1 Consider ways to facilitate ‘real world’ employee learning in a training programme. Pitney Bowes is a 90‑year-

old American company with headquarters in Harlow, Essex, UK.

The company offers software, hardware and services that integrate physical and digital communication channels. Pitney Bowes recognised a growth opportunity, having identified that the loyal customers who use traditional products were not aware of the company’s new offerings and latest innovations. Kevin Short, Vice-

President of Sales and Marketing, described the situation (quoted in Pollitt, 2011):

The market we operate in has undergone significant changes in the past five years. Deregulation of the UK postal market and Royal Mail’s new postal-

price structure have driven all consumers to review how they communicate with their customers. The perception of Pitney Bowes as the

‘franking company’ needed to be changed.

The company identified a need to improve the skills of the sales force. The aims of a newly designed training and development programme, targeted at members of the sales team, were to increase revenue by 15 per cent, increase the number of orders per head by 20 per cent, while reducing the number of clients who went to competing suppliers.

The learning objectives of the training programme included an improvement in product knowledge, marketplace knowledge, customer-

applications knowledge, questioning skills, proposal-

generation skills, business-

planning skills, and vertical marketing knowledge

(Pollitt, 2011). The training programme was structured around classroom-

based sessions that involved hands‑on experiences in which each trainee would develop a business plan on their individual areas of sales. This was used as a working document and platform for growth throughout the programme. The first part of the course included the creation of a business plan and the second part involved its application. Members of senior management were involved to provide coaching and support in the second stage.