Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017 - 25

FEATURESTORY

sales trainers focus a large portion of
that 10 percent. In addition to
providing field trainers with the
knowledge and tools to facilitate they
are also provided an audience of peers
with whom they can hone their newly
acquired skills.

What's Next for Field Sales
Trainers?
Aer a calendar year had expired
and several Field Sales Trainer Phase I
(Train the Trainer) programs had
been successfully completed, it was
time to build on the foundation that
had been laid in year one. While
plans for a Phase II were included in
the original scope of the training for
the field sales trainer position,
preparation for them had not yet
begun.
Aer examining the role of the field
sales trainer and the franchise,
questions arose around what
additional training could be oﬀered.
According to the original strategic
responsibilities design, the
interpretation was the current
curriculum satisfied the needs of the
role.
In order to confirm this hypothesis,
the field sales trainers and training
partners were consulted to define
what demands are placed on the
position that have not been addressed
or suﬃciently addressed by training
and development.
To best understand the needs of the
field sales trainer, an informal survey
was conducted to comprehend the
evolution of the role. Information was
acquired through application of a
Start/Stop/Continue method; what are
we missing, what is unnecessary, and
what is critical?
When the informal survey
concluded, the results were surprising.
e current curriculum
overwhelmingly met the needs of the
cohort as reported by the field sales
trainers. Almost unanimously they
agreed the tools and the training

After examining the role of the field sales trainer
and the franchise, questions arose around what
additional training could be offered.
provided were appropriate to operate
successfully as a field sales trainer.
What is interesting is the large
majority of field trainers, when asked,
jumped at the opportunity for
additional personal and professional
development. is was great news.
is confirmed we are meeting and in
many cases exceeding the needs and
wants of the field sales training team.
e response received from the
business unit sales training team differed dramatically from their fieldbased colleagues. What was
uncovered was the role hasn't changed
as much as it had expanded. eir
sales training contemporaries agreed
many of the essential elements of the
field sales training role were being addressed. While they agreed the first
phase of training was a solid foundation, they suggested the field sales
trainers needed more. Not that the
current curriculum was not relevant,
it absolutely is relevant. e curriculum was not considered comprehensive enough to meet the needs of
today's field sales trainer. What had
been shared by the sales trainers in the
department was field sales trainers
lacked many skills to eﬀectively align
with the expectations of the role as defined by the training teams.

FOCUS | Field Sales Training 2017 | www.L-TEN.org

Field Sales Trainer 2.0
So what does it mean that Bayer
field sales trainers lacked skills to align
with today's training department? e
responses were quite informative.
Since the concept of the field sales
trainer program, the role has
advanced from just leadership,
coaching and facilitating to include
distance learning and virtual presence
training.
e scope of the responsibility
assigned to the field sales trainer has
increased over time and additional
training must be provided to keep the
role of the field trainer relevant to the
demands of their training partners.
e strategic responsibilities hold true
to the original form; it is the tactical
that needed to be further refined.
As described by members of the
sales training team, the skills needed
by the field sales trainers to become
more of a value added resource
aligned with the training department
included their ability to leverage
technology, increase their platform
presence and relate more eﬀectively to
corporate customers.
With many training teams,
including the team at Bayer, migrating
much of the learning to a virtual

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017