Case Study – Marketing Management
Sunrise Biscuit & Beverage Company
Mr. P.V. Krishnamoorthy was the Director of Sales and Marketing of Sunrise Biscuit & Beverage Company. He gave lectures at the salesmen training programme at the Company’s Bangalore zone in which a group of salesmen from his region participated. Mr. P.V. Krishnamoorthy had to make a decision as to whether to continue the training programme or not. He recalled that in the training programme which had just ended, an experienced salesman of the company, Mr. K. Rajagopal who participated in the training said that the he had enjoyed the programme and found the topics discussed quite stimulating.
Until recently, the only type of the training done in the company was in the field. The new recruits were attached to an experienced salesman. The training period was 6 weeks. At the end written test was conducted and assessment was made.
Of late, he company had began some training on salesmen training because of changes in selling environment. Dealers were becoming more critical. Competition become acute. All these environmental changes made difficult for the company to operate in the same manner that they had been before. There was also a concern, whether the older salesmen were adaptable to it. There was also a concern, whether the older salesmen were adaptable to new methods of selling.
The sales training manager Mr. Goswami felt further training was needed in the area of selling technique, consumer behaviour etc. to be effective to the new competitive environment.
Hence, Mr. P.V. Krishnamoorthy instructed Mr. Goswami to plan a new training programme on an experimental basis. The training programmes were conducted at different Zonal offices.
Mr. P.V. Krishnamoorthy wanted to assess the impact of training conducted on experimental basis. According Mr. Goswami developed an evaluation based on the following.
* A subjective on the spot evaluation was made by the participants immediately after the programme.
* The salesmen were encouraged to send feedback of specific instances of the elements of the training programme, which were implemented.
* The sales supervisors and the area sales managers were also gave their opinion about the impact of training.
* It was also decided to carry out an objective evaluating using an experimental design.
The general reaction regarding the training programme from salesmen and the area sales managers were quite favourable. Mr. P.V. Krishnamoorthy was pleased about this and asked Mr. Goswami to find out the total cost of training programme. He also asked him to think about alternatives ways of utilizing the same money in developing the salesmen. Mr. P.V. Krishnamoorthy also wondered whether it may not be a better idea to directly recruit salesmen who already had some professional training in salesmanship. He also suggested that it might be worthwhile idea to train the sales supervisors who could then directly train the salesmen in the field.
Questions:
1. Should the company go for the new training programme?
2. Should the entire sales force be covered?
3. What should be the content and form of the training programme?
4. Can the selling efficiency be improved in some other way?
5. What is the role of training in the overall development of the sales force?