All You Need to Know About Sales Onboarding
The success of new sales hires heavily relies on the sales onboarding process, which equips them with the necessary information and training to adjust to their new role. An effective onboarding program for sales employees instills confidence in representatives and improves overall sales department performance.
Companies offer sales onboarding programs to newly recruited sales representatives, providing them with a comprehensive understanding of company principles, essential skills and knowledge, and a simplified way to use enterprise software to achieve optimum performance.
A well-designed sales onboarding process, coupled with suitable talent and technology, can be a crucial factor in boosting revenue and a competitive edge in attracting sales professionals.
Objectives of Sales Onboarding
Engage and Train
Employee engagement is vital for a business to thrive. Sales onboarding plays a crucial role in driving employee engagement from the beginning by instilling enthusiasm in new hires about their work.
Providing necessary tools and information to new sales reps helps them become more involved in the company’s goals and enables them to make meaningful contributions every day.
Retain and Grow
Finding the right talent for a business can be challenging, and once you do, it’s important to retain them by making them feel valued.
A well-structured sales onboarding process is key to maximizing employee lifetime value. In fact, companies that have a standardized onboarding process see a 50% increase in new hire retention rates in comparison to those without one.
Acclimate and Onboard
One of the key objectives of sales onboarding is to ensure new hires feel welcomed as part of the sales team and are confident about their future with the company.
The HR department has the responsibility of orienting new hires to the company culture, clarifying their job responsibilities, and providing information about business processes.
It is equally important for new hires to understand the support they can expect from their colleagues and leadership.
What Are The Benefits of Sales Onboarding
Enhances employee retention
Onboarding programs are instrumental in retaining top talent. A successful sales onboarding program sets new hires on the right path, equips them with the knowledge to excel in their job, and builds a stronger employer-employee relationship from day one, leading to greater job satisfaction and longer retention periods.
Improves productivity
According to Deloitte research, proper onboarding leads to over 60% higher productivity and quicker proficiency attainment in new hires. Sales onboarding accelerates the learning curve for new employees and allows them to take on their responsibilities sooner than if they had to do it independently with minimal guidance.
This is achieved through appropriate onboarding, including readily accessible support like process documentation and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Enables sales representatives to succeed
Customizing your sales onboarding process to meet the specific needs of your sales representatives and organization results in greater success by providing them with a better understanding of the products and the necessary skills.
The knowledge gained during the onboarding process helps new hires understand their clients, encourages innovative thinking for new business opportunities, and instills a greater sense of ease and confidence in their job roles.
Most Efficient Sales Onboarding Practices
Establish a Standardized Sales Onboarding Process
Establish a standardized process that includes documentation filled with frequently asked questions, phone scripts, email templates, and other resources to help new hires quickly refresh their memory and avoid trial-and-error.
Presenting Information in Innovative Ways
To keep new sales reps engaged, present information in various formats such as videos, interactive sessions, and classroom settings that match the onboarding topic with the appropriate format.
Clear and Achievable Expectations
During the onboarding process, it is crucial to set clear expectations for new hires, starting with the organization’s mission, goals, and the new sales rep’s role in achieving them. Clear expectations create a culture of accountability and guide new sales reps to success.
Job Shadowing
Arrange job shadowing sessions with experienced sales team members for new sales reps to gain real-world experience and understand the ins and outs of the position and company.
Checklist for Sales Onboarding
We have made a checklist to create an efficient sales onboarding process.
Prior to Day One
Before the new sales reps start, send a welcome email providing details of their start date, time, and location, along with the contact information of their assigned point of contact (POC). Additionally, provide them with a schedule for the first few days and resources to help them get a head start.
Week One:
In the first week,
introduce new hires to the company values, culture, goals, policies, and employment rules, as well as any perks and the org chart.
Explain your expectations, arrange meetings with the sales manager, buddy, and each primary team member, and demo the product to help them understand its capabilities.
Provide access to enterprise applications/CRM, give an overview of all sales tools, and have them attend customer calls as observers to get a better understanding of customer interactions.
Arrange for CRM training sessions (1) and conduct a short assessment to aid in the retention of information.
Additionally, have reps go through exercises, teamwork, discussions, and role-play through each phase of the customer journey and sales process.
First 30 Days
During the first 30 days, conduct product and service training, CRM training session (2), and make it mandatory for new hires to shadow as many sales peers as possible for calls and in-person meetings/presentations.
Walk through buyer personas, provide a sales process overview, and train reps on how your company handles prospecting.
Practice negotiating and common objection handling, have new hires listen to reps taking discovery calls, and arrange mock calls based on scenarios. Help new hires practice and perfect their elevator pitch and send it to the sales enablement team.
Additionally, new sales reps make sales calls to prospects they’ve connected with and continue to check that they are identifying relevant opportunities to support their sales efforts and career development.
Keep a schedule of frequent check-ins with new sales reps to evaluate their competency and provide support.
After 30 Days
After the first 30 days, have sales leadership listen in on reps’ sales calls to provide feedback and explain long-term goals.
Continue to keep a schedule of check-ins with new sales reps to evaluate their competency and provide support.
Request new hire feedback and optimize the onboarding process if necessary.
