Training & Mentoring Program 1

Training & Mentoring Program

Training & Mentoring Program 2 Introduction A major concern for companies across the United States is the lack of adequately trained employees. This in turn has led to extremely poor performance levels by staff that feel that their employers have not done enough to provide them with the necessary tools to perform their jobs. In order to get staff to do things correctly requires proper training (BNET, 2010). Would you consider sending a solder into battle without having enough bullets to survive? Well, this is what a company is doing if it doesnt provide adequate training to its staff. The best way to change behaviors and/or motivate employees is to implement an effective training program that involves more than just simply providing information. Experts have suggested that the following keys are important toward having a good training strategy: (1) Determine what it is that you want your people to learn. (2) Assess the skill level of your staff. (3) Develop a curriculum that fills the gaps between what the employee already knows and what new information needs to be learned. (4) Select a training mode that is based on a time and budget constraint. (5) Determine who best knows the topic or subject matter to be passed on to the employee. (6) Implement the training program. (7) Evaluate the program to determine what worked well. (8) Implement improvements to the training curriculum (Entrepreneur Media, Inc., 2010). InterClean, Inc. has merged with Envirotech and implemented a new business strategy that now offers a wide range of full service cleaning solutions to its customers. In order to support the organizational leadership vision, the Sales Team needs to be revamped into multifunctional teams and trained to modify its current model product based selling to solution based sales. The Sales Team members will embark on a training regimen that emphasizes team building exercises that will strengthen their individual abilities to work in a cohesive team

Training & Mentoring Program 3 structure that utilizes the unique skills that each member brings to the group that will enable the company to increase its customer base while improving on customer service. The Sales Department consists of Tom Gonzalez, Susan Burnt, Eric Borden, Dennis White and Ving Hsu. The new team brings many years of sales experience to the organization and there are high expectations from leadership that the group will provide immediate results. However, human resources must first develop a training program to take the team to new horizons. A well developed training program along with career management is an important and needed component toward helping employees to cope with the fact that change is a constant part of organizational life (Cascio, 2005). According to Cascio, employee performance can be improved when accompanied by a well developed training program that is offered at either a individual or corporate-wide level. This analysis will discuss the implementation of a training program, delivery methods and aftertraining performance standards. Next, the analysis will discuss the content of the training, the allotted time frame, and evaluation methods. Finally, the Human Resources department will provide feedback and alternative training methods for the employees on the sales team that require additional training. Objectives of the Training and Mentoring Program The Human Resources Department has identified five (5) individual objectives that must be met in order for the training and mentoring program to be considered a success. The first objective is to ensure that each team member has a firm understanding of the InterClean organizational structure along with clear knowledge of current policies, procedures, benefits, compensation plans and corporate goals that govern the inner workings of the company. The second objective is to ensure that each team member has detailed knowledge about the newly

Training & Mentoring Program 4 designed service plans that will be offered to existing and future clients. Thirdly, each member of the Sales Team must demonstrate a ability to modify their mindsets from a selling pattern to one that is conducive toward being an advisor to potential customers to ensure that the correct service plan is selected. The work of author Alfred Pelham that states sales consultants are changing their behaviors from selling to advising, talking to listening, and pushing to helping will be utilized to help drive this point home (Emerald Group, 2010). Fourth, increase the organizations current customer base while ensuring that the existing client group continues to benefit from improved sales techniques and customer service skills obtained through new training. The fifth and last objective is to increase teamwork amongst the sales team. Performance Standards The recommendation from the Human Resources Department in regards to performance standards emphasize that the team will be given a set of sales goals that need to be met on a quarterly basis. Each member of the team will be responsible for delivering on a equal percentage of the team goal. Although these are team goals, it is important to assess the success and/or failure of each team member individually. Accordingly, a bi-annually bonus will be given to each member of the team that meets or exceeds his or her individually assigned percentage. An additional bonus will be granted to the Team Leader if every member of the group meets the set goal. To monitor the progress of each team member, a weekly meeting will be held and each person in the group will be required to provide a status report that details the number of new contacts, meetings with existing customers and total service packages sold during the previous week.

Training & Mentoring Program 5 Delivery, Content and Timelines The training sessions for the most part will be conducted using in-house specialists with specific areas of expertise. The Human Resources Department will present the new policies and procedures that have been written since the merger. Eric Borden will focus on the local and federal regulatory laws along with any other areas that deal with compliance. The consulting firm of ACME Business Consulting will be bought in to discuss new ideas in the area of customer/service focused sales. The goal of this portion of the training program is to enhance the individual customer service skill levels of the sales team by examining best practices of other service-based sales organizations. The group will be asked to focus on a new set of processes and techniques that will identify the individual strengths of each team member while highlighting any patterns in the delivery of presentations that may hinder the sales pitch. The group will work together to learn the practice of developing the interpersonal skills that are a critical part of the salesperson/client relationship. The initial training session will be conducted over a period of one week. After the initial training session, each sales representative will be paired with a sales partner for a period of one month and required to make daily sales calls as a team. After a one month partnership with another team member, each person will then be scheduled for weekly meetings with the Vice President of Sales who will provide mentoring services to each team member for a period of six (6) months. Evaluation and Feedback Evaluation of the training program will be conducted by the Human Resourced Department using sales performance data and in-person evaluations with each Sales Representative. The sales records should enable the team to see whether there was a spike in client contacts and sale closures directly after the training sessions. The in-person evaluations

Training & Mentoring Program 6 with the Human Resources Department will be utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the employee grasp of the information presented during orientation and training sessions. Finally, the individual employee will be asked to provide feedback on the training program effectiveness using an on-line survey. The employee will be asked to suggest potential improvements for the program while identifying any areas that the individual feels were not effective or necessary. Alternate Avenues for Further Development It is important to realize that not every employee that participates in the training sessions will produce immediate results from the sessions. For these individuals, additional mentoring will be offered where the employee will shadow another employee to obtain the necessary information required to assist them. Additionally, use of web-based seminars and sales scenario training will be offered for fill in any learning gaps. Conclusion The future success of the organization is directly tied to the new Sales Teams ability to grasp the new business strategy that calls for the offering of full service cleaning solutions to its customers. The Sales Team will have to learn how to conduct business as a multi-functional group that can shift its focus on solution based sales. The first step toward realizing this goal is to provide the team with a newly designed training program that not only provides the members with strong orientation about the company itself along with existing policies and procedures, but also provides information about new tools that can be utilized to close the deal and finally, provides new insight into the area of maintaining strong relationships with their customers.

Training & Mentoring Program 7 References BNET (2010). Lack of Training Blamed for Poor Performance Levels. Retrieved December 9, 2010 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4181/is_20050201/ai_n10066625/ Cascio, W.F. (2005) Managing Human Resources. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Columbus, OH Emerald Group Publishing (2010). Do Consulting-Oriented Sales Management Programs Impact Salesforce Performance & Profit?. Retrieved December10, 2010 from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1550639&show=html Entrepreneur Media (2010). Training Programs. Retrieved December 9, 2010 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82546.html University of Phoenix (2010). InterClean, Inc. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from University of Phoenix, Week One, rEsource. Human Capital Management HRM 531 Web site.