task of developing a sales training program. This is because not all of the people who work in the sales department studied for it. Moreover, some organisations may not be large enough to staff experienced professionally trained sales representatives. As a result, the HR will be faced with the need to develop and effectively define a sales training for the team. More often than not, sales persons are often regarded as an alien species; as an essential evil in the eyes of non-sales persons. Additionally, many in sales management trust that if one has not been in the channels selling, they cannot possibly scheme an operative sales training program. It is worth noting that while there is some certainty to both of these sentiments, non-selling HR experts can design actual sales training programs. Designing sales training program entails more than inquiring using standard questions about flaws in the sales team. The role of “internal advisor” will have to be assumed by the HR manager. Furthermore, coordination with the sales management team will be essential to cultivate a relevant and nourishing sales training program. Finally, any training program should present the skills required to be fruitful in a particular job occupation. The difficulty of the sales job, however, can make the skills characterisation more problematic. Accurately and plainly outlining which sales skills should be the attention of the training takes cautious assessment using the steps presented here (Chapman 45). Instructional Goals 1. Ensure proper functioning of the sales team. 2. Give a backbone for new sales recruit to know how the sales department functions and their expectations. 3. Encourage proper use of time while in the sales team since time is money. 4. Encourage the adoption of this department in the companies that have not adopted it yet. 5. Assess the skills obtained by the sales representatives. Testing Strategies The primary instructional methods to be used will be lectures. These lectures will compose appropriate videos that mimic a sales situation. The instructors will then provide a method of how to counter such situations when and if they occur. Deliberations between the sales agents will be highly fortified because in a sales job, the exchange of ideas is vibrant. Moreover, questions will be invited to the instructors in areas that the representatives will not have understood. With this, it will go a long way to ensure that the training was understood comprehensively hence successful. As a final task, a test will be given to the representatives to gauge their level of understanding. Sample Test: While given a certain situation, the sales representatives participating in this training will be required to give their thought of it. Moreover, how one can circumvent such a situation in the future will be required to be stated. Learning Units of Instructions Modules – The training will occur as a seminar. It will last for eight hours and will be divided into parts for better comprehension by the sales representatives. FIRST SESSION: 1. Identification – 5 minutes a) Each sales representatives will be handed a questionnaire. This questionnaire will capture personal information regarding each representative. b) A game that will ease the participants’ tension will also be played. Objective: questionnaire will capture personal information and the game will pass time to make sure information from all the participants has been clearly captured. 2. Introduction of the instructors and the modes of teaching to be used – 15 minutes. a) Each instructor will fully introduce themselves and module they are to teach. Objective: To familiarize with the instructors. SECOND SESSION: 3. First lecture commences – One and Half hours. It will encompass a) Definition of sales, goals of sales and roles. b) Know the direction of the sales role. c) Know the focus of the selling, whether direct or indirect. Objective: Understanding the precise sales roles within a business will influence the next step in the design development 4. Snack break – 30 minutes. a) A break of thirty minutes will be set to the participants at this stage. Objective: Help the participants relax in preparation for the next lecture. 5. Second Lecture: One and half hour. a) Outlining and mapping the sales process will be dealt in this lecture. Objective: Every sales person monitors a sales process. If well-defined and understood by the sales party, it may lead to significant increase in revenues in the sales department. The finest sales departments have a demarcated and documented sales procedure that is built on best practices garnered from their own antiquity or from industry standards. THIRD SESSION: 6. Lunch break: One and Half hour. a) The representatives participating in the sales program will be accommodated a lunch break. Objective: It will aid the participants re-energize in preparation for the next session. FOURTH SESSION: 7. Third Lecture – One and Half hour. a) This session will deal majorly with a hands-on approach into the sales process. As a result, the skills will be clearly defined in this lecture. b) Videos will be used to facilitate this hands-on approach. Objective: Through the use of the map of a specific organization’s diverse sales process and activities essential under each stage, one can now commence to define the particular skills required to perform each action in regards to each step of the sales procedure. At this stage in the teaching design, the sales procedure should lean more towards “how” to move through the practice relative to the “what” of the process. Through the use of real-time videos, lists of real actions sales people should take to be successful thoroughly will be defined (McLaughlin 45-50). 8. Test administration – Thirty Minutes. a) Questionnaires assessing the skills learnt in the training will be handed to each participant. The participants are required to fill the questionnaire without assistance from the instructors or fellow participants. b) Test to be marked and each participant to be handed their own so that they see what they have learnt from the test. Objective: Totalling the results will aid in the highlighting the teams common strong points and weaknesses. In discussion with sales management, one will determine which skills exist as most significant in ensuring triumph. This data, coupled with the common faintness, will govern which skills should be the emphasis of one’s training design. In situations that individuals have exclusive weaknesses, coaching and personal training would be fitting. Budget SALES TRAINING PROGRAM. Phase Cost Analyse $1050 Staff analysis, seminar room, hand-outs, videos etc. (cost of designer $25 per hour @ 42 hours). Design $325 Time spent by designer to put the program @ $37 per hour for 9 hours. Develop $120 Time taken to facilitate the training, that is, exam papers, hand-outs etc. Implement 1075 Instructors cost - $250 Learners cost - $125 Lunch cost- $700 Evaluate $1000 Total $3570 Estimated costs $3500-$4000 User Experience and Delivery Sales training design is a course that anybody can master and set up. Using the procedure described here guarantees that non-sales individuals are fruitful at planning the content and focus of actual training. However, the biggest challenge is on who should expedite the training. The greatest sales training is conveyed by sales specialists who have experienced the sales scenario and have been successful at it. Sales training ought to introduce expertise, concepts pegged with exercises to exercise the skills and real life set-ups that are applicable to one’s industry and customers. Instructors or lecturers (trainers) should present real life tips and tricks but ought not to mandate conformity to their style or method to selling. It is worth noting that instructors who view training as a “podium” to preach their facts are doomed to convey irrelevant teaching. Using the steps above and doing appropriate preparation will allow one to find the correct architect for the job, and guarantee that the skills familiarized are instigated (Piskurich 2-10). Works Cited Chapman, Elwood N. Sales Training Basics. Los Altos, Calif: Crisp Publications, 1988. Print McLaughlin, Ian E. Successful Sales Training: How to Build a Program That Works. Boston, Mass: CBI Pub. Co, 1982. Print. Piskurich, G. M. Self-directed learning; A practical guide to design, development and implementation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003. Print. Read More