Welcome to SMC’s training support
We pride ourselves on providing the highest calibre of web-based training solutions to ensure that our clients can reach their full potential. Our clients are sales and marketing managers and staff promoting products and services in the technical business to business market.
The basis for our training support is primarily the insight our training consultants have gained into sales and marketing from our work with organizations in the following industries:
- Downstream Oil; Refining & Petrochemical
- Upstream Oil industry; Oilfield production
- Industrial Water treatment
- Consultancy Services
- Business Applications Software and Information Technology
- Selling to Government and Public Sector Organisations
Our training consultants have extensive international sales experience in selling to major organisations throughout Europe, the Middle East and the USA.
The Training Dilemma
“In discussion with managers from the Oil and Water Treatment Industry they often mention the dilemma they face with respect to improving the skills and knowledge of their workforce”
Andrew Sparrow, Director SMC
The nature of this dilemma is, on the one hand we see a greater need than ever before for practical up-to-date sales training that can add to a sales teams effectiveness yet, on the other hand, traditional sales training approaches are becoming less effective.
Nearly all sales managers’ staff agree that:
Widening the experience and skills training received by staff is seen as a means of improving staff retention, loyalty and morale.
Sales Managers need time for their own personal development, to improve their management skills and knowledge base in order to address the increasing demands of their roles.
But despite this need, companies are finding it hard to spend enough time training their staff, and there is often a criticism that the training received is either only partially relevant for their industry or is not delivered at the right time to be used. So it is not surprising therefore that in many cases the amount of training is being scaled back just when it is being needed most, the reason for this is:
- A high speed competitive market which is leading many companies to look to recruit rather than develop in-house to plug their skills gap.
- A significant skills and experience shortage in the recruitment market in many different industry sectors.
- The accelerated rate of change in the business world has meant that existing training and knowledge programmes are often over-structured and retain a minimal shelf life.
- Time. Diverting staff away from their everyday activities to attend a training event is notoriously difficult, not to mention the inherent challenges involved in ensuring the timeliness of any training course. Training events need to be closely followed by suitable opportunities to put the new found knowledge into practice. For example, a strategic planning course that is timed to coincide with the annual plan review, or a recruitment course at the start of a campaign to find new staff.
- Cost. The expenses incurred by in-house training are significant, and the associated return on investment is difficult to quantify.
- The specialist nature of the industry’s sales and marketing strategy is often viewed as being poorly represented by existing mainstream training packages.
How we Solve the Training Dilemma
SMC’s meets these new demands by:
- Providing relevant and practical sales training using techniques that have been proven in the field
- Specific knowledge, experience, and analysis for your industry
- Training delivered just when you need it most
- Low cost delivery that minimises time away from the day job
- Continuous skills improvement for sales managers and sales staff via one of the most comprehensive approaches to improving sales performance
