Employee Training for Sales department at Lintons Pharmaceutical

Introduction 

The two-day training program is meant for 20 employees from the Sales department at Lintons Pharmaceutical. The company has been experiencing a decline in sales for the past six months, and the management is concerned that poor sales practices could cause the declining sales. The management approached our firm to design and conduct the two-day training program. The training will take place in Lintons Pharmaceutical conference room, and the company has provided some of the materials and services such as printing to reduce the cost. 

Identifying the Training Needs through a Training Needs Analysis 

Ghosh (2015) states that the first step in employee training is the training needs analysis (TNA). A TNA identifies individual’s level of competence, skill, and knowledge in one or more areas. Some of the qualifications for a pharmaceutical sales representative include product knowledge, rapport building, strategic prospecting skills and communication skills among others. A TNA establishes the gaps in competencies to determine the training needs. By identifying the problematic areas in an organization, the training will target the specific areas that affect performance. A TNA also helps in planning the training and development program. 

According to Galport & Azzam (2013) after identifying competencies, the next step is to evaluate performance to determine gaps. Galport & Azzam (2013) state that a TNA can be proactive or reactive. A proactive TNA is a formal and long-term oriented process that takes advantage of analytical and decision-making tool to bridge the gap between the present state and the future goals of the organization. A reactive TNA is done after a problem has been identified and it addresses the issue. A reactive TNA confronts the problem with the aim of improving operations within an organization. 

The training team conducted A TNA for Lintons Pharmaceuticals’ sales department. Our team started with a workforce profile for the department to identify the skills and knowledge for all the roles in the sales department. Vital factors such as level of education, experience, and personality were accounted for as well as sales statistics for the past one year. Lintons Pharmaceuticals has targets for the sales department concerning profit and sales. The department head also has created goals for all the twenty employees. Unfortunately, more than half of the employees have not met sales targets in the past three months. Through the interview with the manager and employees, our team identified some of the reasons for the gaps. The employees acknowledged that the sales had declined, and some of them were working hard to solve the problem on their own. 

The needs analysis found out some issues that need to be addressed. First, some sales representatives lacked enough knowledge about the product. It is impossible for pharmaceutical sales representatives to master all drugs and medical technologies, but they should have the crucial knowledge on their fingertips. Some sales representatives lacked basic knowledge about almost all drugs. About half of the sales representatives worked in retail or other sectors and were having a hard time adjusting to the demands of pharmaceutical sales. 

Another issue is the lack of sales training and support within the organization. Lintons Pharmaceuticals has the responsibility to train sales representatives on a regular basis to equip them with a narrative that they will sell in the market. The best sales representatives in the team were not the ones with the highest academic qualifications, but the ones with long experience with the organization, because they had mastered the art of selling. The company must help new sales representatives to create a well-articulated compelling reason and a narrative to help the secure customers and gain an advantage over competitors. 

Lastly, employee motivation is low. The department head said that the team was not motivated on many occasions, and during the individual and group interviews, our team confirmed that motivation was indeed low. Employees cited many reasons for low motivation such as pressure from the department head, poor team dynamic, and inefficient compensation system (Cascio, 2018). Employee motivation is a broad issue that requires an honest discussion between the manager and employees. 

Training Objectives 

Ocen et al. (2017) advise on the need for creating a step-to-step training process to achieve the desired results. After the needs analysis, the next step is the creation of realistic training objectives to guide the training process. The training team should not get caught in creating training presentations and preparing venue such that they forget the most crucial steps. The process of formulating the training goals and objectives should bring together the trainers and the team manager to ensure the training goals reflects everyone needs. The training objectives should be clear; they should focus on the issues facing the organization and the expected outcomes (Bercu, 2017). The training objectives should also be measurable. At the end of the two-day training period, the trainers should evaluate whether the goals were achieved or not. Bercu (2017) gives strategies to guide in the creation of SMART goals. According to Bercu (2017) training objectives should be specific by addressing the right people, events, and processes, and they should also be time bound. 

After the TNA of Lintons Pharmaceuticals, the following training objectives were created to guide the training process: 

Short-term Objectives 

I. Sales representatives must demonstrate improved product knowledge by the end of the two-day training period. Employees should master at least 50% of the product detail and share it with the rest of the team. 

II. The department head will be educated on strategies for creating an internal weekly sales training meeting by the end of the two-day training. The internal training will take place on Monday mornings with the aim of reminding sales representatives about essential sales strategies and providing them with the support they need in the field. 

III. Create a robust employee motivation program that meets the unique needs of the sales department by the end of the two-day training period. The motivation program will align organizational needs with employee needs. 

Long-term Objectives 

I. To improve pharmaceuticals sales by 15% within the next three months. 

II. To create a highly motivated team with high levels of job satisfaction and low turnover. 

Determine the Training Cost 

The training will take place at the conference room at Lintons Pharmaceuticals. The company will provide most of the resources to minimize the training cost. Below is a breakdown of the training cost: 

Expense	Specifics	Duration (days)	Cost ($)
Training Facilities	Conference room  WI-FI  Projector	2  2  2	Company owned  Company owned  100
Course Materials	Handouts  Pens and notebooks  Laptops	2  2  2	500  500  Company owned
Food & Refreshments	Break time snacks  Lunch	2  2	500  1500
Training Fee	Training needs analysis  Training	1  2	500  1500
Miscellaneous	Additional human resources  Additional material	2  2	200  300
			$5,600
Total Cost			$5,600

Key Training Methods 

The trainers will utilize a mixed delivery approach to maximize positive outcomes of the training. The training is face-to-face training utilizing both traditional methods and modern technology. The budget details the necessary resources such as WI-FI, laptops, and a projector. Thus, trainers will use a traditional and a multi-media approach on different occasions. For more extended training sessions, for instance, a session on strategies for improving pharmaceutical sales, trainers will use videos and PowerPoint presentations to demonstrate effective and ineffective strategies. 

The training will also involve dividing the trainees into groups as well at some point. The trainers will divide trainees randomly and assign them to tasks such as selling a fictitious product to the team to identify the strength and weaknesses of different groups and improve the team dynamics in the organization. The trainers will aim to create an informal setting where employees can interact with each other and interact with their supervisors without holding back. 

On the first day, the trainers will focus on the central issue which is the declining sales. The trainers will explore different reasons for the declining sales from the employees and the managers’ perspectives. The trainers will also use the prepared materials on sales to support the reasons given by employees and the manager. The trainers will use theoretical concepts, real-life examples and even strategies used by successful competitors in the same industry. The training will not only focus on the theory as employees will be given a chance to demonstrate the new knowledge after every training session. The trainers want to make the training as practical and engaging as it can be to avoid boring the participants. The afternoon sessions will be an open forum, and it will be dedicated to the issue of improving motivation and team spirit. Employees will give their opinion as to why the team spirit is lacking, while the trainer will moderate and help employees come up with strategies to improve team spirit. 

The second-day training will focus on the creation of an internal training program for the sales team. The internal training program is a brief document containing the essential points to guide the team. The manager will use the material during weekly team meetings to motivate employees and provide them with the necessary support. By the end of the second day, the trainers hope to leave the team united, motivated and resolute. 

Agenda of Activities 

The training program is made up of three sessions per day. Each session is two hours, and they involve different topics. The first session starts at 8:00-10:00 am, the next session is at 11:00am-1: 00 pm and the last one at 2:00-4: 00 pm. The agendas for the sessions are listed below: 

Day 1
Activity	Duration	Participants	Outcome
Introduction	8:00-8:30	All participants, employees, sales manager and two training instructors	Familiarity  Introduction of instructors
First session	8:45-10:45	One instructor, all 20 employees, sales manager	To understand the causes of declining sales
Second Session	11:30-1:30	One instructor from morning session, employees, manager	To identify strategies to improve sales
Third Session	2:30-4:30	1 instructor, employees, manager	Open forum and demonstration on how to implement the new sales strategies
Day 2
First session	8:00-10:00 am	1 instructor, 20 employees, department manager	To educate manager on the importance of constant managerial training and support for the sales representatives
Second Session	11:00- 1:00pm	1 instructor, 20 employees, department manager	To create an internal training strategy containing the best sales strategies
Third Session	2:00-4:00pm	1 instructor, 20 employees, department manager	To create a highly motivated and united team.  Modify the employee motivation strategies used.

References 

Bercu, A. M. (2017). Impact of employees' training programmes on job satisfaction.  Current Science (00113891) ,  112 (7). 

Cascio, W. (2018).  Managing human resources . McGraw-Hill Education. 

Galport, N., & Azzam, T. (2017). Evaluator training needs and competencies: A gap analysis.  American Journal of Evaluation ,  38 (1), 80-100. 

Ghosh, P. (2015). Training Needs Analysis: A Comparative Study of Private Sector Vs. Public Sector Hotels In Chandigarh.  Clear International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management ,  6 (6). 

Ocen, E., Francis, K., & Angundaru, G. (2017). The role of training in building employee commitment: the mediating effect of job satisfaction.  European Journal of Training and Development ,  41 (9), 742-757.