Here are some guidelines to consider:

1. Define Your Desired Outcomes — Ask yourself, what needs to change?
   What should happen as a result of the training? For example, do you need to affect customer retention, expansion into new markets, higher dollar sales volume per customer, etc.? Be as specific as possible, including dollars if you can. If you want upper management to pay attention to your training efforts, complete a return on investment analysis. For a complimentary format, fax a request to Impact Sales, Arkansas Research Center at 501-964-0055.
   
2. Identify Core Competencies — Competency modeling started back during WWII. The government noticed that it was loosing spies. Literally. One particular spy managed to outlive all of the others. They modeled what this spy did, where he ate, how many phone calls he made, etc., and used this to hire new spies. The same concept applies to training, and hiring sales and service people for that matter. What do the best performers do to achieve success, specifically in the areas that you have identified as your outcomes? Start by looking at your own company. If you have superstars, what do they do? We define this in terms of three areas; skills, knowledge and attitudes. Look at top performers in sales & service both in your industry and in others. Having worked with thousands of top performers in the sales and service area, we know that certain competencies apply. Again, look beyond topics. What are the characteristics of the individuals that are successful? Don't assume that you know what these are.
   
3. Assess your sales and service staff — Compare them to the core competencies that you identified. This does not have to be a complicated process. We have developed very simple and effective processes for assessing the training needs of clients that we serve.
   a. Make sure that you address skills, knowledge levels and attitudes. They all affect sales and service success. We were recently asked to conduct a sales training and sales compensation program for a company. The company had assumed that compensation was an issue. After surveying for attitude, we found that sales compensation was not the issue, communication about compensation and benefits was! You can do all the training in the world and if there are other issues, your work is in vain.
   b. Test your people — Make sure that you ask questions regarding their felt need for training in specific topic areas. Next, test for competency in certain areas. A simple knowledge level test will do. What do they know in comparison to your core sample?
   
4. Determine How You Will Evaluate Your Training Success — Do this before you design your curriculum. It will help you to stay focused on the required outcomes. We evaluate training on four levels. Did they like it? This is the most basic level accomplished through smiley sheets. This is valid, because if the learners don't like your training, they won't go any further in their experimentation! The second is, "Did they learn it?” You already have a pre assessment now all you need to do is a post assessment comparing what they knew coming in to the training vs. what they know at the end. Are they using it? This is assessed many ways, by riding with sales people, by asking for feedback on their activities, by providing & evaluating activities that support the training, and finally impact. This is where you measure what your determined to be the final outcomes in the first place.
   
5. NOW, define your topics! — What training topics will fill the gap between what you have defined as your outcome, the core competencies to affect this outcome and the level of your people's performance.
   
6. Design Your Curriculum For Learner Involvement — Providing training that will produce outcomes is more than just transferring knowledge. Individuals learn at different paces and learning styles need to be considered. Don’t lecture too much or dump a lot of technical information on your audience. Learners need an opportunity to practice what they have learned via a variety of activities. You wouldn't watch a video on auto racing and then jump in a race car, would you? We will address how to accomplish this next month in our response to this question. How To Make Sure that Your Sales & Service Training Makes A Difference. Part II - Designing Sales and Service Training That Makes A Difference.
   

Use this as a guideline.

Designing effective sales & service training should include the following:

1. Define learning objectives which produce the correct outcomes — You may design a course which is structured properly and learners enjoy, yet it may not produce the result that you need. Examples of this are endless. A sales organization who was experiencing vehicle damage and accidents assumed that the need was to provide automobile safety training. So, they did, over and over again and nothing changed. After assessing needs, we discovered that safety was not the issue. The sales staff knew the safety issues. Instead, they didn't care! So, training was provided on how the accidents impacted profit sharing and bonuses. Accidents decreased by 60% in the first year.
2. Select learning activities that reflect your desired outcomes — If your objective is for your sales team to answer objections effectively, having them read a book or watch a videotape about how to answer objections won't cut it. Learners need an opportunity to practice what they learn. The classroom environment and the activities that you select should mirror real life as closely as possible. Participants should feel like they can make mistakes without repercussions. No large group role plays! They aren't real and they do nothing more than put people on the spot.
   
3. Design to appeal to all learning styles — A study of a school system revealed that of 103 children who were labeled learning disabled, only 6 actually were. The others were in need of a different approach, more hands on and less lecture. The three main senses that we use when we learn are sight, sound and touch. While we use all of these senses to receive and interpret information, we have a preference. Some of your learners will learn best by practice or role play, some by explanation and others by watching and visual stimulation. Make sure that you appeal to all styles when you design your training by peppering your sessions with a variety of training activities.
   
4. Select appropriate learning methods. — Videotapes are not training in and of themselves. They are wonderful tools which may be incorporated into a training curriculum. For instance, you may show a video tape on how to answer objections. Learners then need an opportunity to think about and discuss what they saw, to draw conclusions and to finally practice.
   
5. Allow participants to be accountable for their own learning. The facilitator should never be the focus of an effective training session. You most likely have a wealth of experience in your group. Draw from it. It's amazing how little you will need to actually deliver if you allow learners to think for themselves. A general rule of thumb is to allow for 70% learner involvement and 30% facilitator intervention. Reserve your delivery time to introducing key concepts, and guiding the learning group to reach appropriate conclusions.
   
6. Determine delivery options — Logistics play a significant role in how training will be delivered. If you have a sales force that is geographically scattered, look for options outside of traditional classroom settings, such as self-study modules. Regardless of the format that you select for delivery, you should consider amount of training to be delivered. One of the most effective delivery methods is to introduce one or two topics at a time, have learners practice their skills over a given time period and then introduce additional skills that build on the concepts learned.
   
7. Determine coaching opportunities — If training is not supported outside of the classroom, it won't matter how good it is. If your sales and service staff reports to others, consider providing the coaches with guides introducing what was learned, how to recognize when skills are being utilized and reinforcement ideas.
   
8. Have Fun! — There is nothing that says that training should be boring. Incorporate games, contests and activities. For instance, in a recent new employee orientation program individuals were given company history and operations information to read as pre work. When they entered the classroom, they were placed in groups and asked to write review questions. The group played a game of Jeopardy utilizing the questions. The result was more than fun. Retention increased substantially and training time was cut in half.

Here are some examples of how these training components may be integrated into learner centered designs.