This article discusses preceptorship training, which is a unique form of sales training that has taken roots in the pharmaceutical industry in the US. The basic concept is that a medical representative gets a direct understanding of how decisions to prescribe specific formulations/brands are actually made by a medical professional, by shadowing the medical professional during his hospital rounds. However, a legislation necessitating confidentiality of patient information made this illegal, and the practice now is to have "virtual preceptorship" in the form of recorded CDs and other electronic modes. In India, we have, at present, an incipient and informal method of preceptorship training. Preceptorship training, in its formal and well-structured format, may get introduced in India in a gradual manner, initially by the use of case studies recorded in the US.

Training and development is a vital determinant of sales force performance. This was established way back in 1985 by Churchill, Ford, Hartley and Walker. This conclusion implied that marketing organizations develop their in-house Training & Development Department or outsource the training services to business schools or professional human resource consultants. In the case of sales force training, the marketing department plays an active role in coordination with the human resources department, not only by delivering the faculty-led training, but also by working out the necessary training modules, depending on the purpose of training, and category of trainees attending the program.

Imagine a business school graduate beginning his career as an HR executive eventually gets promoted as a training manager. He may still not have the expertise to develop a sales training module due to lack of adequate field experience and necessary training orientation. In such a case, getting sales training done in-house is as good as "teaching swimming on a blackboard." Because a sales training program is highly job-specific, it is extremely important that the resource persons have relevant experience, as otherwise they would not be able to deliver value. This is the reason why the sales training managers of most companies are those with long sales careers with a proven track record of success. Although training and development is an integral component of human resource development activities, the sales and marketing department usually takes the lead in conducting such training programs.

The training content varies depending on the purpose of the sales training program, the trainees themselves and the industry concerned. However, a generic sales training module includes training on both behavioral and technical competence to various depths. The resource persons for the technical training component are usually those with technical background, such as those from production or R&D, or senior academicians with profound domain knowledge. The behavioral skills are handled by industrial soft skills trainers or in-house personnel with the relevant capability.

Marketing Mastermind Magazine, Preceptorship Training, Pharmaceutical Sales, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, FMCG, Medical Departments, Technical Sessions, Medicals Representatives, Prophylactic Therapy, Ethical Promotion, Medical Director, ICCU, Cardiac Arrest, Risk Management, Drug Delivery System, Pathophysiology.