The need and importance of training in today’s world of marketing and salesmanship can hardly be overemphasized. A company’s stability, success and progress depend greatly on the efficiency of its sales force.
The sales force of an organisation can improve its qualities and potentialities to the maximum extent only through proper training.
Admittedly, well trained sales force is a valuable asset of an organisation and with the help of such a team, the organisation can boldly face the challenges of the modern marketing. The need for sales training arises mainly due to the following reasons:
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1. To Improve Sales Performance:
A scientifically designed training programme enables the sales force to improve its performance considerably. As a matter of fact, the techniques of sale keep on changing with the time. In order to keep in touch with the new developments in the sales field, training is necessary.
Armed with new techniques of selling, the sales force can easily improve its performance, resulting in increased volume of sales and profits for the organisation and better remuneration for themselves.
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2. To Influence Prospects in a Better Way:
Training teaches the sales force the best way of influencing people, making them aware of the sales proposition, dealing with difficult type of customers more efficiently, handling complaints properly, opening new accounts, obtaining quotations, meeting customer objections, closing the sale and so on. In short, training equips the salesmen with latest techniques so that he can provide satisfactory service to the customers.
3. Provides Expert Knowledge:
Training helps the salesman to gain essential knowledge about products, people and himself. A trained salesman can face customers with confidence and certainty. Even in case of experienced salesmen, training provides perfect knowledge about the new products, new customers and new methods of selling. Such expert knowledge helps the salesman to shine in the sales line.
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4. Reduces Wastage:
Trained salesmen usually do not commit mistakes. They take every possible precaution to avoid wastage of products and efforts. With proper training, the efficiency and productivity of the sales force generally increases. Consequently, the supervisory effort also gets simplified. Thus, the wastage of the organisation, both tangibles and intangibles, are considerably reduced.
5. Reduces Control and Supervision:
Trained salesmen require lesser managerial control and supervision as compared to the untrained salesmen. Since trained salesmen are in a position to know what is expected of them, they will function accordingly.
Consequently, they are expected to commit least errors, adjust fast; supervision and management gets more simplified. Rather, well-trained salesmen help the sales manager in executing sales plans, policies and solving sales related problems.
6. Develops High Morale:
Training creates a feeling among the sales force that they are the part of a sales “”organisation. It provides job satisfaction, develops unity, a sense of cooperation among fellow salesmen, and above all a sense of loyalty to the organisation. As a result, the relationship between the employer and employee improves and simultaneously develops high morale. Training enables the sales force to face sales related problems with a lot of confidence and thus, build up his morale and self-confidence.
7. Low Turnover of Sales Force:
Proper training makes the salesman well prepared for the field work. As a result, sufficient confidence is developed by the salesman to be successful in his job. This results in reduced number of salesmen leaving their jobs. This lower rate of turnover result in advantages of reduced costs of recruitment, selection and training of sales force by the organisation.