Hi,

I am a one-person training department, mainly responsible for training clients how to use our software once they are about to "go-live". Our sales colleagues are clammoring for training - not solely on our product but more about our industry (the company sells different design software to various infrastructure industries.)

My manager volunteered my services to create a training course for them, since I am a "trainer" and they want "training." I'm pretty much putting together a seminar using SME's as speakers.

My question is, is Sales Training usually the responsibility of a company's Training Department or would it be more owned by the Sales Department?

I don't feel that my time is really needed to coordinate speakers, and frankly I'm up to my eyeballs in training development for clients.

Can I tell my manager that the Sales Managers should really be putting together their own training/seminar? I'm not trying to pass the buck but I have product training I need to develop and I AM the only one who can do that.

Thanks!
BC

In my opinion this should be a combination of talents. There certainly is no hard and fast rule. I suspect if you approached the sales team and advised them that you have been asked to develop their training they would want a lot of input and might even offer to take the training out of your hands.

I certainly don't think you should pass the buck as it sends out the wrong message. There are tactful ways to get what you want here. I'd approach the sales team and find out their views before doing anything else.

There is no point in doing product and sales training separately. What salespeople want is to know how to sell the product. In many cases, salespeople will never actually use the product so they don't need to have a very high skill level with it. They need to know what to say to customers and how to answer their questions.

In my organization, the training department and development team create both product and sales training. Use the Sales team as SMEs though. Have them write out what they expect and need in the training. But, the truth is, trainers and development people know how people learn, how to create a good enviornment, etc. You will do a better job than the sales team could.

What you could tell your boss is that you need support and help. It may be time to grow your team!

Thank you for the replies. Actually it was a really good collaboration of me and the Sales Managers - they felt they would send all of their sales reps and even come themselves.

Then upper management rejected the travel requests and said I could do 1/2 day webinar at the most. Now I'm in a position of having to redesign the same course for a third time. I'm frustrated and have spent a lot of time on this project.

It's good to hear how other companies do it though. I'll take a deep breath and see what else I can come up with!

Thanks,
BC