NEW TRAINING AGENDA
                                                                    Author : Mr. Sanjiv Narang,Innovation Systems

 On examining the key interaction flows that result in sales for a typical FMCG Company, we can observe the dynamics given in Fig1.

ASM= Area
 ASM = Area Sales Manager
 TSI   = Territory Sales Manager
     >(Fig1)

 This map indicates that the key influences in the sales rocess are the Territory Sales Incharges , the distributors and the distributor Salesman.

 Paradoxically, most of the training such as "Lateral Thinking for Sales" or "Selling Skills" is focussed on the senior management team, namely the National Sales Manager , Regional Sales Manager and ASMs while negligible attention is paid to the performance enhancement of these three key players. These three sets of people can actually make or mar the fortunes of the company in the market. Let us examine their performance dynamics and special requirements.

 TSI Or Sales Officers :
The TSI has to interact with  parties outside the organization and extract performance from them. Interaction flows depicted in Fig1 indicate :
The TSI has to align  the distributors and the distributor salesmen to the sales strategies and tactics of the organization.
The TSI has to interact with and satisfy the primary customer (Retailer). Since , the retailer is under pressure from all the FMCG companies, creating mind share in the mind of a retailers not an easy job.
The TSI has to create demand pull for the company's products through secondary sales and sales promotion activities.

 Inspite of such complexity and the essential nature of the Jobs of TSIs , they have seldom been in the perception focus of the HR department. Most workshops are focussed on the middle or the upper echelons of the sales hierarchy . The result is that most training does remain theoretical and far removed from the realities of the market place.

 Some of the important performance and training needs of a TSI can be :

   Out of these skills , most of the organizations limit their attention to "Selling Skills". This is like "Expecting a plant grow on fertilizers only without the accompanying soil and water" . This huge training -cum-performance gap needs to be addressed in order to directly impact performance of the TSI.

 The Distributor : Here are some comments of a sales officer regarding the involvement of distributors.
 "We call our distributors during new product launches and sometimes the regional sales manager call a joint meeting of all the distributors in the region. This happens whenever there is a major event ; such as joining of new regional sales manager or the resignation of earlier regional  sales manager".

 This statement crystallizes the approach of most companies regarding their distributors. The relationship of the company with the distributor is suspicious, to say the least. It is either a lose-win or a win-lose situation. Rarely do we come across an organization that has a win-win relationship with its distributors. This emerges from a very deep mind set of considering the distributor as a foreign party.

 As we realize that the distributor is one of the key personnel who not only provides capital but also is a key converter of the organization's goods in cash , the extension of our training focus to include the distributor takes place automatically.

 Some of the areas in Training , which would have a direct impact on the distributor's effectiveness are :


 These performance needs of the distributor have never been addressed. This is  a typical case of paradigm blindness of training departments.

 Distributor Salesmen : Says the sales officer of an FMCG Company , "The company expects the distributor to train his salesmen. Ask the distributor , if he has any time".

 The fact is that the distributor neither has the inclination nor the time to focus on the training of his salesmen. However , the distributor salesmen are the faces of the organizations , in the market.

 Their training is one of the blind spots of most FMCG companies. Though companies spend a lot of money in studying their own personnel and exploring ways and mean's of improving their productivity , the distributor salesmen are a much neglected entity.

 The result can be summed up by the following statement of a distributor salesmen :
 "The organization expects us to carry four to five sets of documents , while making a sales call. This makes the entire call unproductive. After making the sales call , we have to go around for collections and subsequently we have to complete documents. Thus , we are not free till eight p.m. for six days a week".

 The corresponding complaint of the Sales Training Manager is ,"Inspite of repeated training programs, emphasizing the need and requirement to complete documentation , the documentation always has gaps".

 These two statements give us a hint that something is amiss. We are not only neglecting the training of the distributor salesmen , but also ignoring the fact that the sales performance is not just dependent upon their skills  , but also processes , their dominant mental patterns and roles of their interactors. This gives rise to a new agenda for the sales training function.

 A new agenda needs to be developed for the sales training function which focusses on not only the distributor salesmen , but also the distributor , the TSI and the entire sales function.
 
 >

     (Fig2)

  When this happens , certain vital issues start coming to the fore , paving the way for improvement and innovation in sales.

 Let us consider the example of a turnaround company 'A' which initiated this new agenda. Some of the important issues that came to the fore were :
Sales promotion inadequacy was resulting in limited demand pull for the product.
Inadequacy of the accounting process was resulting in unnecessary hassels for the distributors.
The dominant mental pattern of the sales officers regarding the top management was that sitting in their offices , they are not able to devise practical sales policies or schemes.
The organization was slow to provide the incentives announced in sales schemes resulting in demotivation and the trend of the distributors turning away.

 These are some of the burning issues . If these are not resolved endemically through process and role changes, the decline in sales can not be stopped , even if we devote one month per sales officer for developing their selling skills.

 Another leading ,FMCG Company 'B' initiated a similar exercise and it came to the fore that:
The distributor salesmen were  weighed down by the heaviness of the document books such as the dealer record card which they had to carry throughout the day. This was resulting in reluctance to carry these document books which was snowballing into the lack of relevant data for the organization.
The distributor salesmen lacked the skill of triggering and developing the product mental pattern in the minds of the retailer.
Product performance weaknesses which were known to the distributor salesmen , were unknown to the company's production people.

 In order to resolve these issues , if the sales training and HR faculty of the company were to enact actions given below, there would be a direct impact on sales and the responsiveness of the organization.
Redesigning of the different records to be carried and filed by the distributor salesmen in order to make them more user friendly. This would make the life of the distributor salesmen easier and his sales calls calls more productive.
Development of the skill of distributor salesmen in the area of brand building.
Creation of processes of information flow from the distributor salesmen to the production , quality controller or national sales manager regarding :
  -- Product Performance
  --  Customer complaints
  --  Process Inadequacies

 These processes would serve the purpose of slicing through the huge sales hierarchy and bureaucracy thereby reducing its quicksand character.