Developing A Sales
Training Program With Video Tape
Most organizations
still rely on in-house training
staff to develop and deliver training. In 1983, 42.5
percent of organization surveyed preferred in-house development
and delivery of sales training, and in 1986, 30.4 percent
still preferred this method. The preference for sales training
developed by outside vendors but delivered by in-house staff was
much lower: 16.0 percent in 1983 and 14.8 percent in 1986. Vendor-
or consultant-developed sales training seminars or
workshops consisted of only 9.8 percent of companies’ total
training effort in 1983, growing by .4 percent in 1986. 5
The implications appear to be clear: in house trainers carry the
primary
responsibility for the development of sales raining programs
and must be prepared to select the best
materials, be they slides, transparencies, handouts, video,
or film. They may have to produce their own video tapes or
films while considering value received for dollars spent. And they
must construct sales training programs that are effective
in improving that crucial 90 percent of sales
representatives’ visual and vocal message.
Before you can make final
decisions about whether to buy or make your own instructional
materials, you must consider the size of the total training
staff, as well as the size of the company. Training magazine’s
study offered interesting insight concerning the “Development
and Delivery of Training as a Function of Organization Size.6
5. Ron Zemke, “Development
and Delivery: Classroom Training Still Most Common Option.” Training,
23 (10) (October 1986), p.58
6 Ibid., p. 59
Developing your own training
programs depends on the amount of in-house expertise available as
well as the number of employees requiring training and the
number of times and locations the programs
will be used.
Six Questions to Ask
When Considering Media and Film for Your Program
1. To help evaluate the
best approach, ask yourself the following questions:
What is the purpose of this training program and how will it meet the
organization’s strategic goals? Do you need to convey information or do
you need to improve skills? This is critical to your choice of training
media.
2. How many times will we
use this sales
training
program? Your company may be able to justify spending more on
a sales program that will be used dozens of times, and have a direct
return on their investment.
3. How will this sales
training program be presented? This will affect the simplicity
or complexity of the program. You may have to build more prepackaged
material into a sales system that will be conducted by office
sales managers or others who lack formal training skills
4. Where will the sales
training occur? What audio/visual and duplicating equipment already
exist at each location? This will affect the mobility of the program and the
machinery that must be carried to each location.
5. Who is the
audience? This will affect
content. Are you developing a program for both sales
representatives and sales
managers, both sales engineers and technical service representatives
who interface with customers?
6. What is already
available? Do you have the core of the sales
training
program and simply need to update it? Or are you starting
from scratch?
The following sections discuss
in more detail the problems of creating a totally new sales training
system and deciding whether to buy off-the-shelf programs or to make your own.
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