Walmart Training Outcomes
Walmart Training Outcomes
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 2
As one of the largest lingerie retailers in North America, Victoria’s Secret has
with low prices. However, the cost leadership strategy also reduces their profit margins
thereby reducing the funds available for business initiatives. The cost-cutting measures are
especially evident among the customer service personnel who receive minimal training and
supervision during their orientation which affects their subsequent ability to facilitate
customer satisfaction. Currently, the employees working at L Brands’ stores are quite mean
and irritable with most of them unhelpful and condescending to customers. The subsequent
decrease in consumer satisfaction levels may be influenced by the fact that most of them
receive minimal training about the company’s products and the culture of their host
communities leaving them ill equipped to handle the dynamic consumer needs. Therefore,
there is a need to fulfill their knowledge, skills, and abilities gaps to enhance the consumer
correct performance of the sales training process: prior analysis of training needs,
development and implementation of an adequate training plan and evaluation. In this way, a
training needs analysis helps in determining the most effective way for organizations to invest
their resources and improve performance. Victoria’s Secret positioning and marketing
strategy has been aimed at the mass market as shown by the humble personalities of their
ambassadors that average women can relate to. However, while the marketing and branding
initiatives have been effective in driving in-store traffic, the lack of sales training among
employees makes them unable to close sales thereby reducing organizational performance
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 3
and customer satisfaction. Consequently, such experiences reduce brand loyalty among
succeed. In the current context, product and market training would help in improving sales
performance, improving employee motivation and customer relations, reducing turnover, and
Training Outcomes
The key outcome expected from the proposed training plan is a demonstration of
basic understanding of the culture of the areas where they live and work. The success of a
business venture also relies on the organization’s image in the communities where they
operate. Different regions and countries have different cultural provisions and expectations
that may affect their willingness to do business with a particular entity. Cross-cultural
awareness is an important element of sales training today as globalization has increased the
cultural diversity of the world. Sales personnel who can adjust their selling approach to match
the needs of particular customers have a higher success rate which improves their motivation
and engagement in their duties (Delpechitre & Baker, 2017). Evaluation of this dimension
will also require assessment of the cultural aspects of their communication styles and how
Secret offerings. Based on wider cultural and economic trends, the company changes its
catalog of products regularly to meet changing consumer needs. However, the frequent
updates to existing products and introduction of new products creates a knowledge gap
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 4
among the store employees who may not understand the particular differences between
different products. Product training will resolve this gap allowing in-store employees to offer
an integrated experience that matches the marketing strategy which will ensure consumer
satisfaction.
The third training outcome is improved knowledge of cross cultural and interpersonal
communication skills. As noted in the training needs assessment, overworked employees are
often unhelpful and cranky leading to bad customer experience and reduced repurchase
intent. Improved communication skills would help the sales people to build relationships with
their customers that create mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders. Additionally,
the communication skills would help in establishing and maintaining a positive and
collaborative work environment that fosters both personal and professional development.
culture in all human interactions, making sales personnel aware of this impact would enable
them to adapt their communication and sales strategies to match those of their customers. As
Geer Hofstede hypothesized in his Cultural Dimensions Theory, cultural awareness has six
term orientation, and indulgence vs restraint. Every country has unique combinations of these
elements with varying degrees. For example, usage of the appropriate tone, adapting to the
as crucial as understanding the meaning of a silence or a smile whose meanings can vary
from one culture to another. Therefore, improved cultural awareness would improve
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 5
interpersonal relationships as participants gain objective understanding of their own and other
cultural conflict in addition to an improved capacity to identify and negotiate any ideological
differences arising from cultural backgrounds to achieve positive outcomes. When combined,
these factors have the effect of improving employee motivation and engagement as they
experience improved performance and relationships thereby facilitating lower levels of stress
and anxiety.
Product knowledge is considered as the most important tool for closing sales as it
helps in developing trust, faith,and respect in the customer thereby facilitating a positive
when answering challenging questions. In the age of social media, many customers often
service. However, they may not get some answers online thereby requiring personalized help.
In such cases, educated employees would have prior knowledge of these negative perceptions
and have developed responses for them which ensures that the client gets a concise and
effective answer. As shown by the current situation in Victoria’s Secret stores, if employees
are caught offguard by these questions, they become defensive, stumble over their responses
or ignore the question altogether. Such instances lead to a loss of consumer faith as they do
not receive sufficient answers to their questions even after researching and asking employees.
products, and people with whom they interact prior to making a purchase with the latter
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 6
having the largest influence on purchase decisions. Therefore, the sales personnel must be
percieved as trustworthy information sources. As noted earlier, the digital age allows
customers to research companies and their products before making a purchase. Consequently,
consumers are more informed on the basic details that in previous generation which
necessitates the front-service employees to have more in-depth knowledge that can answer
customer queries satisfactorily. If the employees only provide information easily accessible
via the company’s website or through third-party sources, the customer is less likely to make
employees are confident about their assertions and can employ different presentation
increases the employee’s enthusiasm, whose display and belief in a product can foster
Consequently, employees are more prepared to deal with various objections that may arise
performance of the sales team. In today’s diverse business environment, customers expect
more from the suppliers that just good products, and attractive pricing but also effective
communication before and after the purchase. The particular communication channel chosen
value of purchased product. In this context, the sales personnel will have improved capacity
to explain Victoria’s Secrets products to potential customers. While some people have innate
charisma that would help in establishing trust, personal selling skills help in establishing
The interpersonal communication skills also help in empathizing with customers for
accurate identification of consumer needs rather than focusing primarily on business needs.
Each buyer has unique needs that a particular product fulfills. Additionally, a product may
fulfill different needs for different customers which requires businesses to identify the needs
accurately and fulfill them. Since its inception, Victoria’s Secret has focused on a branding
message that positions the company as an affordable high quality lingerie manufacturer and
retailer. Additionally, the broad array of innovative products allowed economies of scale in
production thereby fostering mass appeal and adoption. However, increasing competition
from specialty retailers and manufacturers has eroded the market share as consumers respond
better to brands that appeal to their needs and preferences which has led to rising inventory
levels and the associated expenses. The company will have to conduct an updated market
analysis to identify the various consumer needs, strategies applied by competitors, among
Therefore, the development of interpersonal skills among employees would aid in the
continued identification of changing consumer and business needs s and how the organization
collaborative work culture. Organizational theory indicates that employee job satisfaction is
workplace. The adoption of collaborative management practices would also aid in improving
performance by facilitating knowledge transfer from the older experienced employees to the
new recruits. Additionally, increased autonomy among sales employees would give them
Performance Gap
A performance gap refers to the variance between the current organizational practices
and what is necessary to achieve the overall company goals. In this case, Victoria’s Secret
aims to “building a family of the world's best fashion brands offering captivating customer
experiences that drive long-term loyalty and deliver sustained growth for our shareholders.”
A review of the company’s inventory and sales performance indicates that current processes
have proven ineffective as shown by the declining revenues and market share over the last
three years. Due to the presence of multiple competitors with homogeneous products, one of
the avenues left for competitive differentiation among retailers is through a positive and
unique customer experience that exceeds the customer’s expectations. However, Victoria’s
Secret has been slow to adapt to changing market conditions which may affect their future
performance and sustainability. Training can help in remediation of these performance gaps
through equipping employees with the skills and competencies required for success.
Change
The first performance gap is change. While they have robust internal policies to ease
the change process, Victoria’s Secret is ill equipped to deal with change in the external
environment. Changes in the business and political landscape may necessitate internal
training would provide employees with the appropriate skill set to adapt accordingly and
continue performing at their jobs. For example, changes in a country’s political structure may
Moreover employees will have adequate knowledge to identify emerging trends among
consumers which will aid in continued adaptation of their approaches. The capacity for
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 9
change is especially critical at the managerial level which influences organizational policies
and directions.
Skill Levels
Lack of adequate training also leaves employees with a skill deficiency. Due to cost cutting
measures, training for in store entry level positions is often limited to a few days meant to
give the new recruit a rough understanding of their duties and expectations. However,
research indicates that lack of these skills leads to decreased performance as employees feel
incompetent to undertake challenging tasks. Minimal product knowledge makes the front-
service employees unable to answer customer questions which may create feelings of
inadequacy for the employee thereby reducing motivation. Additionally, the lack of
confidence in their skills and knowledge leads to dependency on more experienced personnel
which reduces an employee’s autonomy in performance of their duties. These factors cause
job dissatisfaction as employee performance reduces and their contribution to the company’s
goal decrease. The lack of training may also affect the overall organizational culture as
lack of support. Therefore, training will help in bridging these deficiencies to improve
performance.
Data Collection
The current predicament for Victoria’s Secret highlights an inefficient data collection and
analysis pipeline. While other companies have adopted big data for the analysis of changing
consumer and business requirements, Victoria’s Secret has been slow to do so. Consequently,
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 10
the top organizational levels have fallen out of touch with the particular consumer and
employee needs as there is limited data collection leading to ineffective managerial decisions.
Training would equip both employees and their supervisors with the skills required for
strategies.
Sales people can also collect data on the effective and ineffective strategies. Improved
gives the sales personnel opportunities to collect feedback about their preferences, needs, and
decision influencer thereby providing the company with improved insight into their
customers.
Conclusion
A review of L Brands’ financial statements shows decreased revenue and market share
over the last three years. These declines have been caused by changing consumer preferences
dissatisfied customers have been on the rise based on negative in-store experiences and rude
staff unwilling to help. Consequently, the training need analysis identified the training need as
primarily revolving around cross-cultural competencies and product knowldge. The training
program will involve both front line employees and their managers to enhance synergies and
collaboration between the two groups. Through building skills and competencies among its
workers, Victoria’s Secret will have increased flexibility to respond to and meet dynamic
consumer needs. For employees, increased confidence in their skills in addition to enhanced
performance and autonomy driven by these skills will improve job satisfaction and their
L BRANDS TRAINING OUTCOMES 11
subsequent engagement in their duties. Customer satisfaction will also be improved through
improved product knowledge among store associates allowing them to answer intricate