Beginning in fall 2003, brandon-hall.com invited subscribers of its Dispatch newsletter and various online discussion groups, readers of newsletters produced by VNU e-Media (which publishes Training magazine), and members of several training and development discussion groups, to nominate companies with the best sales training programs. Nominations were then reviewed, and companies from a wide variety of industries were selected to participate in the research if they met the following criteria:
Acknowledged leadership in their industry.
Demonstrated success in sales.
Active linkage between sales training and sales performance.
Use of e-learning to deliver at least a portion of their sales training program.
Had recently measured the effectiveness of their new sales training program.