Case Analysis

Enhancing the credibility of the training function Involving line managers in sales training

Submitted by: Ankush Mehra: F-158 Shardul Verma: F-198 Kriti Sondhi: F-187 Priya Paliwal: F-188 Syed Hussain Fatmi: F-208 Sagar S Junkal: F-217

Enhancing the credibility of the training function Involving line managers in sales training

Rakesh, the training manager of Direct2U, was denied funds to conduct any training for line managers at Direct2U by Sanjay Shah, the CEO of Direct2U as the firm was not in a profitable situation that he could not allocate more money for the training of the line managers although the necessity of the training was very much crucial and essential. Rakesh was looking for some alternatives and in-hand statistics to convince Shah. Rakesh was working in the company from the past 3 years and handled the R&D single handedly. The company wasn t able to achieve its target of last year and this year too it was struggling to achieve 75% of the targets. Rakesh was a part of the sales management team and thus understood the importance of this training program .As the sales team was not performing well rakesh wanted training for Line managers who would coach the sales team and improve the firm s productivity. As the firm s profit was relatively down Shah was not ready to invest on training this left Rakesh in a state to gather more points to convince Shah. Rakesh was the perfect fit for the job of training manager at Direct2U as he had worked as Sales representative,Area

Manager and then Regional manager for 10 years and had good experience .Even though Rakesh not having any qualification for the job of training manager but his experience in sales made him get this job. Rakesh always updated himself on training process and his interest in On-The-Job training impressed the interview panel and he got the job. Rakesh training program was quite innovative and unique, avoiding the over used lecture method as long as he could.His experience in industry helped him design training programs which had a lot of scope of interaction; feedback, experience sharing and practice.It included some real life cases and anecdotes. Using a lot of role plays to reinforce the learning skills and points.However, Rakesh satisfaction level was low as the output of the training was not used practically. Inefficiency of line managers was pushing the results down. Field visit gave Rakesh a better understanding; Rakesh understood that none of the line managers and SRs was practicing the methods taught at training programs. Rakesh was personally told by one of the SRs about the feedback they receive from their Line managers regarding training programs which was discouraging to apply the methods learnt during training and rather forcing them to be practical while dealing with customers. Also, the SRs were convinced that classroom programs are just a waste of time and were staunch believers in the philosophy of On the Job Training. Rakesh never had issues with this method but his

experience had taught him that OJT was just a way to learn shortcuts and thumb rules which caused more harm in the future as the SR s didn t gain any value addition.Rakesh understood from the field visit that many managers believe that some men were born as salesmen and no person could become a good salesman through training. They felt that training programmes were essentially paid vacations for the employees and were seldom willing to send their employees on training programmes. Rakesh s dream of establishing a proper training scheme was in a state of getting washed away when he realized himself about the cost cutting programs the firm is planning to take up and his job at stake. Rakesh was successful in impressing the CEO about the training program but due to as the company was not able to meet its revenue targets,so in order to meet profit targets, company was not ready to spend more on T & D program on the contrary they are looking for the cost cuts. The return on investment, ROI for money spent on training was not tangible.This was the major concern for Rakesh. Mr. Shah being skeptical about the training proposal brought out by Rakesh. Rakesh putting all his efforts for the last 6 months into developing a training program on coaching for line managers because he believed that they needed to be better equipped to mentor and coach sales representatives work with them. Shah

was getting a bigger picture and inherent reason why sales were dipping year after year. To increase budget, one needs to increase sales and reduce cost. Shah denied giving any training budget to Rakesh. Shah fails to understand that sales increase brought about by structured training of staff will outweigh the cost factor in profit equation. Another implication of doing away with training budget is that the money spent so far on training in past will go waste if the initiative is not carried forward. Rakesh s dream of making a training organization in the company within five years of his joining and having three training managers showcases his long term goal and his sincerity in work. With a strong belief Rakesh carried out few statistical study which could help him to prove his point about the need hour of training program for line managers .Approaching Sanjeev rao the national sales manager with the report and gaining his confidence on the training plan. Rakesh got some supporting document to convince Shah about the training program.