The Value of training programs

The value of training programs of sales people, especially in sales of High value items like cars and high priced luxury items is the subject of this discussion.

This is one of the most difficult lines of work. My personal observation is that most sales people are from a very different environment (economically, socially & often educationally) to that of the buyer. This results in a vast chasm between what the buyer expects and the seller is able to respond to.

Of course training programs have their value and they do theoretically prepare the sales people to understand what they are getting into and what is expected of them. Raw recruits do need this training. But the basic problems of all training programs is in the fact that certain character traits are already embedded and indelibly marked in most people by the time they enter life’s stream. Even after many years of training and experience many people never learn to control certain habits and/or behavior responses of theirs. For instance traits like, shyness or brashness, impatience, over-eagerness, arrogance, cleverness, argumentativeness and such; although there are many traits that help like sympathy and empathy, good manners, good elocution etc. This is why most raining programs do not take you very far. They make the person conscious of certain points alright but most are not able to incorporate these factors into their persona. At the actual moment of need, people always behave, act or/and react in a predictable manner which is their basic personality.


It is not easy for the sales people to visualize or understand the needs of the buyer or the way the buyer thinks. Most often they miss the cues to what will trigger interest and decision to finalize a purchase in the buyer. Let us say the buyer is a millionaire and likes his little luxuries which he can afford but the sales guy would never have had the opportunity to experience. For example the texture and shape of the seat may be of more importance to the buyer than the salesperson can really ever imagine as he would not have had the luxury of that kind of a life; then it can be presumed that the sales person would totally miss his shots while trying to impress the buyer.


The salesman may be very talented and informed about cars and would easily able to reply all the questions of the buyer but may miss the point that the buyer is a snob and would not take kindly to be hustled or crowded around. Technicalities may not even bother the buyer. To him certain comforts and amenities and discounts may be more important. A buyer of a car rarely comes in without some pre-thinking and can be expected to be informed so his mind maybe already half made up. I have seen buyers being put-off by the aggressiveness and insensitivity of sales persons.


In most management programs that are outlined I notice, we give great advice which is actually meaningless in practice. This is because it is easier said than done. Most people are creatures of habit and their behavior patterns are not that easily transformed by a few words thrown at them.


The words of Francis Bacon that say something like this are important: We think according to fancy, talk according to education but behave by habit.

That is why I have been an enthusiastic proponent of apprenticeship. After basic training always place the new sales guy under a senior. The job of the senior to be specifically to train the junior and not just use him as an assistant; a junior picks far much more over the years by seeing a senior at work than short training stints can ever inculcate.