Training and Development Manager

Who We Are

We are a premium-branding solutions company serving corporate and collegiate partners. We deliver high-impact, timely solutions that elevate brands and drive measurable impact.

Job Summary

Club Colors has an aggressive hiring plan, with an initial target of approximately 50 salespeople in 2027. You will own and improve our existing training framework, creating a repeatable onboarding experience that prepares new hires to represent our brand and become productive.

You will lead three- to six-week training cohorts, develop curriculum and assessments, and make graduation decisions jointly with sales leadership. After the handoff, sales managers own activity management, ongoing coaching and sales performance.

Sales onboarding comes first. In a second phase, you will own company-wide training processes, translating department expertise and approved procedures into practical learning programs.

Our Culture

We value collaboration, practical ideas and ownership of results. You will partner with sales, operations and subject-matter experts to help employees learn, build confidence and deliver the right solution, in the right place, at the right time.

What You Will Do

• Improve the existing program, identify gaps and organize content into a clear sequence with defined objectives and readiness standards.
• Plan and lead new-hire cohorts using instruction, demonstrations, role-playing, guided practice and realistic sales and order scenarios.
• Coordinate subject-matter experts across the business, with clear objectives and consistent delivery.
• Create and maintain curriculum, facilitator guides, participant resources, exercises, system walkthroughs and reference materials.
• Design knowledge checks and practical assessments, identify individual gaps and provide targeted additional training.
• Make readiness decisions jointly with sales leadership. Give receiving managers a documented handoff of strengths, development needs and next steps.
• Use assessment results, manager feedback, early performance and recurring errors to improve training content and delivery.
• Work with process owners to help finalize SOPs and turn approved procedures into onboarding, refresher and role-specific training.

What New Hires Will Learn

Training will establish a foundation that new salespeople strengthen with their managers during their first 90 days. They should learn to:

• Communicate the Club Colors brand, mission, capabilities and client value.
• Find and engage prospects, ask useful questions and identify qualified opportunities.
• Understand the sales cycle and the steps needed to move an opportunity forward.
• Navigate the systems and tools used in their role and complete an order from opportunity identification through submission to production.
• Involve the right internal experts to support clients and deliver the right solution.
• With sales leadership, define graduation requirements separately from capabilities developed under the receiving manager through day 90.

What We Require

• Demonstrated success building, delivering and improving sales onboarding programs, including practical readiness assessment.
• A defined process for learning objectives, content sequencing, practice, assessment and program improvement.
• Experience training sales or customer-facing teams and practical knowledge of prospecting, client engagement and the sales process.
• Strong facilitation skills and clear instruction for people with different experience levels.
• The ability to learn systems and processes and translate subject-matter expertise into clear curriculum and reference resources.
• Strong organization and program management, including contributor coordination and cohort scheduling.
• Sound judgment, constructive feedback and effective partnership with leaders on readiness decisions.
• Commitment to working in person in Hoffman Estates; this is not a remote position.
• Promotional products or branded merchandise experience is preferred, not required. Proven training and program-management capability is essential.

What Success Looks Like

• Consistent onboarding, current materials and demonstrated readiness at graduation.
• Clear manager handoffs and training capacity that supports the hiring plan.
• Reduced ramp time to budget achievement and low new-hire attrition, measured jointly with sales leadership and recognizing the influence of hiring, management and territory quality.
• Improved early execution quality, fewer recurring training gaps and repeatable company-wide training over time.