Online Training of Salespeople: Impact, Heterogeneity, and Spillover Effects

Abstract

Data from a field study concerning an online salesperson training program is used to investigate: (1) the overall impact of program participation on sales performance for two kinds of products, Focus and Other (the direct impact); (2) heterogeneity in the impact of program participation across salespersons; and (3) spillover effect of program participation by others in the vicinity on salesperson performance (the indirect impact). The program contains short-duration training modules accessed via an online platform. Salespersons choose whether to take any module, how many modules to take, and when to take them. Results show that while training improved sales performance, the average impact of training on Other product sales was immediate, significant, and positive, and that on Focus product sales was delayed. Further, the impact of training diminishes over time. The authors find significant heterogeneity in the impact of training across salespersons and regions. Finally, the results show a mixed spillover effect of training by peers. There is a positive spillover effect on sales of the focal salesperson with an increase in the total number of trainings taken by peer salespersons, and a negative or no spillover effect with an increase in the number of peer salespersons taking training.

Onboarding Salespeople: Socialization Approaches

“…Studies comparing one version of a training program for customer-facing employees to another version of that program have found positive effects on performance metrics, ranging from approximately 18% (Cable, Gino, and Staats 2013) to approximately 35% (Luo et al 2021). In addition, a recent study by Singh, Sen, and Borle (2022) finds that a one-unit increase in the number of online training modules taken in a month by a salesperson is equal to about a 12.9% increase in sales of the firm's nonfocal products in that same month. Based on the derivation of the effect size of training programs from recent studies in related areas, we conclude that the effect we find is in line with results from prior work.…”

“…First, we examine the relative effectiveness of onboarding salespeople through programs that vary in terms of the context in which they are delivered and the role of the manager. In doing so, we build on recent research on sales training that examines the benefits of providing different types of training content to salespeople and directing training to a portion of the sales force (e.g., Atefi et al 2018; Kumar, Sunder, and Leone 2014; Singh, Sen, and Borle 2022). In our field study, we find that undergoing an individualized-institutionalized program (compared with participating in an institutionalized program) leads to 23.5% higher sales performance (an approximate increase of $8,900 in monthly sales volume).…”

Design thinking and dynamic managerial capabilities: a quasi‐experimental field study in the aviation industry

“…Third, we contribute to practitioners' understanding of how to introduce design thinking into organizations. Even though short trainings in other management areas can create positive effects (Singh et al, 2022), the promise of short design thinking workshops generating any significant design thinking skills is sometimes met with skepticism (McCullagh, 2010), as participants of these training often fail to apply the learned skills after the training (Royalty et al, 2015). Our findings show that a 2‐day design thinking training can indeed generate medium‐term positive effects.…”

Trainers’ Characteristics Affecting Online Training Effectiveness: A Pre-Experiment among Students in a Malaysian Secondary School

“…The COVID-19 pandemic revolution has dramatically changed Malaysia's education system, in which both teachers and students have sought to embrace new technology-driven education [8]. Interestingly, online learning has been proven to be effective in delivering formal classroom learning and training programs using different samples in experimental or non-experimental research design, e.g., [9][10][11][12][13][14]; furthermore, pre-experimental research has usually been conducted in field settings with no control group [15]. For example, previous research has considered samples of undergraduates [9,10], employees [11,12], and the public including parents for children with special needs [13,14].…”

“…Interestingly, online learning has been proven to be effective in delivering formal classroom learning and training programs using different samples in experimental or non-experimental research design, e.g., [9][10][11][12][13][14]; furthermore, pre-experimental research has usually been conducted in field settings with no control group [15]. For example, previous research has considered samples of undergraduates [9,10], employees [11,12], and the public including parents for children with special needs [13,14]. In fact, the continued use of online learning is still relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic to sustain the educational system through effective 4IR implementation [7,16].…”