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These considerations will have bearing on the design. The earlier they are addressed the better.
Target Population - Who is to be trained? How many? Will the entire sales force be trained or only
certain categories or levels of seniority?
What about marketing and sales support staffs?
Participant Time - How many days can salespeople be away from their selling duties participating in training? Participant time is usually the largest component of an investment in training.
Travel time and expense - Although some training topics work well with a self-instructional delivery approach (computer-based or other media) many topics are best suited to a seminar format. Will the training be conducted locally, regionally or nationally? If the training will be one element of a sales meeting, then travel may not be a consideration.
For local or regionally implemented training consider whether or not
reasonable group sizes be formed with mostly local travel.
Grouping - Are there grouping issues related to categories of sales assignments, seniority, etc.?
Equipment - If you are considering a self-instructional approach,
consider what equipment participants have (e.g., computer, high speed internet/intranet access).
Schedule - Does your strategy require that training implementation begin or be completed by a certain date? Are there competing events on the calendar, such as the end of a quarter or fiscal year, holiday season, other meetings?
Budget - What funds are available to acquire or develop the program
and to implement it? Custom development may be costly, but a custom program is
less likely to involve licensing fees or high materials costs. Your biggest
investment will be participant time. Protect that investment by spending
the time, money and energy needed to ensure efficiency and results.
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