In today’s highly competitive market, companies need sales representatives working at their full audacity. These sales reps need to undergo an efficient training process for the delivery of high-class performance. To train new sales representatives effectively, all companies require a process of strong sales onboarding.
What is Sales Onboarding?
Sales onboarding is the method in which the companies undergo the process of bringing the new sales representatives into their organizations and assist them with the training so that they can gain the required skills, behavior, and knowledge to outperform and achieve their goals. In other words, it is an education program in which the hired sales representatives are equipped with the required knowledge and skills, company values, and they are also taught how to use the company’s resources effectively and efficiently.
This whole process aims to make sure that the company’s sales representatives possess everything that they need for their success within the team, company, and in the field.
Sales on Boarding Program
The company’s sales representatives need to undergo a well-defined sales onboarding program to attain the above objectives. They need a program that will allow them to learn in chunks, as per the specified learning objectives and onboarding material which is available and updated as per the latest information.
The sales representatives require a good knowledge of the product they are selling; they need to know about the procedures and the behavior that would be helpful for them to succeed. So, in short, a strong sales onboarding program would be really helpful in making the sales representatives more confident about their new role and helping in the entire sales department’s success.
Key elements for an effective sales onboarding program
The following mentioned are the key elements that make a sales onboarding program effective. The companies must follow them while framing their onboarding program to increase the productivity of the sales representatives and reduce their ramp up time.
- Beginning with the process before their first day:
The perfect time to begin with the process of onboarding would be the time when they accept the offer of employment. The companies can start with their pre-hire program for the training for their candidates. A pre-hiring program would be a start to the whole onboarding regime, it will keep the candidate’s moral high right from day 1 of their career. This program will allow your candidates to know about their company’s mission and value proposition for the new sales rep.
The company can use customer testimonials, hand calls, and office visits for the training for their candidates. The candidate will get to acquaint with the team members, mentor, and a private social group in this phase of training.
- Being consistent with the onboarding process
Every new employee of the organization carries huge expectations for his new career journey. The best way to meet those expectations is to keep your onboarding program consistent and structured. The company should first interact with the employee, acquaint him with the onboarding program, and explain to him how his performance will be measured. The best way the company can make the whole process consistent is to welcome the new rep with a welcome package and a letter that describes what he can expect in the future days, months, and years. He must be paired with a mentor which will keep him motivated and also introduce him to his team and the stakeholders on the sales force. These activities will help in bringing consistency in the whole process.
- Frame a formal mentoring/ sales onboarding program
The sales organizations must integrate the new rep into a formal mentoring program. They must use their expertise and determine objectives that the new rep is expected to fulfill in his 30 – 90 days. They should also be explained why those objectives have been assigned to achieve so that they can work accordingly.
The allotted mentor will review the work of the new rep. He will also verify the rep’s understanding of the objectives. He will contact and meet with his manager frequently to communicate about the performance of the new hire. The role of a mentor is quite crucial for the growth of new reps, so only the most successful member of the team should be assigned as the new reps mentor.
- Define the criteria of success to the new rep
It is important to clear the new rep clear about the criteria for success. This will help the new rep to understand his role in the team and the organization. If the rep is not clear about the criteria he will always be unsure about his performance which will only lead to his disengagement with the business metrics.
It is important to give a detailed explanation about the success at different levels of the sales cycle to the new rep. This will engage him throughout the whole onboarding process and motivate him to work according to requirement of the organization.
- Framing a sales playbook
The company is required to frame a sales playbook for the new rep. This will define the characteristics of ideal prospects and existing customers. This playbook will provide all product-specific knowledge, sales approaches, and key activities for sales that helped the top salespersons to succeed and how the newly hired rep can imitate the same to achieve success in their territory.
- Management of resources
The whole new sales workforce will now have the teams of the millennials. They will make use of sales technology, productivity tools, and many other innovative technological options which will help them to engage themselves more efficiently with the prospects. The sales managers will evaluate and prioritize these tools to have the most of the impact and narrow down the team’s focus on them only. The most commonly used tools by the sales force nowadays are that of CRM, Email automation, and business development.
These are the six key elements that are crucial for the effective execution of sales onboarding program.
