Sales Force Training at

Arrow Electronics
Group 3

Nayana Ramesh
Sushmit Harsh
Bharti Gupta
Akshay Sharma
Kalpesh Sonawane
Tushar Sharma
Agradeep Das
1/8
Arrow Electronics
Second largest distributor of Electronics and Semiconductor in the US

30-40 year olds with no college education, highly aggressive and energetic,
motivated by money, relationship based selling

Problems :
Lack of personnels, no standard training, hiring by and from competitors

Lack of loyalty, high turnover rate

Sales based on personal relationship

2/8
Changes Sought
Selling based on the need of the customer and not just personal relationship

Fulfilling the current and future need of the customers (anticipation)

Incorporate the concept of Design In and treat the business as customer

and not just the person in-charge.

Well equipped tool kit with territory management, understanding strategy,

making cold calls, overcoming objections, how to close sale etc.

3/8
Sprouts Recruitment Process
Hire a graduate right of college to join the sales force through a structure interviewed
process

Taught about Arrows history and values, basics of industry and electronic components

How to pick orders off shelves, track inventory, operate systems

Exposing recruits to sales, customer support, marketing, shipping, work with FSR and
SMRs, product management assistance

Sales skills training

Training period over; instated as permanent employee at field office

4/8
De-Merits & Changes Made
De-Merits

Varied result across branches

Field organization didnt have time to train people

Friction between Sprouts and Managers

Programme needed to be more formal

Changes Made

Deferred Compensation Program

Non-Compete Agreement

5/8
Pathways - Way Forward
1. Recruitment 2. Procedures for official recruitment
Hiring profile
Colleges on campus
Application Security
Inter Industry recruitment Interview
Psychological testing
Scouts for potential employees
Reference checks
3. Training Physical examination.

Expand the scope of Pathways into a professional training program

Theoretical frameworks

Scenario based

Gamification

Voluntary Quality Circles

Recreational activities 6/8

Talent Retention- Suggestions
1. Staggered training module
Avoid excessive investment in training in initial phase

Stepwise training program spread over duration of 5 years

Performance based training

2. Increase awards and recognition program over the course of training

3. Include stock options for employees

4. Faster route to get into management positions based on performance

5. Fringe benefits

7/8
Restructuring Sales Force Organisation

Emphasize on building customer relationships based on business needs

rather than dependence on personal relationships b/w client and customer

This will reduce Arrows dependence on FSRs as they are the only key point
contact for Customer relationship management.

This will be a counter against potential loss due to loss of particular FSRs.

Incentivising FSRs to impart training to fresh hires

8/8