MY ISTD Project Circa Dec 2011

C.V.RAMANA.

INDEX TO THE INTERNSHIP PROJECT OF ISTD

SRLNO                CHAPTER NAME / SECTION NAME                                                     PAGE NO.

	Chapter 1 : Training Needs Identification.
1	About the company . Introduction	2
2	Training Needs Identification. Concept & General Methods	5
3	Popular methods in TNI	7
4	Peerless Organizational  Chart	12
5	Methodology for finding training needs	13
6	3 Questionnaires for Training Needs Determination	16
7	Annexture 1 : Training Needs Table, Individual, Organizational & group	20
8	Annexture 2 : Finding from survey method	22
9	CHAPTER II :  Preface to 5 reports on training sessions. Process flow	28
10	Report on Training Session 1	29
11	Report on Training Session 2	35
12	Report on Training Session 3	43
13	Report on Training Session 4	50
14	Report on Training Session 5	56
15	CHAPTER III : Evaluation of a Training Program. Preface.	64
16	Concept . Evaluation of Training	65
17	Pre and Post Training test questionnaire	72
18	Participants. Marks pre & post test. Learning index. Formula	75
19	Reaction level response. Findings	77
20	Reaction questionnaire for evaluation	80
21	Program Evaluation	82
22	Trainer Evaluation	83
23	Market Pulse test. Skill evaluation. Rating and bar chart	84
24	CHAPTER IV : Case Studies - Preface	86
25	Case Study 1	87
26	Case Study 2	97-104

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION FOR PEERLESS

:

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Peerless General Finance was established in 1932 at Kolkota as its Head Quarters, with presence in all states in India, has been one of the oldest financial institutions in the country.  It is a privately owned, closely held, limited company with more than 50 partners and a Board of directors for guidance and MD ( 1 of the promoters and biggest partner) running the day to day affairs of the company.

Peerless has 180 branches all over the country and Mr.S.K.Roy is the managing director, who was also the recipient of ‘ Padma Shree’ award in 2009, for social service and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Since 2007, company is in the business of financial product distribution, selling Life Insurance products, General Insurance products and mutual funds.

Peerless has always weathered many storms and withstood the changes that happened in Indian financial market space ; changed that affected the company severely. It had to re-invent itself to survive. Many times over.

For instance, it started as a Life Insurance company in 1932.  It went on till 1956 as a successful Life Insurance company. Then, in 1956, this business was nationalized and LIC was formed. Peerless went out of business.

Then the company started General Insurance business ( vehicle, health, and marine, fire, property insurances ) in 1957. It went on till 1972. Then again, General Insurance business in India was nationalized under Mrs.Indira Gandhi and Peerless AGAIN went out of business !!

Peerless had to reinvent itself, all over again. It has taken up the business of Residual Non Banking business , and in its new avatar, it is called an RNBC company. Collecting deposits, fixed and recurring and giving maturities with interest stipulated by Reserve Bank of India, is the main business.

Soon enough, company has become a leading RNBC organization among all non banking finance companies. So far, company has settled maturity payments worth Rs.19,000 crores !

Company operated this business with the agents channel, with 50,000 agents spreading all over the country , attached to its 180 branches all over India, in almost every district of the country. It went on smoothly from 1972 to 2007.

As luck would have it, RBI has made some policy changes in non banking finance business in year 2007 and asked Peerless to wind up its RNBC business by year 2014 !!

Thankfully, this time, company had 7 years to redefine its business and reinvent itself, with some new business, which is related to its existing business and not too far away from its core strengths.

At that time, insurance business was booming in India and was growing at a rapid pace of nearly 40% a year.  Since Peerless had its branches, employees, infrastructure, computers, and MOST important, agents spread across all over India, they thought distribution of Insurance ( Life & General ) and Mutual Funds, is close to its core strengths.

It had to hire experienced hands in this business, as the domain is new to them. Competent people form HR, Sales, Operations, and Training , were hired. Training department had most challenging job of re-skilling the massive agent force to sell new products, impart new concepts and adapt to a different style of selling.

Photo taken at a new product launch training.

Organizational Chart ( in the new set up) is enclosed.

It has 16 Regional Offices ( under which are branches ) and a staff of approximately 2,000 on its pay roll, apart from agents , aka ‘ Field Force’.

The company has predominantly rural presence . Although the firm has branches in every district head quarters, it’s in the surrounding villages that the agents are concentrated.

After RBI has asked the company to close down its existing business, Peerless now has a challenging task ahead of it, having entered insurance (  life and general) and mutual funds distribution business.

With a massive task of training, re-skilling the existing field force of 50,000 agents all across the contry, 2000 staff, with the help of a Training Head, 8 Regional Training Managers and  60 guest trainers who are not on pay roll, hired and paid on per session basis.

Company has also hired experienced hands in HR, Operations and sales, apart from Training, from insurance industry, to guide the organization into new vistas, new business.

That, in a nutshell, is about the company and the task cut out for it .

TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS FOR AN ORGANISATION =   CONCEPT AND GENERAL METHODS

 Introduction

Training need is precisely defined as the GAP between the expected standards

 ( of knowledge, skills, behaviours ) and the existing standards. The close in the

gap becomes the objective of a training program. To know the gaps, between the

expected and existing performance , we must know the existing levels of

performance first  and for that there are many methods and step by step scientific

process.

Importance

Assessing the training need is important because, basically, rolling out a training program incurs an EXPENSE and training department in a company, or a training program by an external trainer, needs to give an ROI, a return on investment, in terms of performance and increase the revenue of the company, contribute to the profitability or reduce some an expense and save some money for the company. Here area few steps involved.

 

Abstract

The first step in the TNA is to ensure that the organisation has clear, focused business objectives. These should be agreed by top management (usually the top and senior managers in other organisations) so that a clear idea of what the organisation is trying to achieve is understood by everyone in it.

Introduction

A training needs analysis (TNA) is the process of identifying the areas where both individuals and groups in an organisation would benefit from training in order to become more effective at achieving their own objectives and the objectives of the organisation.

Basic steps:

1.         Identifying the objectives of the organisation

2.         Appointing a training co-ordinator

3.         Gathering information about the skills and abilities of the individuals that are needed now and will be needed in the future

4.         Analysing that information

5.         Identifying the gaps that exist between the current situation and what is/will be required

Each of these steps will be the subject of separate articles in the series. This second article looks at the whole process in outline and how a TNA links into the overall management of the organisation.

Popular methods of TNA

There are generally, 6 popular methods of conducting a Training Need Analysis.

1. Training Need Survey / Questionnaire method.
2. Competence Analysis Method of Training Neeeds.
3. Preferrence Analysis
4. Task Analysis method.
5. Feed back & Recommendation method.
6. Management Decision method.

The training plan

Sometimes training is not really planned at all. Rather than being a proactive process training tends to be much more reactive. So, when a dental nurse is overheard on the telephone talking to a patient in an inappropriate manner some kind of training is then perceived as being needed, or may be provided there and then.

Most dental organisations have a basic plan for the clinical training staff, whether a dental nurse or junior clinician. However, an integrated training plan for the whole organisation may be lacking, leaving individuals to train others in a different fashion. In a group practice, for example, different dentists may well be providing very different levels of training for their dental nurses and even for the receptionists.

A training plan should prevent the confusion and ultimate inefficiency that tends to result from these ad hoc approaches, because a training plan should cover the whole organisation and should be consistent. That consistency starts with agreement of what the organisation is trying to achieve and what the priorities are at the moment.

Without this coherence training usually consists of individuals attending courses without the realization that it might be cheaper and more effective to engage a trainer to provide training within the organisation; or that money is being spent on training without any clear idea of what that training is trying to achieve. Different people will often be attending courses on the same subject unnecessarily, or going to courses in areas they are already competent at (but enjoy) or are interested in rather than in areas that are required in order for the organisation to meet its current objectives.

Clear objectives

The first step in the TNA is to ensure that the organisation has clear, focused business objectives. These should be agreed by top so that a clear idea of what the organisation is trying to achieve is understood by everyone in it.

Usually this requires a mission statement (ideally a single sentence describing the chief aim of the organisation) and a set of strategic objectives. These objectives should tell everyone what the organisation thinks is important (its values) and what people should be focusing on (their jobs).

Based on these objectives it is possible to assess which areas of the overall business plan take priority at the moment, and which areas link with other areas. In our example of increasing gross income by 20% (which is a financial objective) we will obviously need to consider both selling and marketing objectives as well as possibly customer care and clinical care. There may well be topics in all of these areas that will need to be considered in order for the overall objective to be achieved.

Appointing a training co-ordinator

Even in the smallest organisation it is worth appointing a training co-ordinator.

The reason is that training needs to be part of someone's job. If it is not, it tends to get left out and that is one of the reasons why training is so often poorly planned and implemented.

Often the training co-ordinator can also be the training administrator (the person who books the courses or organises the training sessionsTop of page

Gathering knowledge

·           What do people need to do in order that the objective is achieved?

·           What skills and knowledge do people already possess?

·           What skills and knowledge may be required in the future to continue to achieve future objectives?

Once we are clear on our objectives and have a training co-ordinator appointed then we can begin to gather knowledge about what needs to be done, what is being done and how well the people involved are doing it.

We can divide the knowledge required into three areas:

1.         What do people need to do in order that the objective is achieved?

2.         What skills and knowledge do people already possess?

3.         What skills and knowledge may be required in the future to continue to achieve future objectives?

Not all information will relate to training !

Analysing the information

The analysis

The analysis should be answering the basic questions:

1.         What gaps exist in both knowledge and ability of the current people in the organization to carry out their jobs now?

2.                  What gaps exist in both knowledge and ability of the current people in the organization to carry out their jobs in the future?

3.                   

This stage in the TNA is both stimulating and challenging. Analytical skills are required, and time to carry out the analysis is essential. If the organisation is to benefit from the effective use of resource in training then the person carrying out the TNA must be free to carry out a full and proper analysis. If not, the whole process is self-defeating and often the process is blamed for failure rather than the lack of resource to carry it out properly.

The analysis should be answering the basic questions:

1.         What gaps exist in both knowledge and ability of the current people in the organization to carry out their jobs now?

2.         What gaps exist in both knowledge and ability of the current people in the organization to carry out their jobs in the future?

Thus the TNA allows for both current gaps relating to current job descriptions and possible gaps assuming some form of future development. For example a dental practice might be considering converting to a private capitation plan, which would require specialized training in the particular plan plus possible selling and marketing training (if applicable).

The analysis leads naturally into the final stage of the TNA.

Top of page

Identifying the gaps

This final stage is really indistinguishable from the analysis in practice, but is given a separate heading because the way you actually record the gaps can be important for the application of the TNA. Some method is required of recording those gaps in a way that facilitates the next stage following a TNA – drawing up a training plan.

Top of page

The training plan

This is because the whole point of the TNA is the actual planning and implementation of relevant training for the people in the organization.

Training plans should be documents the organisation uses to plan the training of everyone, costed out and budgeted for. They are working documents (in other words they keep changing as events and circumstances change) and form the core of investment in the development of the people. They are also the end result of the TNA, as it is hardly worth investing all that time and effort in identifying training needs if nothing happens as a result.

Conclusion

This article has looked at the basics of a training needs analysis, considering the broad model itself. Thus a TNA is quite simply a way of identifying the existing gaps in either knowledge or ability of the people in the organization to carry out the tasks that enable them to do their jobs. The process assumes that the jobs people carry out have been defined in order that the business objectives of the organization will be achieved. Thus a training needs analysis will ensure people are better able to do their jobs because they have improved their knowledge and their skills in relevant areas.

 

ORGANISATIONAL CHART  PEERLESS GENERAL FINANCE

                                                            Board of Directors

                                                            Managing Director

                                                            President – New Products

V.P. Sales                  V.P.Finance               G.M.Opeations                     V.P.HR

 

G.M.Sales                 Regional Accountants                                              G.M.Training  

                                    Regional Sales Managers                            Regional Trainers

                                                Branch Manager                               Guest Trainers

                                                           

ABM sales                 ABM Operations      Sales Officers                       Operations Staff                                                                  

           

                                                Field Mentors

                                                Agents and Field sales force                      

Target Audience for Training :

1. Field Mentors.
2. Agents and Field Sales Force.
3. Branch Managers.   

Note : Target Audience , highlighted.                

METHODOLOGY FOR FINDING OUT THE TRAINING NEEDS

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The training needs of the company have emerged, at Organizational level as well as at individual level. For the training needs to emerge, we  followed the process mentioned below :

1. Survey Method. Making questionnaires, aimed at the recipients of training, the head of the group which needs the training ( Branch Managers, in this case), the business head, whose targets and budgets are rolled out, the service staff engaged in delivering the service to internal customers ( agents / field) and external customers ( actual buyers of our products).  Questionnaire and the consolidated responses are attached here.
2. Drawing from the own experience of the Training Head of the company ( DGM – Learning solutions, 8 Regional Training Managers , of which I am a part). We all come from various life insurance companies and our collective experience was synthesized before we went on to decide about the methodology of finding the training needs and finalizing a method.
3. Current Practices Observation. Observations of competitors & peers within the industry. There are other companies and organizations involved in selling and distribution of Life Insurance, General Insurance and Mutual Funds. What training strategies THEY have in place ?  Content ? Delivery mechanism ? Internal training or outsourced ? Methods for evaluation ?
4. Best Practices documents – peer group in the industry. There are companies in similar business. What are the best practices they are adhering to , which are creating a positive impact on their companies ? We have pooled these market intelligence resources so that the following training needs emerged.
5. REGULATORY POINT OF VIEW : What kind of training, does the industry regulator, the IRDA stipulates and mandates ? What are those trainings we should impart ( and to whom) , in order to comply with the existing regulations ?

For instance , we deal with 3 verticles. Life Insurance and General Insurance are regulated by IRDA. Since Life Insurance gives tax advantages under secion 80-C & 10(10D), we need the PAN Card of the customer, if he is paying above Rs.50,000/-.  For premium above Rs.1 lakh per year, we need the IT returns of the customer for the past 3 years .

In both life and general insurance, we need customer’s photo ID, address proof , income proof and bank account number and a sales person needs to collect all these.

In Mutual funds, SEBI is the regulator. We need customer’s ID proof, address proof and also KYC norms ( Know Your Customer, a single page form, that is sufficient for all future mutual fund investments, in our firm and also with other asset management companies, as per new SEBI guidelines) are compulsory.

We need to educate our office sales people and field sales force accordingly.

In Financial sector, regulatory aspect is utmost important since it deals with public money.

FINAL TRAINING NEEDS DETERMINATION : We had a discussion. Training team and its collective experience. Observation of Peer group companies within the industry. Training Needs as seen by Training team. Training needs as seen by the recipients of training, that is sales team. Field and staff. Trainings mandated by the regulator. We finalized on mutually agreed parts and kept in abeyance, where we had different opinions from the sales team.

QUESTIONNAIRE ON TRAINING NEEDS : TO THE RECIPIENTS

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( make separate pages for different stake holders)

Here are the questions from our questionnaire , out of which, stake holders opinions and inputs were sought, on Training Needs at Peerless. These interviews were conducted at 3 levels with 3 sets of people .

1. Recipients of Training : Our field ( agents) and service and administration staff at office ( Line and Staff).
2. Immediate supervisors : People in the hierarchy to whom , the above Line & Staff report to : i.e., Branch managers, Marketing Officers.
3. Top and Middle Management : Regional Sales Managers, General Manager-Sales, Vice President-Sales etc. ( do it 5 questions)

Here are the questions.

1. To The Field and Staff ( Recipients of Training )

1. Now that our company is shifting its line of business from RNBC ( Residuary Non Banking Company) to FPD ( Financial Products Distribution),  what are your thoughts about our company’s prospects ?
2. In this type of new line of business ( FPD) what do you think are our company’s traditional strengths and weaknesses ?
3. In order to turn our inexperience into opportunity, what are the areas on which , do you think you need training ?
4. You are the person ( field person) who is in direct contact with the end customer and in direct contact with him /her. What type of new knowledge do you think you should acquire ? How will it help you in new line of business ?
5. Sales people in this Insurance  industry : What are the important knowledge areas , that they MUST be proficient in, for lasting success ?
6. Apart from acquiring new knowledge about the new domain, what new skills do you think, our sales people should acquire, in order to be successful in this business ?
7.  Do you think, Domain related inputs would be enough for you to enable you to succeed in business ?
8. We have different regulators ( RBI, SEBI, & IRDA) for different business verticals. What in your opinion, might be more important regulatory aspects, that MUST be included in our training programs ?
9.   How important are ‘ Role Plays’ for practicing sales pitch and how much time, do you think should be given for them in a session ?  
10. How important is ‘ on field ‘training on ‘ one to one ‘ basis, and how can training managers help you in this area ? What are the benefits ?

QUESTIONNAIRE ON TRAINING NEEDS

To Immediate Supervisors ( Branch & Area Sales Managers )

1. How do you think Training can enable you and your team of people, to achieve their targets ?
2. What are the inputs you want – in our product related training to the field force ?
3. What regulatory aspects do you think, are too important to miss and must be included in field training session s ?
4. Job profile of your operation & customer service staff – has changed due to change in business vertical. What new training inputs they need, to help them in their key deliverables and excel in their new profiles?
5. General insurance is also a new business vertical for us. What training inputs are important for your Sales Officers, to help them meet expectations ?
6. We work in a network business model ? What key skills do your Team Leaders need ? What are the areas they need improvement on ? What content do you suggest ?
7. Do you think behavioural patterns of your staff or sales people needs improvement or change and what behavioral trainings do you think are required ? What are main ‘ pain areas’ as of now ?
8. What problems do you face usually , in interpersonal aspect of your business and who are the target segment that needs training on this aspect ?
9. As we depart from selling deposit products ( with guaranteed return) to market linked product (  which do not offer such gurantee ), what new orientation do sales people need and what training inputs are required ?
10. In the new scenario, as a business manager, what new skills and competencies do you need ? And what type of trainings do you think you need ?

Questionnaire on Training Needs : To Top & Middle Management

1. Now that you have entered into a new vertical, how is the job profile of your different line managers and staff going to change ? And what new skills do they require ?
2. Has the job description of your various line managers and middle managers changed, as a result of your foray into new business ? If so, what are the new key deliverables ? What type of re-skilling and training would they need, to ENABLE them ?
3. In the new business vertical of Insurance, have your expectations from your field force ( agents ) changed ? What new inputs do they need , to enable them , to fulfill those expectations ?
4. This business is totally new to you , even though you are a general manager / middle manager. In the changed situation, what new inputs do you need from Training Department ?
5. What are your expectations on the newly formed Training Department ? What do you think, their focus areas should be ?
6. Apart from sales & marketing functions, which other functions  do you feel, should be trained and re-skilled thoroughly, to make them to do their work better ?
7. Now that you are entering a new business, from non-banking to Insurance & Mutual funds, is there any RESISTANCE from  employees, functions and departments ? If there is, how do you think it should be overcome ? How can Training Department help you in this problem area, to take all people along ?
8. You are very bullish about the prospects of the organization, naturally. What career progression plans do you have for your key employees ?  Where do you see some of them, 3 years hence forth ? To help them to reach there, what  new skills and competences do they need ?
9. What new knowledge areas do your employees need, who have bright prospects in your company ?
10. What are the core competencies and weaknesses of the company ? In which areas have they traditionally done well ? Which areas are you traditionally weak ? Should we focus on building on our strengths ? Or on working on our weak areas ? How can Training Department help you, in either case ?

ANNEXTURE 1 :TRAINING NEEDS TABLE. INDIVDUAL, GROUP & ORGANIZATIONAL

SRL NO	NAME OF THE AGENT	TRAINING NEEDS
		FRONTLINE SALES ( AGENTS)
1	Md.Khairunnisa Begum	OCCUPATIONAL / ORGANIZATIOAL NEEDS
2	Bala Narsimhaiah	1. Conceptual inputs of domains.
3	Mr.Manda Swamy	2.Company related inputs
4	Mrs.Amtati Suryakala	3.Regulatory aspects
5	Mr.Govinda Ram Ramesh	3.Product training
6	Mr.Ch.Srinivas	4.Process based training.
7	Mr.Mothuku Laxmaiah	5.Training on after sales service.
8	Mrs.M.Sharada	6. Product Knowledge of Life Insurance
9	Mr.Konka Vijay Kumar	7. Product Knowledge of General Insurance
10	Mr.Ch.Mallesh	8. Product Knowledge of Mutual Funds.
11	Mrs.Gattoori Lakshmi	9. Regular Industry updates.
12	Mr.Anugu Sai Reddy
13	Mr.Linga Venkatesh	INDIVIDUAL NEEDS ( AGENTS)
14	Mr.Kemmasaram Ramesh	1. Presentation skills ( self  & products)
15	Ms.V.Manjula	2.Fact Finding skills - risk profiling
16	Mr.Ch.Kanakaiah	3.Need analysis skills.
17	Mr.N.Bhasker Reddy	4.Objection handling skills.
18	Mr.B.N.Suryaprakash Raju	5.Closing skills.
19	Ms.Ambati Sangeetha	6.Referral / Lead Generation skills.
20	Mr.Kokkonda Lakshmi
21	Mr.Pilla Venkatesh	INDIVIDUAL NEED
22	Ms.Kothakonda Veena	1. Leadership
23	Mr.Sirisilla Balakrishnaiah	2.Motivation
24	Mr.G.Aravind Kumar	3.Goal Setting.
25	Mrs.Andol Lakshmi
	SALES SUPERVISORY STAFF	MARKETING OFFICERS / BR.MANAGER
		GROUP NEEDS
	Mr.Venu Gopal.	1. Conceptual inputs of domains.
	Mr.Paresh Nath Sinha	2.Company related inputs
	Mr.Satish Kumar	3.Regulatory aspects
	Mr.K.Satyanarayana Murthy, BM	3.Product training
		4.Process based training.
		5. Inter personal skills.
	NON SALES / ADMIN AND	SERVICE STAFF
1	Mrs.K.V.Krishna Sodary	OCCUPATIONAL/ORGANIZATIONAL NEED
2	Mrs.Radha Rani	1. Conceptual inputs of domains.
3	Mr.P.V.Ramana	2.Company related inputs
4	Mr.T.R.S.Raju	3.Product training
5	V.Vinay Kumar.	4.Process based training.
6	Mrs.Sneha Latha	5.Service & Claim Settlerment training
7	Mr.Naga Lakshmi	6.Basic underwriting
8	Mrs.Patel Vijaya Lakshmi Reddy
9	Mrs.Sushant Kumar Adhikary	INDIVIDUAL NEED
10	Mr.Samir Roy	1. Time Management
11	Mr.Rami Reddy	2.Conflict resolution.
12	Mr.Upendra	3.Telephone skills.
13	Mr.Srinivasa Raju
14	Mr.James
15	Mr.Kareemuddin Siddiqui

Notes : 3 types of groups, front line sales, service and admin, and marketing officers ( including Branch manager) were identified.
Their occupational / individual / speical needs identified.
Some training needs are COMMON across categories, as the organization has ventured into a different kind of business domain.
Details of these training topics ,were provided in ANNEXURE 2 FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY METHOD – ANNEXURE 2 Training Needs of Peerless General Finance We have broadly classified Training Needs as (a) Organizational Needs (b) group needs  (c) special needs, if any. 3 Groups were identified. (1) Front line sales people ( agents) (2) Marketing officers & Branch Manager ( 4 numbers , in all) & (3) Service, non-sales & administration staff ( 15 people). Their training needs were mentioned in the XL sheet attached. Here are the details. Organizational Needs :  Organization is making a transition from selling RNBC ( Residuary Non Banking) products, which are saving based and retun-guaranteed , to Risk based products, viz., Life Insurance and General Insurance products, the following Organizational Needs were identified.           Field Training : Conceptual Inputs ( for all categories, all functions, all levels) Company is making a transition from selling fixed interest rate deposit products ( RNBC products, Residuary Non Banking Proudcts) , to complex financial products, where agents need to understand this complexity involved and should be able to explain to customers in simple terms, without using jargon, and procure business. Our agents are now required to sell, ‘ Risk’ based products. There are 2 types are risk involved. Market risk ( for returns) to be borne by the customer and life risk ( insurance) to be borne by the company. Saving product can be sold to anyone. But here, agent should choose the customer carefully and understand his / her risk profile. Hence our agents need a lot of conceptual training and inputs , to understand the concept of risk and management of risk and its mitigation. Hence, our training content and module should have this conceptual input. Examples : The examples to explain concept should be highly localized, the ones , our agent can easily understand and relate to, things that they can readily see in their daily life. Hence training should write a meticulous trainers notes , before proceeding to deliver the content, in a manner a rural audience can understand. Domain Based Concept Inputs ( To All )  : Selling of complex financial products is new to Peerless agents. Hence, the following concepts are to be included in our Training Modules : (a)    of Life insurance : how much insurance is needed ? Why insurance ? Benefits ? etc. And how to choose the right customer for this . (b)   Concept of non-life ( general) insurance. Why and how much ?  Methodolgy of claim settlement. What risks are exempted and why. (c)    Concept of health insurance. Methodology of claim settlement. What types of diseases are exempted and why ? (d)   Concept of Mutual Funds. How they operate. How customer can get benefit out of flucuation in markets. Concepts of Rupee Cost Averaging and Systematic Investments. (e)    Concepts of risk, liquidity, safety, risk-to-return ratio. Concepts of different ‘ Financial Instruments’ such as Debt, Equity, Gilt, Liquid Fund. What are they ? Who manages them ? How they differ from one another ? What kind of customer is suitable for each of them ? What is risk appetite of different customers and how they differ ! Sales Training to Field : Product Related Inputs  The following are the companies and products we distribute, at Peerless. Because, we needed to transform our agents from relationship selling to ‘ knowledge’ based selling. Life Insurance Products of Max New York Life Insurance Company, a Gurgaon based company. General ( Non Life) Insurance products of IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company, also a Gurgaon based company. Mutual Funds of the following fund houses / asset management companies : Reliance Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Sundaram Mutual Fund, Tata Mutual Fund –to name a few. Peerless has come out with its own mutual fund, the Peerless Mutual Fund. Hence, out agent ought to have the knowledge of (a) the companies (b) the products they design and distribute (c) sales process (d) Key benefits they offer to customers (e) how they differ from competitors’ products in the market and (f) why the customer should buy from us, when there are so many alternative products in the markets , viz., our Unique Selling Points. Sales Training to the Field : Process Based Inputs ( All functions ) Back ground : These products are new to field force, employees, to everyone at Peerless. People buy these products ( Life Insurnace, General Insurance, Mutual Funds) and we also need to settle the claims at some point in future. Either Maturity claims, or death claims, accident claims in case of motor insurance and health / hospitalization claims in case of health insurance. Hence the following process training needs were unearnthed, during our thorough Training Need Analysis. Process Training for Life Insurance :  How to choose a customer, medical tests criteria. Death claim process Partical withdrawal process. Nomination. Assignment. Need for age proof, identity proof, anti money-laundering guidelines, need for PAN number etc. Process Training for General Insurance ( Non Life ): Accident Claim process for Vehicles. Hospitalization claim process for medical insurance. Exceptions and clauses. Proofs and documents required. Third Party Administration process. Income tax laws . Mutual Funds Process :  Investment process. Documents needed at the time of investing. Proofs needed and forms to be filled – at the time of partial or full withdrawals, switching etc. Individual Needs   So far, we have covered  Organization Needs for Training. What training needs the Organization has, in  order to achieve its business targets and goals, in the medium term and long term. Now, for the organization to succeed at institutional level, EACH INDIVIDUAL also must succeed, at personal level ! When all individuals involved will succeed in their goals, naturally and automatically, organization too, will succeed in its mission. Here are the individual needs of sales people ( field) identified : If they are proficient in the following skills , they are more likely to succeed, at individual level. Skill Based Training to the Field ( Agents ) Fact finding skills ( for risk profiling etc) presentation skills ( pertaining to products) Objection handing skills Closing skills Referral / Lead generation skills. Special Needs for Network Marketing Company life Peerless General Finance. ( To marketing Officers and Branch Managers ) We operate in an 18 Tier and 5 Tier structure on network marketing. Hence, our agents, apart from selling skills, must have some interpersonal and leadership skills also, in order to drive their teams to optimum performance. Such as 1.Goal Setting. 2.Team Building and team management 3.Leadership skills. Coaching and mentoring skills. Councelling skills. Time Management skills. public speaking skills. Social networking skills.                                      To the non-sales / administration / service staff : ( special need) Basic under writing and scrutiny of proposal forms . Computer related inputs. Such as login in. Method of Delivery : 1.Mostly instructor led, class room training. 2. To be interactive, with tests and quizzes at the end of each session. 3.Role plays during the training session, for skill transfer. 4 . Both presentation and post  training hand-outs to be in vernacular. 5.Cash prizes for the best participants during the class room session.

                        A PREFACE TO REPORT ON 5 TRAINING SESSIONS .

Detailed report on each of the 5 trainings sessions , adhering to the chapter flow as suggested by our project guide, Mr.K.M.Dheer, has been discussed here.  Each report provides an overview and contains details about the background & context, training objectives ( of organization, of training department and of the learners ), topics discussed, content, methodology used , Aids used and initial feedback of the participants , soon after the session.

                                                SESSION TITLES

Training Session 1 : Introduction to the concept of Risk, Life Insurance, Economic Value of Human Life, how to assess the same. To field people and agents.

Training Session 2 :  New Product  Launch Training. Unit Linked Insurance Plan. Concept, Product and selling methods.  To Field people and agents.

Training Session 3 : Fundamentals of Basic underwriting and Operations  of Life Insurance. Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and regulatory requirements. To Operations Staff.

Session 4 : Basics of Mutual Funds. Concept . Product. Presentation methods. To agents.

Session 5 : Goal Setting, to achieve organizational and personal goals. To managerial and supervisory staff.

Training Session : 1

Background :

Peerless General Finance has been a non-banking finance company selling deposit products, guaranteed by RBI. Now, it has shifted to distributing Life Insurance Products of Max New York Life Insurance Co.  All agents need to be trained on risk-based & market-based products

Organizational Objective : To enable our field force to :

(a)   Do need analysis of the prospective customer

(b)   Present the product to the prospect

(c)    Handle objections, if any, and give clarifications to the prospect

(d)  Close the sale and

(e)   Earn a decent living and achieve the company’s targets ( in the short term) and objectives ( in the long run)

Topic : Introduction to the concept of Risk, concept of Life Insurance, Economic Value of Human Life and one insurance product.

Venue : Karim Nagar. 

Date :  16.August 2010.

Participant’s Background :   Our Front Line sales people . Our Agents. Peerless General Finance works in a multi level marketing set up involving agents. These agents are the ones who actually sell it customers.

Very senior agents. Aged between 40 to 50 years old. With the company for the past 20 years or more. Used to selling debt based saving and deposit products.  Very experienced in selling and customer service and financial products but totally new to insurance.

Training Objective : To make the audience, familiar with the concept of Life Insurance , types of Life Insurance, applicability. Also train them on ONE product initially.

Learners Objective :  To learn the concept and about the new products of the new business that company undertook, and be successful in the new area too, making good use of their existing client network and earn a good living standards.

 Content & Outline :  As mentioned earlier, Peerless General Finance has been an RNBC ( Residuary non banking company) company, selling interested based deposit products to customers , with returns that were guaranteed by RBI. Now, with RBI’s directives, company has to close down RNBC business by 2013 and hence, it chose to enter Financial Product distribution, consisting of, among the other things, Life Insurance.

Though the agents are well experienced in sales of financial products, and customer handling and service, the concept of Life insurance and selling risk based products is new to them. Hence, the importance of Training.  Besides, there is a bit of anxiety and lower levels of confidence in them, as the product line is new and they didn’t know how to pitch it to customers.

So , we took the instance of one such session that took place in Karim Nagar, 160 Km away from Hyderabad , where our branch was situated.

Methodology :  Since this is technical training, or ‘ to know’ training, this was instructor led , class room delivery was predominant. Since the subject is new and participants had moderate education back ground and from rural area, ‘ recapture’ is required for every 20 minutes, to check the landing and retention.

Audio Visual Aids :   Lap top and projector. Total module had some 50 power point slides.  ( one sample is attached ) . A mike. Vernacular Hand outs , at the end of the session.

FEED BACK AND REACTION LEVEL EVALUATION :

Feed back was taken in vernacular as our trainees can’t write in English. A sample is enclosed. Feed back , immediately after the training, has been taken at 2 levels.

1. Reaction level evaluation, as to how they felt about the training session.
2. Knowledge level evaluation, in the form of Quiz , at the end of the Training session.

Reaction Level :   The following feed back came from the audience ( assorted).

More such training programs should be conducted regularly. We are now more confident about selling the new products range. We understood about the concept of Risk, Insurance, and Economic Value of the asset called Human Life. In future, role plays too, should be conducted. Some refresher training should be conducted , on the same subject, after a few weeks. Industry specific ( Insurance) news and updates should be made part of the training sessions.

Enclosures :

Annexture I : List of participants.

Annexture II : Hand outs .

Annexture III : Photograph of the session.

.

SESSION 1

:

VENUE : KARIM NAGAR.

Date : 14.August.2011.

                                                PARTICIPANTS LIST

1.     Swargam Srinivas.

2.     Ambala Srinivas.

3.     M.Lakshman.

4.     M.S.N.Goud

5.     B.Raja Mouli.

6.     Sadiah.

7.     Moinuddin.

8.     Mohan Babu

9.     Mohan Prasad

10.                        Devaiah.

11.                        Mr.Mukunda Rao.

12.                        Malla Reddy.

13.                        Veerappa.

14.                        Gopal Reddy.

15.                        V.Venkateswarlu.

16.                        Manthani Sathyanarana Reddy.

17.                        Bhoomi Reddy

18.                        Jalapathi Reddy.

19.                        K.V.Veeresam Goud.

20. P.Ravinder.

REACTION QUESIONNAIRE SAMPLE : SESSION 1

1.      To what extent, your confidence to sell, has increased after this training ?

Great extent   5          4          3          2          1          Not at all.

2.      How did the trainer cover the topics ?

Excellent        5          4          4          2          1          Poor

            3. How helpful  was the session for you, to improve your productivity ?

Most useful   5          4          3          2          1          Least useful .

3.      Do you think the program has achieved its stated objectives ?

Mostly                        5          4          3          2          1          Least.

4.      Has your understanding of the topic improved after the session ? To what extent?

Mostly                        5          4          3          2          1          Not at all.

5.      To what extent the training was interactive and involved the participants ?

Very much    5          4          3          2          1          Least.

6.      Were the post training hand outs given for further reading, adequate ?

Very much    5          4          3          2          1          Least

             7.Do you feel the content , relevant to your work ?

Very much    5          4          3          2          1          Not at all

            8.How was the ambience and venue ?

Excellent        5          4          3          2          `           Not good.

           

9. What are the 3 most useful points you learned during this session ?

1.

2.

3.

10. What are 2 suggestions you can give us, to improve the session further in future ?

1.

2.

Signature of the participant :                                              Date :

CONTENT HAND OUT TRAINING SESSION 1

Insurance is basically about loss sharing. All other types of savings and investments are about profit sharing. Insurance is a trust and the company, in a way, is a trustee.

Insurance is about – ‘ Fortunate Many’ sharing the losses of the ‘ Unfortunate Few’. Only, we do not know who the unfortunate few will be. But past records give us some pattern about the future.

Ecomonic Assets : Every human life and property and good bought, are economic assets. They yield us some comfort or profit. There is a cost of replacement, if they are damanged.

Human Life Value :: Every human life has some economic value. It differs from person to person.

If a 30 year old person is earning Rs.5 lacs per annum. He / She will retire at 60.

Future earning years : 30. If anything happens to him /her , their family will lose all their future earnings, i.e.,  5 lacs X 30 = Rs.1.5 crores !

This is human life value.

Activity : Please calculate YOUR OWN human life value, based on your earnings and your future years of service.

Risk : Concept of Risk is associated with insurance. Risk= may or may not happens. But if it were to happen, will create an adverse impact.

Insurable interest : This mean, the person buying insurance, must have financial interest in what he is insuring. That means, he / she must incur some loss, if risk happens.

Concept of Indemnity : Insurance is a loss sharing device. Customers shouldn’t try to make profit out of it.

Moral Hazard : If I try to make profit out of an adverse event, it’s called ‘ Moral Hazard’. For example, I insure my shop and leave it to fire.

Utmost Good Faith : Person buying insurance must reveal only true information about him/her.

Hiding, or suppression of material fact, results in Moral Hazard.

TRAINING SESSION 2

Background : Peerless General Finance has been a Residuary Non Banking Finance Company ( RNBC ), with presence all over India and selling saving & deposit products ,  which have fixed interest rates, through its well spread agent network, to predominantly rural customers. 

Now with RBI directive, it has to stop selling RNBC products and hence decided to distribute Life and General Insurance Products.  In the first round of training session rolled out pan India, we have imparted training on the concepts of Risk and Insurance and an Endowment Product, called ‘ Max Mangal’.  Now we need to enable them to sell Unit Linked Products, which are complex in nature.

Organizational Objective  : Unit Linked Insurance Plan contributes more than 80% of premium  revenue to an insurance It’s important that, our agents understand the structure of the products better. Success of this product & its acceptance are very important for the company, from strategic and revenue point of view. 

Topic :  Introduction of new Unit Linked Insurance Products about to be launched, and the concepts that are basis for these products.

Date & Venue : Siddipeta. Medak district. Date : 14.August.2011.

Participants Background : Our agents. From rural back ground. Aged about 40 to 50  years old. Experienced. Education : Up to High School. Very few graduated. But experienced in selling and  each one has  a customer list of his own.  Almost all are men, except one or two, women agents.

Training Objective : To enable our field force ( agents) to sell these complexly structured Unit Linked Insurance Plans ( ULIP s , as they are popularly called) to their prospective customers successfully and enable them to answer any doubts and objections , so that they can close successfully.

Learners Objective  : To learn about these products and be able to sell in a highly competitive insurance industry ( with 25 active players), to convey the USP of the products, and earn regular monthly income , to enhance their standard of living.

Content & Outline : Now, market is flooded with ULP products, which have 2 sections, Insurance and Investment. 80% of the revenue to insurance companies comes from these ULIP s. This investment is market linked and concepts of market linked and non-guranteed return must be explained to our agent force. They are new to equity market and stock market and some basics of stock market lingo, and concepts like NAV etc to be explained to them.  There were to be a lot of doubts and we have to make participants to feel at ease , in asking doubts and give clarifications.

Some resistance from participants has to be overcome. So long, they have been used to selling ‘ guaranteed & fixed income’ products. Now, they have to sell (equity) market linked products, whose returns are not guaranteed. This is the main part of resistance.

Methodology :  Class room, instructor led training. At a slow pace, in vernacular language, so as the audience can follow. A ‘ recapture’ every 20 minutes or so. Lecture method, with some quizzes.

Audio Visuals : Lap top and projector. Total module had some 50 power point slides.  ( one sample is attached ) . A mike. Vernacular Hand outs , at the end of the session.

Feedback and Reaction Level Evaluation :  “ I have had SOME understanding about how various financial instruments work, like Debt, Equity. As we face the customers while selling, they may ask different doubts. Hence we need a refresher training on objection handling of these products, 15 days later. We need to know more about stock market, customer risk profile etc. In case we have doubts in the field, trainer should be accessible to us via his mobile phone,  for some small clarifications.

Knowledge Evaluation : In the form of Quiz.

 Annexture 1 :  HAND OUTS ; Synopsis of the training in Telugu, vernacular language. Suggestions for further reading : ‘ Business Section ‘ of Telugu news papers, for industry updates and regulatory updates.

Annexure 2 :  PHOTOGRAPH OF THE TRAINING SESSION :  Has been enclosed.

Annexture 3 : PARTICIPANTS LIST : Enclosed.

                   HAND OUT FOR  SESSION 2

LIFE MAKER PREMIUM :

          UNIT LINKED INSURANCE PLAN ( ULIP)

Minimum age at Entry : 1 year.

Maximum Age at Entry : 65 years.

Term : 10 years to 30 years.

Minimum Sum Assured : Rs.50,000/-

Minimum Premium : Rs.20,000/- per annum

Mode : Annual Mode only. No quarterly or half-yearly mode.

Sum assured : 10 times the premium (minimum) to 30 times the premium( maximum), depending on customer choice and preference.

Maturity Benefit : Fund Value.

Fund Value : No.of units on a given date X unit value.

Death Benefit : Sum Assured or Fund Value which ever is higher.

No.of Funds :

Super growth fund : 100% in equity.

Growth fund : 70% in Equity and 30% in Debt.

Balance Fund : 50% in Equity. & 50% in Debt.

Conservative Fund : 20% in Equity & 80% in Debt.

Secure Fund : 100% in Debt.

Note : Customer can choose any of the above funds or in combination of the above, depending on his/her risk profile.

You can help customer in risk profiling.

Premium Payment Term : Full term.

Revival Period : 3 years from the date of last payment ( if customer stops payment in between).

Redirection : Available.

Switch between funds : Available.

Nomination Change : Available.

Withdrawal facility : After 3 years.

Minimum amount of withdrawal : Rs.5,000/-/.

Minimum Balance after withdrawal : One year premium.

                                    LIST OF PATICIPANTS : SESSION 2 :

                                    Siddipeta , 14.Aug.2011.

List of participants.	Hyderabad Branch	Peerless General Finance
Serial Number	Agent Name	Agent Code Number
1	Md.Khairunnisa Begum	191100505
2.	Bala Narsimhaiah	191100573
3	Mr.Manda Swamy	191100599
4.	Mrs.Amtati Suryakala	19110026
5.	Mr.Govinda Ram Ramesh	191100391
6.	Mr.Ch.Srinivas	19110425
7	Mr.Mothuku Laxmaiah	191100602
8.	Mrs.M.Sharada	191100656
9.	Mr.Konka Vijay Kumar	191100662
10.	Mr.Ch.Mallesh	191100698
11.	Mrs.Gattoori Lakshmi	191100724
12.	Mr.Anugu Sai Reddy	191100332
13.	Mr.Linga Venkatesh	191100413
14.	Mr.Kemmasaram Ramesh	191199374
15	Ms.V.Manjula	191100389
16.	Mr.Ch.Kanakaiah	191100422
17.	Mr.N.Bhasker Reddy	191100624
18.	Mr.B.N.Suryaprakash Raju	191100645
19.	Ms.Ambati Sangeetha	191100703
20.	Mr.Kokkonda Lakshmi	191100414
21.	Mr.Pilla Venkatesh	191100421
22.	Ms.Kothakonda Veena	191100536
23.	Mr.Sirisilla Balakrishnaiah	191100648
24.	Mr.G.Aravind Kumar	191100719
25.	Mrs.Andol Lakshmi	191100719
26.	Mr.A.Mallesham	191100417
27.	Mr.Kothakonda Rajeshwar	191100016
28.	Mr.Bejjanaboina Kanakaya	191100598
29	Mr.Mudigonda Ashok	191100714
30.	Mr.Perla Naresh	191100720
31	Mr.Nagulapalli Sivalingam	191100721
32	Mrs.B.Mamatha	191100054
33	Mr.A.Poshaiah	191100617
34	Mrs.B.Archana	191100619
35	Mr.M.Srinivas	191100709

TRAINING SESSON 3.

Background :  Peerless General Finance has been a Residuary Non Banking Finance Company ( RNBC ), with presence all over India and selling saving & deposit products ,  which have fixed interest rates, through its well spread agent network, to predominantly rural customers. 

Now it has entered Financial Product distribution which comprises of Life and General Insurance Products and Mutual Funds , for which, the staff are not familiar with. To familiarize them with the products, processes, and concepts – is very important in ensuring smooth transactions, operations and customer service, to both internal and external customers.

Organizational Objective :  To enable the non sales and administration staff to carry out the operational aspect of insurance . To familiarize them with new concepts, regulations, proposal form filling etc. To enable them to carry out the new line of business smoothly.

Topic :  Fundamentals of Basic underwriting and operations  of Life Insurance to service & administration staff, with concepts of Insurance . Also on proposal form filling and annextures

Date & Venue : Hyderabad. on  10.June.2011.

Participants Background :  Customer Service and administration staff. They all have experience in non-banking business domain and are new to life insurance, its processes and a different regulatory framework ( IRDA ) under which, we need to complete documentation satisfactorily.  

Training Objective :  Our department’s objective is to ENABLE these experienced staff who are new to this business vertical, to fit into new job profile and new deliverables and make them do it well.  It needed a lot of new learning and a fair amount of unlearning as well.

Learners Objective :  To perform the new line of job better and to rise up to the new challenge. To serve the internal customers ( our agents / field) better. Proving their worth in the new set up and enhancing their career prospects.

Content & Outline :  The company has taken a new product line. Service and administration staff are the key interface between our field force and the company and the Principal Companies, whose products we distribute. Considering the lower educational levels of our field force and agents, it’s possible that they may make some mistakes in filling up the forms.

Principal companies reject the applications if they find inaccurate information, insufficient information or over writing on the application form. Sometimes, they revert to the customer, asking for more information or seeking clarifications. This is called CFR – Call For Requirement.

As an efficient organization, we need to minimize the instance of CFR. One of the ways of measuring the training effectiveness is – number of CFR s in a branch ( Hyderabad , in this case) before and after training.

Methodology : Class room  , instructor led training – 50%. Hands-on, activity based training, 50%. In activities, we gave them actual proposal forms and asked them to fill the same, assuming , they are the customers. In another case, we bought some application forms and handed over the participants and asked them to find shortcomings. Prizes for correct diagnoses.  

Case Study method  : 2. We brought 2 application forms with common filling up mistakes. 1 containing insufficient information to log in. How to deal with those situations and how to educate the agents about this aspect, without offending them.

Audio Visuals :  Lap top and projector. Total module had some 50 power point slides.  ( one sample is attached ) . A mike. Vernacular Hand outs , at the end of the session.

Feedback and Reaction Level Evaluation :  Most of the audience rated the program between ‘ Very good’ and ‘ Excellent’.

Typical responses were : I learnt a lot about new products and processes.

 About what type of proposal forms  to accept and what to give back for more information.

 Basic underwriting norms and operational norms. Compliance and guidelines.

One day training is not sufficient. We need a refresher for every 15 days for next 2 months, meaning, 4 refreshers in all. During which we deal with and discuss real life situation problems.

Annexure 1 :  HAND OUTS : The written test at the end of the training program to the participants, is attached here with. It contains the training content.

Annexture 2 :  PHOTO GRAPH : Attached.

Anexture 3 :  LIST OF PARTICIPANTS , NAMES ETC : Enclosed.

TRAINING SESSION 3

 TEST AFTER THE TRAINING / QUIZ

( Answer Sheet to this is the post training hand out )

1. Insurance is a process of  (a) Profit Sharing (b) Loss Sharing (c) no sharing.
2. What is the meaning of ‘ Insurable Interest’ ?
3. Explain in 2 sentences, what is ‘ Utmost Good faith’ ?
4. Concept of Abrogation means (a) Risk tolerance (b) Risk aversion (c) Risk Transfer
5. Total number of signatures by customer in a proposal form ?
6. (a) 1   (b)  4  (c)  6

(6) How many types of proposal forms we have for Life Insurance Business ?

(7) How many types of proposal forms do we have for General Insurance Business ? What are they ?

(8) In how many places should an agent sign ? Where do you check for his / her signature ?

(9) What are the standard age proofs accepted in Life Insurance business, as per IRDA norms ?

(10) What are the standard age proofs required for General Insurance business, as per IRDA norms ?

(11) What are the age proofs required for Motor Insurance ?

(12) What is a cover note ? For how many days it is valid ?

(13) After what age, medical tests are to be conducted ?

(14) After what Sum Assured, should we conduct medical tests in Life Insurance ?

(15) What are the policies we sell, which do not require any medical tests at all ?

(16)  What is meant by ‘ counter offer’ ? Explain typical situations where counter offer is given ?

(17) In General Insurance, who is a ‘ Third Party’ ?

(18) Who are the first party and second party ?

(19) Under what circumstances, do we get Call For Requirement from our principal companies ?

(20) Under what section, Income Tax Relief is given to Life Insurance Customers ?

Photograph of Training Session 3

TRAINING SESSION 3

          LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

DATE : 10.June.2011. Hyderabad.

1.     Mr.Jagannadham. Branch Accountant.

2.     Mr.Karan Kumar. Senior Accountant.

3.     Mr.Paresh Nath Sinha. Asst.Manager

4.     Mrs.Krishna Sodary , Senior Assistant.

5.     Mrs.Radha Rani, Senior Assistant.

6.     Mrs.Patel Vijaya Lakshmi Reddy , Admin. Assistant.

7.     Mr.Venu Gopal. Specified person.

8.     Mr.Satish Kumar. Relationship Executive.

9.     Mr.Vijay Kumar. Admin

10.                        Mrs.Sneha Latha. Service Asst.

11.                        Mr.V.Lakshmi. Admin.

12.                        Mr.Rami Reddy. Admin.

13.                        Mr.Bhasker Reddy. Comupter Operatior.

14.                        Mr.P.V.Ramana. Asst.

TRAINING SESSON     4

Background : Peerless General Finance has been a Residuary Non Banking Finance Company ( RNBC ), with presence all over India and selling saving & deposit products ,  which have fixed interest rates, through its well spread agent network, to predominantly rural customers. 

Now company has launched its own mutual fund, in a highly competitive market. There are totally 37 Mutual Funds in India registered and recognized by SEBI. Both Indian and MNC mutual funds. Total assets under management ( AUM) is nearly Rs.8 lacs crores.

Peerless wants to grab a pie of this huge market and hence, want to enable their vast network of agents , with the knowledge and sales skills required to sell a Mutual Fund. Unlike a Life Insurance,  a MF customer is a high end customer. Hence, better presentation skills and superior service is required.

Organizational Objective : Our front line sales people, that is, our agents, are totally new to Mutual Fund business. Especially, to any type of ‘ Market Linked’ investment products. To familiarize them with the concept of Mutual Fund, money markets and equity markets. To make them ‘ Self Reliant’ so that, they can meet High Networth Individuals by themselves and clarify their doubts and close the sales. Without depending on marketing officers and BM, as usually happens.

Topic :  Basics of Mutual Funds.  Concept. Process. Product ( just one ). Peerless Income Plus Fund Product training. To Agents. For the first time, the company is launching its own Mutual Fund.

Date And Venue : 18.June.2011. Hyderabad. 10 AM to 4 PM.

Participants Background :  Frontline sales people. Agents. Not on pay rolls. With rural back ground. With 10 th standard or 10+2 qualification. Used to selling saving products with guaranteed return & interest-yielding. Now, they are required to sell market linked non-guaranteed investment products, to different clientatale.

Training Objective : To enable the rural sales force, hitherto used to selling guaranteed return products of fixed deposits and recurring deposits, to sell market linked mutual funds. Under a different regulator ( SEBI ). To enable them success in this field, since market potential is huge and untapped in rural areas.

Learners Objective :  For the past 2 years, company has been launching so many new product lines and products. To learn all about these new lines and products, to be able to sell them successfully : to grab the opportunity offered by change in business line. To enhance their monthly incomes.

Content & Outline :  In the past products, return was guaranteed by Reserve Bank and agents did not need to understand investment basics. Now , in Mutual Fund, they need to sell ‘ risk based products’ where, the risk, is to be borne by the customers : returns accrue to customers too !

Here, agents, besides understanding the financial products and equity / stock markets , are required to understand customer profiles and different variations. They need to do preliminary ‘ risk profiling’ of customers, understand their different risk appetites and return expectations, and then pitch the product ! That is the challenge, in this particular training session.

Methodology Employed :  Class room, Instructor led training. With recap, quiz and interactive discussion questions employed in between.

Audio Visuals : :  Lap top and projector. Total module had some 50 power point slides.  ( one sample is attached ) . A mike. Vernacular Hand outs , at the end of the session.

Feedback and Reaction Level Evaluation : Some of the responses.

1.      Extremely useful and educative.

2.      We need constant, weekly update of our Fund values and Net Asset Values.

3.      We need updates on competitor Mutual Funds NAV s in similar category.

4.      We need industry refresher every 15 days.

Annexture 1 : HAND OUTS :  A sample is enclosed here with.

Annexture 2 : PHOTOGRAPH : Attached.

Annexure 3 : LIST OF PARTICIPANTS : List attached.

                        TRAINING SESSION 4 HAND OUT :

MUTUAL FUND CONCEPT & PRODUCT

Mutual Fund is a trust in India, comes under Trust Act.

Regulator for Mutual Funds in India is SEBI, The Security Exchange Board of India. Just like IRDA to insurance and RBI to Banks.

There are 37 Mutual Funds in India. Indian and MNC companies. Total Assets Under Management is Rs.8 lacs crore and above.

Mutual funds are very liquid. You can invest any amount above Rs.1,000/- , no upper limit, can withdraw when ever you want.

Unit Trust of India was the first Mutual Fund in India. A Govt owned company.

Mutual fund Industry was opened up for private players in year 1993. Morgan Stanley was the first international fund,

Mutual Fund offers the following benefits to the investor. You must use all these words during your sales pitch with your customer.

1. Liquidity.
2. Transparency.
3. Less risk.
4. Diversification.
5. Choice
6. Flexibility
7. Professional Management.
8. Inflation beating return.
9. Low cost of operations
10. Well regulated.

In India, there are 4 types of financial markets. (a) Equity / Stock Markets (b) Debt Markets (govt & private) (c) Gilt markets ( govt only) (d) Money markets.

Each customer’s risk profile differs, based on his /her past experience, net worth, education level, and their priorities in life and financial goals. There is no ‘ One size fit all’  in MF s. We must do proper risk profiling.

Our product is called Peerless Income Plus Fund.

It invests 80% in Govt Securities ( Gilts) and 20% in equity markets. A Balanced Fund.

Our Funds under management is Rs.4,200 crores. Our present NAV is Rs.10.48. It changes every day. Posted on our web site.

Our annualized returns are close to 12%.

Photograph  of the training session 4

List of participants.	Hyderabad Branch	Peerless General Finance
Serial Number	Agent Name	Agent Code Number
1 ( SESSION 1)	Md.Khairunnisa Begum	191100505
2.	Bala Narsimhaiah	191100573
3	Mr.Manda Swamy	191100599
4.	Mrs.Amtati Suryakala	19110026
5.	Mr.Govinda Ram Ramesh	191100391
6.	Mr.Ch.Srinivas	19110425
7	Mr.Mothuku Laxmaiah	191100602
8.	Mrs.M.Sharada	191100656
9.	Mr.Konka Vijay Kumar	191100662
10.	Mr.Ch.Mallesh	191100698
11.	Mrs.Gattoori Lakshmi	191100724
12.	Mr.Anugu Sai Reddy	191100332
13.	Mr.Linga Venkatesh	191100413
14.	Mr.Kemmasaram Ramesh	191199374
15	Ms.V.Manjula	191100389
16.	Mr.Ch.Kanakaiah	191100422
17.	Mr.N.Bhasker Reddy	191100624
18.	Mr.B.N.Suryaprakash Raju	191100645
19.	Ms.Ambati Sangeetha	191100703
20.	Mr.Kokkonda Lakshmi	191100414
21.	Mr.Pilla Venkatesh	191100421
22.	Ms.Kothakonda Veena	191100536
23.	Mr.Sirisilla Balakrishnaiah	191100648
24.	Mr.G.Aravind Kumar	191100719
25.	Mrs.Andol Lakshmi	191100719
26.	Mr.A.Mallesham	191100417
27.	Mr.Kothakonda Rajeshwar	191100016
28.	Mr.Bejjanaboina Kanakaya	191100598
29	Mr.Mudigonda Ashok	191100714
30.	Mr.Perla Naresh	191100720
31	Mr.Nagulapalli Sivalingam	191100721
32	Mrs.B.Mamatha	191100054
33	Mr.A.Poshaiah	191100617
34	Mrs.B.Archana	191100619
35	Mr.M.Srinivas	191100709

TRAINING SESSION 5.

   

Background :  Peerless General Finance has been a Residuary Non Banking Finance Company ( RNBC ), with presence all over India and selling saving & deposit products ,  which have fixed interest rates, through its well spread agent network, to predominantly rural customers. 

Now they are into distribution of Life Insurance Products ( of Max Newyork Life) and General Insurance Products ( of IFFCO-Tokio), besides, their own Mutual Fund, the Peerless Income Plus Fund.

Goal setting of business targets is tricky because, each line of business, has different market size, different number of competitors in the fray and different customer profile and different regulator ( SEBI & IRDA, for instance).  Taking up all over India targets and breaking them up, region wise, and branch wise, had been done at Head Office.

Organizational Objective : At the start of the financial year, we have business goals, for the entire company, region and each branch of the company. Company objective in this program is to make the sales supervisory staff to understand what their goals are : revenue goals, profit goals, non-sales goals, assess the resources given to them, make optimal utilization of resources and achieve and surpass the goals given.

Topic :  Goal setting. Having clear goals at the beginning of the financial year, sharing with the team mates, assessing resources and helping the team achieve their goals and in the process, achieve team goals, branch goals and organizational goals in general.

Date & Venue : Hyderabad. 10.May.2011.Tue

Participants Background :  1 branch manager. 2 marketing officers. 2 assistant managers. 2 relationship executives. They comprise the sales supervisory staff in the company. Only Relationship Executives are juniors, with 25-30 year old age category. Others are all seniors. With the company for more than 20 years. In 40-50 years old age category.

Totally 7 supervisory staff. Each of them are given a team of 6-7 agents, whose business volumes, they are responsible for. Including branch manager.

Training Objective :  A branch has to achieve its profitability goals, to achieve sustainability. Task of the supervisory staff is to achieve the goals, through the team members. Training objective is to make the audience understand the importance of goal setting, clarity, strategy to achieve etc. Sharing the same with team members.  Making them get insight into the personal goals of each team members.

Learners Objective :  Sales supervisory staff, who are the target audience in this training session, have their personal career objectives as well as their group/team goals, and they need to achieve business goals of the organization. Their objective is to understand the company goals, share them with the team members, provide resources and support to team members, help them achieve their goals. In the process, achieving personal career goals.

Content & Outline :  Every job has some key deliverables and certain performance goals. But here in Networking marketing model, the supervisory staff need to share their goals with their team members. Split their goals into smaller parts and share with each member.

Setting, short term ( within 1 month), medium term ( present Quarter & next Qurater) and long term ( 1 financial year) goals to team members is imperative.

The team leader, in the process, must understand his own goals. And learn how to achieve them, with given resources.

They also need to explain to their team members, on what basis, the goals have been set. Explain, industry size, market potential in their own district, earning opportunity, competition and how they are faring , etc. Goals must appear justifiable and reasonable. Should not appear arbitrary.  Besides, the team leader must understand the personal financial goals of each team member, in short term and long term : and link the business targets to their personal targets, to make them self driven and self reliant. Those who set goals must also explain the financial rewards to the team members who , in future , will attain these goals.

Thus goal setting is a soft skill. It requires a lot of leadership skill, apart from knowing and sharing hard facts.  Getting an agreement on set goals is also important, considering, team members are all 40-50 years age bracket.

Methodology :  Class room, instructor led training. 50% lecture methods. 2 case studies . 1 on Life Insurance and 1 on General Insurance.

Audio Visuals :  Lap top and projector. Total module had some 30 power point slides.  ( one sample is attached ) . A mike. Vernacular Hand outs , at the end of the session.

Feedback and Reaction Level Evaluation :  Common rating : 4.2 on a 5 point scale averaged. Some of the remarks.

1. We need a review of goals , at the end of one month.
2. I have personally learned about the important of having clearer goals in my own life.
3. My ‘ wish’ list’ now has matured into goals.
4. I will be more demanding on myself in attaining my goals.

Annexure 1 : HAND OUT OF THE SESSION : Enclosed.

Annexure 2 : PHOTOGRAPH OF THE TRAINING SESSION :  Has been enclosed.

Annexure 3 : PARTICIPANTS LIST : Enclosed.

SESSION 5 : HAND OUT : GOAL SETTING.

.  TARGET AUDIENCE : Sales Supervisory Staff, including Branch Manager.

GOAL SETTING.

• Why Goal Setting :  It’s important, to manage our time better and more optimally, in achieving organizational goals, for a better future.
• What Type of Goals :  Goals should be SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound.
• Organizational Goals :  Share with them, what the organization wants to achieve, on macro, national level, in each business line. And our contribution.
• Group Goals :  Share with the team members, the branch goals.
• Team Goals :  There are 6 teams in each branch. Share with them, the team goals, for each business line. That is, on Life Insurance, General Insurance and Mutual Fund.
• Spend time with each team member and find out what their personal goals in life are. Do not limit yourself to financial goals only. There can be health goals, personal development goals, religious / spiritual goals, family goals and many non-financial goals. Such as more time for family etc.
• As a Team Leaders, try to align , to the extent possible, a person’s goals , both financial and non financial – to organization’s business goals. That way, you can create more self driven people.
• Getting a buy-in is important in goal-setting.
• Some people may want to change their goals. Be flexible or explain why certain numbers are ‘ non negotiable’.
• Explain the Peerless Career path in the next 2&1/2 years. Give him/her a visualization of where they would be , 2&1/2 years later.
• Explain them clearly, the 6-monthly promotion system ( in our MLM set up) that we introduced.
• Explain them the rewards that await them, for each next level of promotion they attain. 5 promotions in next 2&1/2 years.
• Explain them the exact commission structure of each product, in personal business as well as the Over Riding Commission (ORC) for getting business done through their team members.
• Explain them the target to be achieved, for getting Rs.10,000/- per month income for next 3 years.
• Explain them the Club Memberships we offer and eligibility criteria for the same.
• Ensure they understood : recap on promotion criteria, club membership criteria, commission structure and over riding commission.
• Set target dates. Get commissions. Ask what support they need. Offer support. Wish them well. Monitor progress.
• ( A quiz follows : on Peerless promotion structure, club memberships , foreign trips etc -- at the end of the session)
• Photograph of the session 5. Award distribution Ceremony

TRAINING SESSION : 5.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS.  PLACE : HYDERABAD.

TOPIC : GOAL SETTING. AUDIENCE : SALES SUPERVISORY STAFF.

1.     Mr.K.Sathya Narayana Murthy, Branch Manager.

2.     Mr.Paresh Nath Sinha, Asst.Manager.

3.     Mr.Karan Kumar. Asst.Manager.

4.     Mr.Venu Gopal , Marketing Officer.

5.     Mr.T.V.Raju, Marketing Officer.

6.     Mr.Satish Kumar, Relationship Executive.

7.     Mr.Mohan Shankar, Relationship Executive.

CHAPTER 3

PREFACE TO EVALUATION OF TRAINING

This is the evaluation of one training program in our company, on Mutual Funds, given to the sales and operations staff.

We followed the following steps, and assessed 2 stages of Kirkpatric model. Reaction level and Knowledge level  and also added ‘ skill’ level evaluation, when trainer accompanied the sales person in the field. We followed the procedure as mentioned below.

1.      Introduced the concept of training evaluation, methods, reasons, objectives etc.

2.      Before the program, decided on what content to be taught.

3.      Conducted a pre training test to participants, and assessed existing knowledge level.

4.      Made modification on content and methods, based on existing knowledge levels.

5.      Conducted the training program.

6.      Administered the reaction level evaluation form, to know , how the participants FELT about the program.

7.      Administered test to participants, after the training, and collated marks.

8.      Using the formula, assessed each participants’ and overall learning percentage, as a result of this program.

9.      Consolidated the reaction level evaluation, based on 5-point rating scale.

10.  Consolidated knowledge level evaluation, based on marks.

11.  Represented both, in the form of graphs.

EVALUATION OF TRAINING

cc.v.ramana. Regn.Number. LVI/16278.

Concept

Training Evaluation is important in assessing the effectiveness of the training program in terms of learning and finally, in terms of its effect on the revenue and profitability of  the organization.

However, we do not ( and cannot ) directly reach there ; estimating its effectiveness to the organization in terms of revenues, growth and profitability. There are steps involved. There are various models in vogue now.

There are Bramler model , Kirkpatric Model followed internationally and Promilla-Virmani model, more popular in India.

Evaluation , while not difficult, is a very methodical process. Which involves a step by step process. Training evaluation involves objectivity, which means, any person who conducts it should reach same / similar conclusions. And reliability, which means, even if the iterations are conducted a number of times, the results should not vary. Not much at least.  And consistency. Same methods should be applied to different programs in an organization.

 Objectives

Evaluation of training is important, both for profit oriented corporations as well as for non-profit organisastions.

Evaluation is important because, Training incurs expense, although it should be treated as ‘ investment’ , it is expense nevertheless. Hence, it is important for both for-profit and non-profit organization, to see, whether they are getting any return on their investment , and to what extent.

All functions in an organizations should be evaluated for their purpose, efficiency, effectiveness and their overall effect on the organization’s revenue or profit. Same goes with training.

An organization exists, mainly, for 2 purposes. 1. To sell more of its products and services. 2. To serve its customers, who bought its products or services.

That way, Training function assumes importance in both the above cases. It’s evaluation is important. Evaluation of sales training, process training and customer service training , is important – to measure its effect on the overall organization’s business ( or non-profit) objectives.

Importance

To the promoters and top management. Conducting one training program or multiple training sessions to various sets of participants ( employees) costs the company. In terms of trainer’s fee ( if he /she is external faculty) or salary ( in case they are internal trainers), location and transport expenses ( if conducted outside, away from workplace, which happens often), the opportunity cost to productivity ( since employees / training recipients are away from the work station during the training period), costs of equipment, room rent, lunch, etc. Hence, Organization wants to know whether, the time and energy and money spent – is translating into something valuable to the company. In terms of higher revenues ( in case of sales / productivity trainings), profits ( process trainings ), and higher good will and brand value to the company ( in case of service trainings).  And there ought to be objective parameters to evaluate, so that, if any department or function conducts an evaluation study, once or in repeated iterations, the results should be the same or nearly same.

To the Recipients : The employees or those who receive training. They may be new employees or seniors at different level in the hierarchy or at a different function. Each of them have some key deliverables and Key Result Areas ( KRI) and Key Performance Indicators ( KPI s ) , based on which they are judged, at the end of the year.  Their career growth, promotion and increments etc depend on what they deliver during the assessment period.

Therefore, the recipients of the Training want to know, whether, this training will be helpful to them in achieving their career objectives and personal and professional goals. If so,  which way ? And to what extent ? There must be parameters based on which, the AUDIENCE will judge a training ession.

The Training Department :

 To get the training budget, to conduct the training programs, to show, to top management and to recipients, and to all other stake holders, the utility and effectiveness of Training programs. The value of good training strategy to the organization. To prove the value of Training and its effect on financial and non financial objectives of the company. To show, that the money and time and human resources are well spent.

Evaluation must be based on some common principles such as clarity, objectivity , reliability and replicability and feasibility.

Stages of Evaluation :

Evaluation does not start at the END of the training program. Real Training Evaluation starts BEFORE the start of the training program ( weeks before, actually! ), for comprehensive assessment. Different stages of Evaluation of Training are :

1. Before the training program. To set the objectives clear. To align the training goals with the organization’s overall goals : financial and non financial.
2. During the training [program : To determine, whether we ( trainers & the audience) are on the right track, or going astray from the previously stated objectives. Midway course correction is the purpose.
3. After the training program.  There are many methods.

Models of Evaluation :

There are many proven, time tested and robust models of evaluation which are portable, can be applied to different industries, various functions and to various types of training. Main among them are :

Hamblin’s Model.

Kirkpatrick’s Design

Warr’s Freamework

Virmani & Premilla’s Model.

Peter Bramley’s Model. David Reay’s approach.

All the above models deal with various LEVELS of evaluations. We have mentioned about stages. Apart from stages, there are many levels.

They can be summed up as follows.

 Levels of Evaluation: 

Context Level

Training Input Level.

Reaction Level

Learning / Knowledge Level

Job Behaviour Level

Functioning Level

Skill Transfer Level

Results Level

Overall Effectiveness Level.

Some of the above are different only in nomenclature.

Levels can also be AT

1. Organization Level.
2. Team Level.
3. Individual Level.

Approaches to Training Evaluation : 

There are different approaches such as : Ultimate Value Approach, Trainee Centered Approach, and Training Centered Approach.

Which approach is the best ? Well, it depends on the context, industry etc and sometimes, a combination of the above is better suited to the situation.

Training Evaluation must be objective and there must be some mathematical / numerical representation of the value.

There are many Quantitative Approaches to measurement of Training outcomes. To name a few :

Observation ( Oberserver’s diaries)

Interview ( for width and depth : closed ended & open ended)

Questionnaire method

Rating Scales method

Paper and Pencil tests

Work Sample Tests ( in case of production workers / computer programmers)

Simulation

Assessment Centers

Individual and Group Performance Measures

Individual and Group Behaviour Measures ( behavioural training and services training)

After the evaluation is over, and some numerical data is achieved, the evaluator must link it to the Bottom Line results through cost benefit analysis.

Costs

While measuring costs, one must consider, Fixed Costs, Variable Costs, Supportive Costs, and Opportunity Costs (such as trainee’s day at the job)

Benefits

While measuring the benefits : one must consider Direct Benefits ( possible in sales training  and process training and production training etc), Indirect Benefits ( Services Training) and Long Term Benefits ( Behavioural training and Leadership and Soft Skills training).

One must consider the pitfalls in evaluations. Such as, it’s difficult to measure managerial trainings. Most long term benefits are from managerial and conceptual trainings. The higher the hierarchy , the more difficult it is to measure.

During this process, evaluation of individual training and entire training department is also imperative.

All evaluation methods and techniques must lend themselves to cross validation, to bring in objectivity and reliability.

There are many statistical methods are applied such as :

Mean

Median

Mode

Mean Deviation

Variance

Standard Deviation

Probability Sampling

And complex methods such as :

Parametric and non parametric sampling tests

Independent and Related Groups

Continuous and Dichotomous variables etc.

KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION

PRE TEST & POST TEST QUESTION PAPER:

Questions : 20.                                                                                  Max.Marks : 100.

1)      Offer document is issued by :

a)      Sponsor

b)     AMC

c)      Trustee

d)     AMC in the name of the Trust

2)      Initial expense of open-end fund can be amortised for :

a)      10 yrs.

b)     15 yrs.

c)      Cannot be amortised

d)     5 yrs.

3)      Expenses in c/w printing of KIM can be amortised for

a)      10 yrs.

b)     5 yrs.

c)      Cannot be amortised

d)     15 yrs.

4)      Offer document is required by MF

a)      as a SEBI requirement.

b)     As an investor’s requirement

c)      As a AMC requirement

d)     None of the above

5)      Rs.300 becomes Rs.600 in 8 years. Annualised Rate of return (absolute) is

a)      10%

b)     12.5%

c)      Data insufficient

d)     None of the above

6)      NAV at the beginning 21/-, after 18 months NAV is 23/-. The annualised NAV is

a)      1.56

b)     9.52

c)      6.34

d)     none of the above

7)      Interest rate and Bond Fund are related 

a)      Inversely

b)     Proportional

c)      No relation

d)     Directly

8)      If a charitable religious trust approaches you as a distributor

a)      Accept the application subject to the scheme being an eligible instrument

b)     Refer the offer document

c)      Reject the application

d)     Accept the application as a direct application

e)      None of the above.

9)      Application form is available with

a)      Offer document

b)     Abridged annual report

c)      KIM

d)     Bank Challan

10)  In case o an assured return scheme, MF Unitholder can sue

a)      AMC

b)     Sponsor

c)      Guarantor, who guarantees the return

d)     None of the above

11)  The minimum requirement for AMC is

a)      10 cr.

b)     10 cr. At all times

c)      30 cr.

d)     None of the above

12)  SEBI states that s security is to be considered as unquoted when

a)      Security is not traded in stock exchange

b)     Security is not traded for 30 days

c)      Security is not traded for 60 days

d)     None of the above

13)  Trial commission is justified in case of

a)      deferring the commission

b)     When an investor cancels his application for investment

c)      Agent can voluntarily return the commission for the cancelled application

d)     None of the above

14)  Ex-mark of 100% could be for a  

a)      Growth Fund

b)     Aggressive growth fund

c)      Index Fund

d)     Sector Fund

e)      Balanced Fund

15)  A high P/E in consideration to average market multiple could be of

a)      Value Fund

b)     Growth Fund

c)      Balanced Fund

d)     None of the above

16)  Which of the following is true :

a)      Investment in rated debt not to exceed 15% of NAV

b)     Investment in unrated debt not to exceed 10% of NAV

c)      Total investment in all debt not to exceed 25% of NAV

d)     All of the above

17)  MMMF is most likely to invest in

a)      Corporate Bonds

b)     Equity Shares

c)      G-Sec of maturity less than 1 year.

d)     Rated instrument

18)  A retired person with 25% equity risk and moderate risk appetite should invest in

a)      Balanced Fund

b)     Value Fund

c)      Diversified Equity Fund

d)     Growth Fund

19)  Which of the following is not a criteria for sponsor

a)      Networth to be more than unit capital

b)     40% net worth should be of sponsor

c)      20% of assets should be invested by sponsor

d)     None of the above.

20)  A high portfolio turnover ratio means

a)      The Fund is active

b)     Transaction cost is high

c)      High risk in investment objective

d)     All of the above

e)       

Answers to Question Bank :

1 B	2 C	3 C	4 C	5 C
6 B	7B	8 D	9C	10C
11. B	12.A	13.B	14.B	15.B
15.A	17.A	18.C	19.C	20.D

• Values rounded off to the nearest

Digit.

PARICIPANTS. PRE  & POST TEST MARKS. LEARNING INDEX

Formula for Learning Index   =           ( Post Test – pre test)

                                                ------------------------- X 100

                                                          100 – pre test

Bar Chat Enclosed.

NAMES	MARKS	MARKS	Percentage of Learning
Mr.K.S.N.Murthy, Branch Manager.	35	91	85
Mr.Venu Gopal. Marketing Officer.	46	84	83
Mr.Paresh Nath Sinha, Asst.Manager.	15	55	47
Mr.Karan Kumar. Senior Officer.	20	80	75
Mr.Satish Kumar. Sales Officer.	23	76	68
Mr.P.V.Ramana. Staff (Service & Admin)	36	66	46
Mrs.Krishna Sodary ( S & A )	51	78	55
Mrs.Radha Rani ( S & A )	44	84	71
Mrs.Vijaya Laxmi Reddy ( S & A )	53	82	61
Mr.Ambati yadayya. Senior Organizer ( sales)	18	64	56
Mr.D.Ravindra  ( S & A)	21	79	73
Mr.T.V.Raju. ( S & A )	14	62	56
Mr.D.S.N.Murthy. ( S & A)	28	69	57
Mr.Jagadeeswar Rao ( sales officer)	35	74	60
Mr.Jagannadham . Branch Accountant.	54	85	68
Mr.M.Bhasker Reddy. I.T & admin.	26	77	69
Average	32	75	63

Program Details for Evaluation :

For this evaluation, we had chosen the training program on Mutual Funds. The context is that, our Organization is launching its own mutual funds for the first time and all the staff had to be trained on the product and process.

For this we have chosen our Hyderabad branch , which as 15 staff, belonging to marketing and operation functions. 

Name of the Program : Mutual Fund Training.

Date and Venue : 10.Aug.2011. At our Hyderabad branch.

Trainer cum Facilitator : Myself, C.V.Ramana.

Duration : 2 days, 4 sessions.

Methodology employed : Instructor led training.

Whether there were tests : There were both pre training and post training tests and evaluation was done as per formula and methodologies.

                        REACTION LEVEL RESPONSE : FINDINGS

Audience response on : content / relevance / Timing / enjoyment / delivery / ambience. Immediate responses.

Content  : An overall rating of 4.5 . 10 people rated content as ‘ Excellent. 3 as very good. Out of a total of 15.  Bar Chart is enclosed.

Enjoying the session : 13 out of 16 participants said they enjoyed the training fully. The rest, mostly. Overall rating : 4.3

Whether the program has achieved its stated objectives ?

Average rating : 4.8 , different participants have given different rating. All has been consolidated and averaged out in the bar chart. On the program. On the trainer as well.

Whether it has helped the participants to achieve their objectives.:  90% agreed completely. Average rating on this parameter : 4.4

Content Relevance : Every body agreed it’s the mst relevant. Av.Rating: 5.

Duration :  Adequate.  Could have been split into 2 sessions instead of cramming lot of information into one session. Average Rating: 4.

Training Ambience : In the conference hall. They felt good. Since it’s done in the same city they are posted ( Hyderabad) it helped in preventing them into lapsing into ‘ holiday mood’, as generally happens when conducted in outside location. Average rating : 4.2

LEARNING / KNOWLEDGE LEVEL EVALUATION

Learning Evaluation : It’s done in 2 stages. One, we took their responses on ‘ Reaction Questionnaire’. Asked them to write ‘ 3 most important and valuable things they learnt in the training session. To ‘ reinforce’ learning.

Immediately after reaction questionnaire, we conducted a test. Candidates and their pre test and post test marks are attached here with.

Also, the reaction graph is attached. Formula for evaluation, that is

 ( post test score-pretest score) / (100-pre test score ) X 100 has been applied to every participants and overall average of the same , taken.

Test : Test was for 100 marks. Consisting of 20 questions of varying weightage. Earlier, we made a ‘ Question Bank’ with 1,000 questions and took 100 out of it.

I have attached a sample of 20 questions, for the purpose of our evaluation.

SKILLS EVALUATION - POST TRAINING

We can’t gauge improvement of skills unless they go into field and ACTUALLY SELL mutual fund to a customer. But because of strong conceptual inputs, their knowledge of financial instruments improved. As a result, their CONFIDENCE levels in dealing with customer objections ( anticipated) – has improved.

Skills improvement can be measured, only when we go to joint sales calls with the audience , post training. For that, we have a tool, in our organization.

MPT, The market Pulse Test: We went to 5 joint sales calls with the supervisory staff, over a period of one month AFTER TRAINING session. To measure the transfer of knowledge to the field / workplace.  In our organization, we call it ‘ The Market Pulse Test.

 I am attaching one such sample here, where we need to go to the sales calls, let THEM make the call, intervene minimum, resist the temptation to do the sales ourselves and observe. After each call, we do some post sales analysis with the person, and some de-briefing, on what went right and what could be better in next sales call. One such sample report is enclosed here with.

This joint field call, or ‘ Market Pulse Test’ was done with our Hyderabad branch manager. We gave weightage to 12 important aspects of sales and measured the same on 10 point scale. In the first call, the candidate scored 96 out of 120. It’s enclosed here with.

REACTION QUESTIONNAIRE : POST TRAINING EVALUATION

Rating : 1.Excellent. 2.Very good. 3.Good 4.Average.5.Poor

1. How do you rate the content of this training session ?

Excellent 5           4          3          2          1          Poor

                 

2. Enjoyability of the training session ?

5          4          3          2          1

3. Ability of the program to achieve its objectives ?

5          4          3          2          1

4. Ability of the program to help YOU achieve your objectives ?

5          4          3          2          1

5. Relevance of the content and subject, to your area of work ?

5          4          3          2          1

6.  How was DURATION of the training  ( PROGRAM) session ?

Adequate                               Not  Adequate                                 

7.      How were the training ambience, food and facilities ?

5    4          3          2          1

8. Improvement in the understanding of the subject, as a result of this training program ?

                        1                      2                      3                      4                      5

       9.    To what extent , your skills on the job improved, due to this training session ?

 1                     2                      3                      4                      5

                                    Little               somewhat      much 

9. Your oveall rating of this training session ?

 1                     2                      3                      4                      5 ( reverse order)

ABOUT THE TRAINER :

Please rate each trainer by placing his/her initials under the relevant score and for each aspect,

1. Knowledge of the subject

1                      2                      3                      4                                  5                                             

2. His/her obvious Preparation

1                      2                      3                      4                                  5                                 

c. Organization of sessions

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

d. Trainer’s style and delivery

                        1          2                      3          4          5

e. Ability to handle questions and clarify doubts

1          2          3          4          5

f. Producing a good learning climate

                        1          2          3          4          5

Name of the audience :                                           Signature :

Date :

                                                                                                           

PROGRAM EVALUATION : GRAPH AND PARAMETERS PARAMETER AV.RATING/5 Content 4.5 Enjoyability 4.3 Ability to achieve objectives 4.8 Ability to help participants 4.4 Content relevance 5 Duration 4 Training Ambience 4.2 Improvement in subject knowledge 4.3 Improvement in skills 4.1 Overall Rating 4.4 TRAINER EVALUATION : GRAPH AT THE END OF THE SESSION PARAMETER 5 knowledge of the subject 4.7 trainer's preperation 4.6 organisation of sessions 4.2 Training style & Delivery 4.5 Ablity to handle queries 4.8 Producting good learning climate 4.7 Overall rating of the trainer 4.5

MARKET PULSE TEST : JOINT SALES CALL : SKILL EVALUATION
Q- CARD		Peerless General Finance. Market Pulse Test.
MR.K.S.N.MURTHY. Branch Manager, Hyderabad	Date:  ___________________	27&28.September.2010
Date of Joining:                                03.Aug.2009                  Date of last training
Skill Sets	Excellent	Good	Fair / Avg	Poor
	10	6	3	1
Introduction	10	6
Opening Statement	10
Request for permission to ask questions		6
Probing Skills to identify needs		6
Presentation	10
Objection Handling Skills			3
Personal rapport with the customer	10
Closing skills	10
Attitude	10
Product knowledege		6
Competition knowledge			3
Reference asking skills		6
MARKET PULSE TEST GRAPHIC REPRESENATION OF SKILL ASSESSMENT

CHAPTER 4 : PREFACE TO CASE STUDIES

As per the suggestions and guidance of our project guide, Mr.Krishna Mohan Dheer, I have taken to topics as case studies :

1.      A problem where, Training is the solution ( Case Study 1 :” problem of choosing a right guest trainer)

2.      A crucial problem where Training is NOT the solution but Training Department’s  inputs were  needed to provide solution ( “ selection of the right insurance agent)

Here is how I have constructed the case studies .

1.Background of the company and industry

2.Definition of the problem, as seen my various stake holders from various angles and perspectives.

3. Various dilemma s and questions, on how to find a solution.

4. Solution to the problem.

5. How it was implemented , any problems and surprises faced.

6. How they were resolved and

7 Conclusion.

CASE STUDY 1 : PROLBLEM OF SELECTION OF RIGHT INSURANCE AGENT  :

Insurance Market Size in India :  In the year finished on December 2010, Life Insurance companies collectively logged in a First Year Premium of Rs.2,63,000 crores ! This is 23% higher than last years, which was Rs.2,20,000 crores ! This industry has been growing at a pace of 25% to 40% per annum, for the past 10 years, since it’s been liberalized.

To get even a small piece of this huge market segment ( 3 th biggest in the world ! ),

Why Right Selection of agent is important ?  

Because, he/she is the person who actually meets the customer and sells a policy. The rest of all departments in a company are support services only ! Facilitating the agent to sell.

Second, in India, people BUY THE PERSON FIRST. And then the policy. Hence, companies always formulate different procedures, honed by trial and error, for right selection.

Number of Agents in India : There are 29 lacs certified insurance agents in India, according to Industry Regulator  IRDA ( Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority), as of December 2010

CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE :

Insurance policy being an intangible product, insurance being basically a promise ! It’s important for the companies to find out, what kind of an agent , the customer prefers to buy from , and what kind of agents, they tend to avoid !

MODUS OPERANDI OF RECRUITING AGENTS AND ACTIVATING

In year 2009-2010 financial year, company has recruited, through their senior agents, some 2,000 new agents, from April 2009 to September 2009. Recruitment freezes after September because, in the next 6 months, we must train them, coach them, take them to the field and make them successful in selling so that, company gets business and profit and the agents, their commission and livelihood. That’s broadly, company strategy.

Legal / Regulatory Qualificaiton :  Agents, can be male or female. Must be above 18 years old. Must have passed a 10+2 qualifications. Must have been trained and certified. The regulator, the IRDA ( Insurance Regulator and Development Authority) says that much and no more. Additional qualifications and filtering criteria, are devised by companies.

There are 23 Life Insuance Companies in India and 18 General Insurance Companies and 29 lac s of certified insurance agents.

Problem :  In Financial year 2009-10 ( 01.April.2009 to 31.March.2010), company had recruited more than 2,000 agents. At the end of the financial year, more than 1,000 became inactive. Either they were terminated due to lack of business or they opted out of insurance business, themselves, citing personal reasons.

An Insurance agency is not a job. It’s a free lance business activity. They are not paid employees.

Industry Attrition Rate :  Around 30% to 40% , depending on the company. Our attrition rate is more than 50%. Alarmingly higher than Industry average.

We can’t afford this and we need to reduce this, because of costs involved in recruiting them, training them, giving them books and reading material and time and money spent in training programs to the new agents. We needed to minimize the attrition.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE ORGANIZATION

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The same problems are also rife in Jupiter Financial Services and Investment Company Limited, which, since 1932, has been involved in marketing savings and deposit products, through a wide spread network of agents situated all over the country, predominantly ( 70%) in rural areas. Thus, 70% of the business to the company accrues from rural areas.

Company recruits agents under Multi Level Marketing System, under which, a promoted agent recruits his team members under him/ her. Apart from commission from personal business, this senior agent also gets an Over Riding Commission (ORC) from the juniors who get business.

Points to ponder , Questions to consider : Company has approximately 22,000 agents ( at all levels of MLM) all over India.

Jupiter Financial Services has been suffering from a problem of high agent attrition. 2,000 agents were  recruited last year, and more than a 1,000 dropped out of business ! More than 50% attrition hurts the finances of the company very badly. This brings us to the following questions …

1.Who is a good insurance agent ?

2.Whom to select and whom to reject, during recruiting ?

3.What are the qualities of a good insurance agent ? How to identify those qualities ?

4.What are the qualities of a bad insurance agent ? How to identify those ?

These are the questions, 23 Life Insurance Companies, and 18 General Insurance companies, are breaking their heads with ! There are heated discussions in the meeting rooms, conference halls, where business heads and functional heads are having constant discussions and arguments : wresting with questions, and with people, so to speak !  And this question is VERY IMPORTANT, to the revenue and growth of an insurance company. Size of the market is too big to ignore.

Compnay’s Dilemma :   Members of our top management had a divided opinion on employing a strict filtering criteria on who comes in.

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Conservative Approach :  Some companies, like Max Newyork Life , Aviva and MetLife, HDFC Standard Life, are METHODICAL in their selection process. They have fewer agents and less reach in India. These companies are NOT market leaders. But their agents produce more business and better quality business ( least lapse rate). Their paid up capital is lower and return on investment is better. Conservative in their approach.

Aggressive Approach :  Some companies, like ICICI Prudential ( Ranked No.1), Bajaj Allianz Life ( Ranked No.3, after I-Pru & SBI Life), and Reliance Life ( No.4) are aggressive. They have broader parameters, more branches all over India and recruit aggressively. Their agents attrition rate is more. They are aware of it and factored that in. The follow a ‘FUNNEL’ approach, where, the best people remain in the funnel, after inevitable attrition happens. Their paid up capital is more and ROI is less. They are aware of it. Their aim is market share.

Jupiter Financial Services, can’t afford this approach. For, ours is not a principal company, but a distributor company. Second, we don’t have an MNC parent company, to inject fresh capital frequently.

Dilemma No.1 :Whether to adopt a conservative approach or aggressive or a blend of both ? If so, what kind of blend should it be ?

Dilemma No.2 :  Standardize or customize ?

What type of agent to recruit and whom to drop ? A standard formula was advanced. This was not accepted by some top managers. For a company like Jupiter , which as branches all over India , local and societal factors should be considered. A formula which works in Bihar, or Kolkota, will not work in Kerala or Gujarat or Himachal Pradesh – is their contention.

But since company has been in business since 1932, it has a COMMON CULTURE and heritage, unlike recent upstart MNC insurance companies, others contended. We shouldn’t ape the newcomers, we must preserve the common culture, contended others who recommended a standardized selection procedure !

A third segment forwarded a compromise formula. Have some broadly defined common selection criteria, within which, give freedom  or leeway to local branch managers to select or reject a candidate.

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Training Department in Jupiter Financial Services ( headed by Chief Manager –Corporate Training and 5 Regional Training Managers) was given this task  - a strategically important task – to develop a common selection criteria.

Why Training Department ? : Unlike others in Top management,who have been working with Jupiter for more than 25 years, and are not aware of the processes outside their company,  Training Head and Regional Trainers are hired from outside. All of us come from different Life Insurance / General Insurance companies and were exposed to different company procedures and processes. Thus, Training Department’s portable skills and knowledge, and collective exposure, comes in handy, in developing a selection template.

Questions :

1. Now, if you were the training department head, what kind of selection criteria will you develop ?
2. Would you go for an aggressive approach or conservative approach , given the training budget ?
3. Would you go for standardized formula or localized and customized formula , different for each Region ?
4. What basic minimum qualification would you set as standard ?
5. How much percentage of women agents would you recommend ? Do you think it’s necessary ?
6. What other eligibility criteria would you evolve ?
7. What should be done, to reduce the attrition rate to 30%  ?

Among them, more than 18 lacs agents are ‘ inactive’. Either surrendered agency, or terminated by company or not doing business at all.

Having recruited them and spent a lot of money on training and certifying them, their inactivity is HUGE LOSS to insurance companies, who have been expanding their paid up capital base and not getting enough profits.

So, selection is right agent is extremely vital to the survival, viability and growth on an insurance company.

How to solve this problem ?

SOLUTION FROM TRAINING DEPARTMENT

Answer no.1

We at the Training Department of Jupiter, developed a ‘ 10 point formula’ as a criterion for selecting agents. And suggested the sales department, to take any person who satisfied AT LEAST 5 POINTS or above, out of the 10 criteria. We showed the same to the Head of Sales and the top management ( President & Vice President of Company) for consent and buy-in : and got it. Here are the 10 points.

1. If the person is above 30 years, give 1 point. ( maturity & experience).
2. If the person is married, man or woman, give 1 point. ( Responsibility).
3. If the  person is having children, give 1 point. ( Need for money : monthly fixed expenses that grow in near future ; they stick to the company for long).
4. If  he/she is a graduate, give 1 point ( understanding complex products and ability to present them).
5. If the person has at least 1 insurance policy on himself or herself, give 1 point ( belief in insurance).
6. If the person is living in the same town , at least for the past 3 years, give 1 point. ( local contacts)
7. If the person is living in the same AREA for the past 3 years at least, give 1 point. (again, local contacts : which help in selling insurance).
8. If the person has tasted at least ONE SUCCESS in life ( and is able to tell us), give 1 point. ( If a person has tasted success in the past, he/she does not want to fail in this new venture.)
9. If the person has faced any SETBACK in life, give 1 point. ( People  who faced and survived setbacks in the past, are more likely to survive in our competitive environment).
10.  Working in the same profession for the past 3 years, give 1 point. ( stability).

Among the above parameters, if the person scores at least 5/10 points, take him / her as agent. If the person scores 4 or below, drop him / her.

This has been hugely appreciated by our top management and Head of Sales.

We rolled out a ‘ Recruitment Workshop’ for our team leaders and conducted this program all over India.

This has reduced our attrition to 27% and now this is the template we have even now in practice !

Answer 2 :  Aggressive versus conservative approach.  

We need to have a blend of cautious and a measured aggressive approach, given the opportunities of Indian insurance market and regulatory aspects and basic integrity required of an insurance agent. For, he /she is the one who collects money from customer directly.

Answer 3. Standardized versus customized approach :  Standards are broadly defined. Such as age range, minimum education etc. Within these, some customization , which makes space for local social factors, is provided. For instance, we developed 10 criteria, but anyone who meets 5 parameters , can be taken. This gives freedom to the local branch managers to select or reject. For instance, in rural areas, every prospective agent may not be a graduate, for may meet other criteria. Or a person may meet all other criteria, but may not married with children.

Answer 4. Basic Minimum Qualification :  While graduation is preferred , 10+2 was made a required minimum. Considering, Jupiter Financial services is traditionally strong in rural markets.

Answer 5.  Percentage of female agents : : Ideally 30% female agents are preferred, because that segment is untapped. But success remains to be seen, because in our country, women traditionally do not take to sales profession easily. There is a cultural aspect. We needed to advertise the success stories of existing female agents. It’s necessary because, a field force should represent all sections of society.

Answer 6.Other Eligibility Criteria :  Preferable, but not essential are : a person’s involvement in other social, cultural activities, club memberships, and involvement in recreational activities like sports, singing etc. Because these give a person, additional exposure to different social segments.

Answer 7 : To reduce attrition :  Right selection is only half the job ! Retention is a different challenge. To increase retention, the organization and leadership should focus on right induction training, right grooming, support to the agent and good coaching and mentoring. A right training design, methodology, and implementation is helpful. So is immediate supervisor.  On field support, is equally important.

CASE STUDY 2

SELECTION OF THE  RIGHT EXTERNAL TRAINERS AND CORRECT TRAINING METHODOLOGY FOR RURAL PARTICIPANTS OF INSURANCE SECTOR

Background of the Company :  Jupiter Financial Services  and Investment Company Ltd , has been in the business of financial services ( Deposits  Products) since 1932.

The company shifted its business line from selling deposit products to selling insurance ( Life and General) and Mutual Funds.  To enable their agents to sell the new products and make them successful in new line of business, the organization had hired Training professionals from outside, belonging to the same / similar industry.

Branch Network and Agent Network :  Company has branches 180 all over India, in district head quarters.  Apart from branches, it has well knit teams of agents in approximately 650 remote villages or small towns, which are sometimes 100 Km to 150 km away from the main branches, called ‘ Pockets’. Training had to be taken to these 700 remote villages, or ‘ Pockets’.

Company has nearly 20,000 agents all over India, spread across 180 branches, and living in the above 650 ‘ Pockets’.

Training Department :The department is headed by the D.G.M ( Learning Solutions) and 8 Regional Training Managers. Company has 12 Regions all over India and some regions don’t have RTM s and are handled directly by DGM ( LS) and regional sales managers.

External ( Guest ) Trainers :  To cater to the training needs of 160 branches and 700 ‘ pockets, company has hired external trainers, through man power staffing companies. We give them a daily fee per training man day, and reimburse their travelling, lodging and boarding expenses. Their fees vary as per their age, experience in Training, Insurance related qualifications and certifications etc. We have, nearly 100 external ( guest) trainers all over India.

THE PROBLEM  - RECEPTIVITY AND ACCEPTANCE OF EXTERNAL TRAINERS ! :

We conduct “ pocket”  trainings. Initially , all over agents were very happy. There are 23 Life Insurance companies and 18 General insurance companies in India. Most of them MNC s. No other company in India sent their Trainer to the remotest village to, impart Training to them, to improve their knowledge. To enhance their skills. Of course, company has done it for its benefit only but agents admired it, for the pain and trouble it took. External trainers carrying their Laptops, Projectors, Post Training Handouts, coming to their village to train them, was the sight they loved !

This training honeymoon did not last long. Soon, expectations were not met and disappointment crept in, among agents. It started to come to us , though Feed back  forms, in formal forms and informal telephone conversations.

To put in a nutshell, these are the problems, agents told us :

1. They had difficulty in understanding and following the subject. Subject is new , as the company had forayed into Insurance business.
2. External trainers, who were training in MNC insurance companies, have not adapted to the Jupiter way and to the rural participant. Too many English words in Training delivery, which are lost on the learners. While they don’t doubt  the knowledge  of the trainers, they had difficulty in following what they had to say.
3. This is resulting in poor marks in post training tests, to check the agents’ knowledge. Training delivery was deemed ineffective.
4. Rural participants are mostly under graduates. They are extremely INHIBITED and stage conscious, when called on to the stage for a role-play or demonstration. The external trainers do not even know the participants names and have no sense of belonging to the company. They were making no extra efforts to  make junior agents overcome their inhibitions and fears and come out openly . They are just sticking to the modules & agneda and packing off  later.
5. External trainers are making no efforts to CONNECT with the participants at a personal level. Our agents, with their rural back ground and educational constraints, feel shy. They are unable to get up and ask their doubts freely during the session. After the trainer left, they are coming out with their pent up doubts with them team leaders, who are not in a position to clarify. Team leaders themselves could not understand trainers clearly !
6.  In case of a product doubt, say, 1 week later, they can’t contact their trainer. He/ She is not leaving their phone numbers with us.
7. Some senior agents feel that they notice a lack of respect when the trainer from town addresses them in Singular ‘you’ ( Tum) , rather than plural’ you’ ( aap).
8. Results of all the above have been – training programs have not been meeting the objectives ! People’s learning is hampered, and transfer of learning to the field is not happening. Result : Sales ( which is the ultimate objectives) are not growing as per budgets.

QUESTIONS :

1. As a Training Head, what do you feel is the crux of the problem ? How would you start the remedial measures ?
2. What changes would you make , in the content, Powerpoint Modules, and post training hand outs, to make them comprehensible to the participants ?
3. What training would you give to the External Trainers, so that, they can function and deliver trainings in the Rural Markets better ?
4. How would you test the external trainers and identify the lacunae and give corrective inputs ?
5. What corrective inputs would you give them in Training Methodology and delivery methods, in the rural markets ?
6. These external trainers are not your paid employees and hence ‘ command and control’ talk will not work. They can choose another company to work for. What’s your approach , in taking them into confidence and pointing out the problem ?
7. What tough decisions would you take, if the remedial measures are not working and corrective inputs are not being absorbed by some trainers ?
8. What would be the ideal post training follow up , to measure its effectiveness ?
9. How would you measure the effectiveness of  your remedial interventions ? That is, training in rural areas by guest trainers, post the remedial action ?
10. What measures would you undertake, to change the attitude of external trainers, to make them adapt a more helpful attitude towards the rural participants ?

SOLUTION : CASE STUDY 2

1.   A. Cultural Sensitivity  : The Crux of the problem is lack of ‘ cultural sensitization’ of external trainers through good induction training. But the remedy doesn’t start there. It has to start at far more basic level. B : Right Selection process : The real remedy must start with SELECTION process. So far, we interviewed the external trainers in a Video Conference in Reliance Web World, checked their qualifications and knowledge and training experience and took them on board. We didn’t meet him/ her in person.   Here after, before selection, we would send them to a rural area for mock presentation ( for an hour) , travelling charges paid by us, and have our staff, rate the trainer.  Or, we should have called them to our office and asked Trainers will satisfactory rating and (or) with potential for adaptation, will be taken.

C. Inclusive , de-centralized decision making : Not having involved our branch managers and staff in the selection process of an external trainer, was a mistake. For instance, Head of training, sitting in Kolkotta, cannot judge a Kerala trainer, how good is he at Malayalam and whether his audience is able to understand him ! Or for that matter, how good his Gujarathi / Tamil is – if the Trainer is taken for Tamil Nadu or Gujarat !

Centalized decision making  and not involving the local Branch Managers ( for whose benefit and whose help, these trainers are hired ! ), is a MISTAKE and we started our remedial action with US. Correcting  OUR MISTAKES first, before correcting the mistakes of our External Trainers.

2.  Changes in the content & modules : We will hire external content developers and convert ALL our PPT s and post training hand outs into Vernalcular languages. Bengali, 4 south Indian languages, Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, where we are strong.

Once the content developer finishes the job, we  sent the modules to local branches for VALIDATION. For, sometimes use textual / prosaic languages, instead of colloquial language and words. Booksih word text gets lost on the participants. Words from local dialects should be preferred.

3. Culturally sensitizing External Trainers : We hired a trainer from NIS Sparta, Mr.Sanjay Talukdar, who is such a seasoned professional in rural market trainings ! He worked for many NGO s and trained rural participants. A one day training program from him, gave valuable inputs to our 100 external trainers, great insights ! \
4. Evaluating the external trainer & methods employed : We made each external trainer , give presentation in our BRANCHES, to the STAFF respectively, in VERNACULAR language only, and took their feed back and inputs, apart from the feed back we already have, from our agents, during their past training programs. We collated them and gave inputs to each External Trainer, personally. Not  publicly during meetings ! Lot of unpleasant feed back had to be given and we thought, it’s best when it’s personal and confidential and within the 4 walls !
5. Right Training Methodology for rural markets : During one day Train the Trainer in rural markets, they were taught the importance of eye contact, finding right vernacular words, talking slowly, re capturing frequently, rewarding active participants etc. From participants point of view, we suggested our agents to wear NAME BADGES so that, the external trainers, when ever required, will call them by name.. instead of impersonal ‘ will you please get up’ ?
6. Counseling external trainers : Best way to give constructive feedback is to give in person. With objectivity. Documentary back up & feed back forms. Telling them their positive points first. Areas of improvement next. And the BENEFITS of improving and closing up with positives. In a nutshell, a ‘ burger’ approach to giving constructive feed back. 2 Buns with curry in the middle.
7. Some tough decisions : Not all trainers are open to this feed back. Some have no NEED for it. They are in demand elsewhere and feel they don’t need to make these changes. Some have real attitude problem. If there is no change in training delivery in the face of  feed back and even after counseling, it’s best not to hire them again. Since they are not on pay roll, process is easy too. No need of resignation letters, relieving orders etc.
8. Ideal Post Training Follow up : The concerned branch managers, sales & marketing staff and team leaders are the best ones to do this. External Trainer goes to another branch or company. Where is branch staff are always available. The concerned trainer is advised to contact these, with questionnaires and formats as post training feed back, 15 days after the session. About how they felt, the learning transfer, about problems encountered in the transfer of learning, changes needed in trainings, problems in comprehension etc.  Regional Training Managers are instructed to collect this post training feed back.
9. Measuring the effectiveness of remedial interventions : Proof of the pudding lies in its eating. Effectiveness is measured in feed back. This is principally the reaction feed back and the knowledge evaluation. If the participants FEEL GOOD about the training and also UNDERSTAND the subject matter, more than half the battle is won. For knowledge transfer, Branch marketing officials are there to take care of that.
10. Bringing attitude change, in external trainers : In case of some external trainers ( especially the young), feed back of 1 training session and counseling may not be sufficient. To some people, we need to give time and continuous feed back , for at least 3 training sessions, to adapt ( not ‘ correct’) themselves to our situation. For some trainers, one session & feed back is sufficient. For some, we need to give them time and multiple sessions and feed backs. In these cases, patience pays. These people , who showed willingness, were given longer rope and they adapted and evolved , over a period of time, which was not very long.

CONCLUSION : All is well that ends well. All these initiatives, putforth collectively by the training department and a team of Regional Trainers ( with inputs from sales people, Branch Heads and Marketing staff ) started  showing results , slowly , but surely. Some of these  external trainers were simply not willing to adapt and not receptive to frank feed back and not willing to make changes. Some, while nodded their head and promised to make changes in their training delivery, but went on to repeat the same mistakes ! Our feed back loop informed us of this. We had to terminate service agreement with them and rope in new guest trainers. Now, our company has a half yearly ‘ Train The Trainer Program’ to iron out any content / delivery related issues or inter personal issues that arise with external trainers.

While the others who responded positively to these initiatives, are still with our system for the past 2 years and are now an inseparable part of our training initiatives !