Marketing Communications

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Marketing Communications
Personified Promotion

TRAINING PROGRAMME CONTENT

Product Knowledge
Training on Product Knowledge will cover the generic components of products and their respective end
users. Actual information on how the product is made is given to the trainee. The normal procedure if
for sales trainee to move at stated intervals from one department or production phase to another. The
trainee writes a report about each phase as he goes through. This is to evaluate his level of understanding.
The report also helps to appraise the effectiveness of the training programme.

Factory training has the following advantages:

1. Pride and confidence are gained in product quality.


2. Self-assurance emanating from technical knowledge of product make-up.


3. Communication with customers through the use of the operational vocabulary peculiar
   to the industry.


4. Understanding of product functioning that allows effective diagnostics of customer
   problems. A sales trainee could also accompany a senior salesman as he calls on customers
   or some arrangements are made to get trainee salesman to practise selling to customers.

•    SELLING SKILLS

Restructured training in the subject area of selling skills will be given to the new recruit or

trainee. The focus of training will be on role playing, a participative approach to selling that

fosters an understanding of the buyer-seller interaction in an organizational environment.

He must be taught to think and react in his own manner to different selling situations;

be conscientiously alert to customer’s reaction. His role in information acquisition and

dissemination must be stressed.

•    MARKET OR CUSTOMER KNOwLEDGE

The salesman must have an intensive knowledge of his customer’s business. Training in

market knowledge provides answer to three significant questions:

1. Who needs our various products? Its answer helps salesman identify market’s prospects.


2. What is the reason for the need? A given product may have a variety of purposes
   depending on the buyers.


3. What type of purchase procedure do the buying firms have? This will expose the
   buying procedure, formal and informal influences on the buying decision and
   organizational structure.