In order to keep pace with the ever-changing fields of production, management, operations and technology, companies must continually update their employees' training. Personnel who handle these areas are essential, and function as the back-end of a company. Sales personnel, however, are at least as important, as they make up the front-end of the organization.

Employees are encouraged to take part in management training in order to groom them for leadership roles, for a switch in their career path or for further promotions. It is not uncommon to find the majority of participants in such training come from office and production functions. A few sales managers do participate in management training but such instances are not the norm in many organizations.

Even though many organizations do providing training to their sales personnel, there is often no place for these staff in these particular training programs. Instead, sales staff are offered training in customer relations, sales management, integrity in selling, interpersonal relationships and other topics relevant to assisting them in their sales careers.

Sales are ential for an organization's existence and sales force are its backbone. An organization can therefore be unwilling to send this vital resource away on a lengthy training period, especially if there is no adequate backup. It is hard to find suitable personnel to act in place of those sales persons who know their customers in their geographical areas by their visits, meetings and interactions. By this way, the plus points of a capable sales person sometimes become a stumbling block to his taking part in management training.

It is important that the structure of sales personnel training programs be tailored differently for each type of employee. Employees may be more comfortable if encouraged to access training modules section by section, at their own pace. Also, they should be encouraged to discuss their experiences and ideas with other similar trainees. Another useful tool is to have senior managers be available, if needed, as a coach or mentor. These policies should make for a more user-friendly, relaxed, and therefore, more efficient process.

New technologies are also of great assistance. Online web-based training modules and other forms of distance learning have revolutionised management training. A company's sales force can be cheaply and easily educated using these methods. They can be emailed reading material for the management course and be given access to online libraries allowing them to choose from a selection of reading material.

Sales personnel have good knowledge about the customers and products and also they are good in interpersonal skills. T hey also think and take decision quickly on any matter. These strengths are very valuable for the organization and should not be kept in isolation as sales functions. Organizations should recognize these strengths and promote more sales people into managerial functions.