Institute of Management

Nirma University, Ahmedabad

Sales Management

Sales Training at four different companies

Submitted To: -

Prof. Jayesh Aagja

Submitted by Group No. 5

Malhar Patel (121328)

Monik Patel (121332)

Vivek Patel (121262)

Vivek Shah (121361)

10th October 2013

Gimatex Industries Pvt. Ltd.

Introduction

Late Shri Raisaheb Rekchandji Mohota migrated from Rajasthan to Hinganghat way back in 1868 in

search of opportunities. Late Shri Raisaheb Rekhchandji Mohota, established the textile unit of

Raisaheb Rekhchand Mohota Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd. known as RSR Mohota Mills way back

in the year 1898.

Continuing on the company growth in 1994, Vibha Synthetics Ltd. was established as one of the sister

concerns of the RSR Mohota mills. Later in 2005 after the family restructuring, Vibha Synthetics Ltd

acquired Wani unit of RSR Mohota Mills and rechristened itself as Gimatex Industries Pvt Ltd. Today

it is managed by the 6th generation of the founder member Late Shri Raisaheb Rekhchandji Mohota.

There are two basic types of trainings:

(1) Product training

(2) Sales training

Product Training:-

-Objective

To impart technical as well as practical knowledge regarding the product.

-This training is obtained by all the sales persons.

Duration

It is usually 2 months.

Trainer

Trainer is a senior level executive from the sales department.

Place

It is organized at company's premises.

Methods

Through product presentation, product demonstration and practical use of the product.

Evaluation

It is done immediately after the training is done.

Sales Training

-Objective

To have a consistency in sales process by all the sales persons and to achieve maximum efficiency in

sales process.

-This training is obtained by all the sales persons.

-Duration

-It is usually 1 week.

-Trainer

Trainer is a senior level executive from the sales department.

-Place

It is organized at foreign location like some resort.

-Methods

Through Role plays and presentations.

-Evaluation

During the actual delivery of the service.

Amway India

Introduction

Amway India is the country’s leading direct selling FMCG-company, which manufactures and

sells consumer products. Amway India commenced commercial operations on May 5, 1998 in

India. Amway India's turnover in 2012 was 2288 crore. It is having over 5, 50,000 active

independent Amway Business Owners. In thirteen years of commercial operation, Amway India

has established a nation-wide presence of over 135 offices and 55 city warehouses and 4

regional mother warehouses. The distribution and home delivery network set up with the

support of independent logistics partners is spread across over 5500 locations. At present,

Amway India offers over 130 products in five categories. All its products are covered by a 100

per cent Money Back Guarantee. Product categories are Personal care category, Home Care

category, Nutrition & Wellness category, Cosmetics and Great Value Products. With the

exception of Cosmetics range (Artistry) and some products in Nutrition and Wellness category,

all Amway India products and bottles are manufactured in India. It sells its products through

brick and mortar stores, e tailing and catalogue with help of its independent Amway Business

Owners.

Types of training

1) Product Training

Objective:- To impart technical as well as practical knowledge regarding the product

All sales person

Duration :- 1 day per 2 categories

Trainer :- Authorized full time trainer

All around the year

Place :- At each Amway offices in all cities

Methods :- Product presentation , demonstration , practical application

Evaluation :- Immediately after the training

2) Soft skills and business practices training

Objective:- Business plan, Team building , verbal and non-verbal communication

Duration :- Seminars organized twice in a year

Trainer :- Successful people from the business who have reached at certain position (e.g.

Diamond and above)

Place :- In one city per state

Methods :- Lectures , Role play, Team building exercises, life stories

Evaluation :- No evaluation

3) Positive mental attitude training

Objective:- To motivate sales people and to give them positive attitude

Duration :- Video and/or audio c.ds, D.V.Ds

Trainer :- Successful people from the business who have reached at certain position (e.g.

Emerald and above)

Place: - In car, home etc.

Methods :- Lectures, life stories

Evaluation :- No evaluation

Arrow Electronics

Introduction

It is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Inverness, Colorado. The company specializes in

distribution and value added services relating to electronic components and computer products

Arrow Electronics is a global provider of products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial

users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions, with 2012 sales of $20.4 billion.

Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for over 100,000 original equipment manufacturers, contract

manufacturers and commercial customers through a global network of more than 470 locations in 55

countries.

A Fortune 150 company with 16,500 employees worldwide, Arrow brings technology solutions to a

breadth of markets, including telecommunications, information systems, transportation, medical,

industrial and consumer electronics.

Arrow provides specialized services and expertise across the product lifecycle. Arrow does this by

connecting customers to the right technology at the right place at the right time and at the right price.

Arrow provides extraordinary value to customers and suppliers - the best technology companies in the

world - and connects them through the company's industry-leading services.

Arrow sales continually growing.

Year 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994

Sales $8,344,659 $7,763,945 $ 6,534,577 $ 5,919,420 $ 4,649,234

Customers:

Arrow ordered electronic products from(Intel, Motorola, Texas instrument) suppliers and Sell

(IBM,HP) the components to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Who used them in assembly

of computer and other electronics, Smaller companies/Start-up companies:- For them it was

convenience access to thousands of components

Market offering

• Extensive relationships with customers (OEMs & Buyers)

• Handled the supplier’s goods. (this allowed suppliers to reduce their own sales force expense and also

they did not need a large inventory for their product)

• Access to thousands of products from hundreds of suppliers.

Sales force structure

• Sales divided into 4 distinct operating groups based on product type:

1) Commercial Semiconductors

2) Military and aerospace semiconductors

3) Passive and connector products

4) Computer systems, peripherals, and software

Sales Force divided into geographic divisions -Each of which had Branch Sales Office. Around 350

competitors within this High-growth Industry. Many sales people left Arrow to work with competitors -

Departing Arrow sales people took their clients with them. Mainly competed with 20 large regional or

national companies.

 Sales Force Job description

General Manager (GM):-

Field Sales Representatives (FSRs):

Sales and Marketing Representatives (SMRs):-

Product Managers (PMs):-

Branch Office Structure:

Sales Strategy

• Relationship based selling - Sales strongly tied to individual FSR’s relationship with suppliers -Sales

Force of 300 people with no formal sales training -Sales Force used a lot of “T & E” Typical sales

force

• Gender: Men and Women

• Age: 30’s and 40’s

• Personality: high energy, highly aggressive, strong monetary motivation

• Education: high school graduate – Most did not have college degrees

Problem with strategy

• Sales Force challenging to retrain

• Sales Force “wine & dine” customers instead of solution selling -creates a lack of customer loyalty.

• High Turnover Rate -lack of company loyalty.

• There was a need to change the work culture in the company so Kaufman launched “the first class

hiring from college”.

 Sprout Background

• Arrow needed more salespeople, but wanted to change the make-up of sales force.

• Decided to hire kid’s fresh out of college.

• The plan was to go on college campuses, interview kids, choose the best ones, make offer, hire, train,

and send to the field.

Objective of Sprout training.

• Upgrade professionalism of sales force by hiring kids and molding them into modern salespeople

• Teach classic sales skills.

• Teach how to manage territory, cold class, overcoming objections, and how to close sale.

 First step of sprout Hiring

• Train Arrow managers how to interview college students.

• Taught managers to look for self-starters, goal-orientated, leadership skills, and people skills.

• Conducted mock interviews with senior students.

2nd step - sprout Training

• Went to company headquarters for weeklong orientation.

• Sprout’s sent to warehouses for two weeks.

• Six months of on the job training.

• Returned to headquarters for a week of sales skills training

Formal training Program

• Needed more formal training program

• Rented training facility of Xerox where sprouts would live for 13 weeks of classroom learning• 13

weeks of on the job training

• 3 weeks of training before entering field permanently

• GMs noticed huge difference in sprouts Sprouts Compensation

• New Recruits - $18,500• First year “Sprouts” - $24,000• Second year “Sprouts” - $27,000•

Competitors - 30 to 60 percent more - First year “Sprouts” - $30,000 - Second year “Sprouts” - $40,000

to 45,000.

Types Of trainings:

At Arrow electronics types of training can broadly classified under 3 headings

Product Training :

Because of the technical nature of the product it is very important that each sales people aware

about the detail specification, performance standards, ratings, price , competitors product.

So rigorous training is provided by senior technical manager.

Methods: - Product presentation, demonstration, practical application

Evaluation: - Immediately after the training

Soft Skill Training :

Since Sales force is the main point of interface to customer they represent the company itself, so it

is very necessary to impart professionalism in the interaction, so that it will leave the positive image

and sincerity of company.

Objective:- Business plan, Team building , verbal and non-verbal communication

Duration :- Seminars organized twice in a year

Trainer :- External Trainer

Methods :- Lectures , Role play, Team building exercises, life stories.

Attitude Building Training :

Apart from the product knowledge and sound soft skill, what really matters to the sales people

is the right attitude to approach the client. Hence in this particular training sales force is

imparted with some basic tips to approach the customer, How to do cold calling and when to

probe ? , how to probe ? , when to close ?

Video and/or audio c.ds, D.V.Ds

Trainer :- Professional trainer from outside organization.

Place: - In car, home etc.

Methods :- Lectures, life stories, Video and/or audio c.ds, D.V.Ds

Evaluation :- No evaluation

Merck India

Introduction

Merck in India has headquarters in Mumbai. It has mainly four divisions with overall sales of

Rs. 6580.7 million (Jan- Dec 2012)

Merck Serono - Transforming lives through medical science

Merck Serono is the largest division of Merck. It markets innovative prescription drugs of chemical and

biotechnological origin. Merck Serono focuses on highly specialized therapeutic areas such as

Neurodegenerative Diseases, Oncology, Fertility, Endocrinology and Rheumatology.

Consumer Health - Reach for a better life!

The Consumer Health division offers high-quality over-the-counter products to enhance the quality of

life of consumers all over the world. Our brands are available in many countries in Europe, North and

South America, Asia and Africa

Performance Materials – Experience Innovation

Merck’s Performance Materials division offers highly innovative materials, advanced technologies, and

high-tech chemicals to clients in the consumer electronics, lighting, printing, plastics, and cosmetics

industries. Our market leader products include liquid crystals for LCD displays, new lighting

technologies, and functional and effect pigments.

Merck Millipore - Advancing Life Science Together

Our Merck Millipore division offers solutions that enable scientists to conduct life science research

easily, efficiently and economically. With a range of more than 40,000 products, Merck Millipore is

one of the top three suppliers of tools to the life science industry. The division comprises three business

units: Bioscience, Lab Solutions and Process Solutions.

Merck Performance Materials division has 20 sales people, a National sales Manager and a Business

Head. The marketing team is different. The 20 people include the managers as well as sales

representatives.

The main training give to the ales team includes:

Induction training

Product training

Sales process training

Training on soft skill development

Product training:

Objective:- To impart technical as well as practical knowledge regarding the product

All sales person

Duration :- 1 day per product category

Trainer :- Senior Technical Manager

Takes place in initial days

Place :- Centralized training in a lab in Mumbai

Methods :- Product presentation , demonstration , practical application

Evaluation :- Immediately after the training and regularly twice a year

Training is conducted as and when new product is launched

Sales Training:

Objective :- To have a consistent sales process throughout the

organization

80 % success in sales is achieved

before visiting the customer

Making exhaustive database

Cold calling

FAB

All sales people

Duration :- Once during introduction and regular follow ups are conducted

Trainer :- Outside training specialist

Where :- Out of office

Methods :- Discussion and role play

Evaluation :- During the training and on the job

Training on soft skill development:

Objective:- Team building , verbal and non-verbal communication

All mid level sales employees

Duration :- 5 days a year

Trainer :- Outside training specialist

Place :- Out of office

Methods :- Lectures , Role play, Team building exercises

There is a training programmer called “Dronacharya “for senior level sales employees at SP JAIN

institute of management

Duration: - 1 year (MDP Program)

“Eklavya” for mid-level sales employees

Duration:- 6 months at Wellingkar institute of management

Comparative Analysis:

It can be understood from the comparative study of above four companies that sales training is quite

different for different companies in different industry. Some companies lay more stress on product

training while some on sales training. Some companies also rely on soft skill development. Training is

also imparted differently in different companies. Some have in-house training and some have third

party or expert trainers. Sales training depends on the products of the company, like tangible products

or in-tangible products and services.

Sales training plays an important part in each organisation as based on it the future strategy and

marketing plans are developed.