Having determined the areas in which he wanted to train the salesforce, Chad set some goals he hoped to achieve by implementing his training: (1) find more customers; (2) increase sales and profits; (3) improve teamwork and cooperative efforts; (4) improve salespeople's customer orientation; and (5) develop a smarter salesforce. If my training can accomplish these goals, Chad thought, then sales will increase and Candice will get off my back. Next, some details concerning the training needed to be worked out. Who would do the training? Chad considered hiring an external trainer but decided to do it himself. He felt that his intimate knowledge of the industry, his company and his sales team put him in the best position to serve as trainer. Another question involved how to conduct the training. Chad had been doing a lot of reading lately on the benefits of virtual training. He felt this would be a good way to train his busy salesforce, as it could save both time and money. He could host an interactive synchronous webinar that his sales-force could attend via a computer and an Internet connection. He was familiar with a company called WebEx that provides services for conducting virtual meetings. Having participated as an attendee in a webinar a few years ago that used WebEx he decided to go with them. Since Chad had several topics to cover, he determined that he would host a series of webinars, one on each topic for the next five Tuesdays from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Having hammered out these details, Chad went about designing the material that would be covered in each session. Once the training finally got underway, Chad began to experience some problems. He found some salespeople joining the sessions late or others not at all. Many of his salespeople were not familiar with the technology, having never participated in a webinar. Several of them had no idea how to raise their hand to ask a question, participate in polls, or use the online whiteboard. As a result, they became confused, found it difficult to keep up, and failed to learn. Some of the sessions involved no interaction on the part of salespeople. In these sessions, some salespeople had a difficult time focusing and became disengaged. Many felt as though they simply could have read the material on their own time. Upon concluding the training sessions, Chad wondered whether the training would pay off. Having heard some comments from his salespeople, he realized that there were some difficulties. But that's not uncommon in training, he thought. As he reflected on the training, he was just sure that his salespeople received some value. But only time would tell, he concluded. Chad then began to prepare his report that detailed the training program and its impact on the salesforce for his meeting with Candice later in the week. Questions 1. If you were in charge of the training for this salesforce, explain how you would have gone about designing a training program. 2. Do you believe that the training program outlined in this case will achieve its objectives? Explain. 3. What kind of reactions might Chad expect from his salespeople after implementing this training program? Case 6.1 Developing a Training Program at Soft Glow Candles Background Soft Glow Candles is a small independently owned candle manufacturer located in the Southern United States. The company has held its own in the highly fragmented candle manufacturing market having steadily increased sales each year of its existence. Although the company has only been in existence for about nine years, it has likewise steadily grown its salesforce to 18 members. Each salesperson brings his or her own unique set of skills and talents to the company, as it has never before offered any formal sales training, that is, until now. Current Situation It was a Friday afternoon when Chad Flame, VP of sales at Soft Glow, met with company owner Candice Wax to discuss plans for taking the sales-force to the next level. Candice had been pressuring Chad to improve sales significantly this year. Chad felt confident that his salespeople were doing all they could. In his opinion, members of his sales team appeared highly motivated and hard working. Perhaps, he thought, they could hire a couple more salespeople. However, when he had mentioned this to Candice a few weeks earlier she seemed lukewarm to the idea. Thus, Chad decided he would propose to Candice the idea of conducting formal salesforce training. He believed this could help make his sales team stronger and ultimately increase company sales. Candice was excited about the idea. Prior to starting Soft Glow she had worked in sales at Xerox and had undergone extensive sales training. She felt it was instrumental in helping her develop as a salesperson. Moreover, after leaving Xerox she had developed some sales training programs herself when she served as VP of sales at a small office supply company. Therefore, Candice accepted Chad's proposal to develop sales training and sent him on his way. Chad was excited. Training the salesforce would surely help his team take the next step. The question was, what exactly should he teach his salespeople? Given Candice's push to increase sales, Chad decided that if he could improve the prospecting skills of his salesforce, they could obtain more customers, and thus increase sales. Since the market is very competitive, Chad felt that it may be useful to increase the competitive knowledge of his sales-force. In addition, Chad felt that if his salespeople better understood their customers they surely would do a better job of selling. Chad also thought that his salespeople should be very customer-oriented and treat customers fairly. In doing so, it was important that salespeople closely adhered to the company's code of ethics. Therefore Chad decided that he also would conduct training in sales ethics. Finally, Chad was a big believer in being organized, as he felt this helped one to work more efficiently and effectively. Thus, he surmised that his salespeople could use training in time and territory management.