CASE INCIDENT 2 RENSWARTZ REALTY COMPANY As the housing market began to heat up, the Renswartz Realty Company set high goals for increasing the number of listings and sales. In order to accomplish these goals, the company president believed they would have to do two things. First, they would have to market the company's superior customer service. Second, they would have to train their agents to improve their sales and customer-service skills. Choosing an advertising com- pany turned out to be much easier than choosing a training program. Two consulting firms were contacted to provide a proposal to design and implement a training program that would be attended by all 200 of the company's sales agents. The first consulting firm proposed a five-day program that would consist of lectures on "how to get more listings," "how to improve your service," and "making the sale," and would involve videos and behaviour modelling training. According to the con- sulting firm, research has shown that the sales performance of those who have attended the training is significantly better than those who have not; the effect size of the program is 0.35. The training is expected to last for two years and will cost $1,500 per employee. The second consulting firm proposed a similar program with the caveat that it would be for only two days and would consist of sessions on "how to improve your sales," and "providing excellent service." Research on the training program has found it to be highly effective, with an effect size of 0.25. The effects have been found to last for one year at which time follow-up sessions are required. The cost of the training program is $450 per employee. Based on the current sales performance of all 200 sales agents at Renswartz Realty, the standard deviation of sales is $15,000. 1. Calculate the utility of the training programs proposed by each of the con- sulting firms. 2. Calculate the break-even effect size for both training programs. 3. Calculate the BCR and ROI of each training program. 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each training program? 5. Which training program should the company purchase? Explain your answer. 6. What are the advantages and limitations of this approach for calculating the benefits of a training program