Sales Onboarding Deep Thoughts

As a training professional, I’ve seen situations where sales organizations want to onboard their reps as effectively and as soon as possible. What I’ve noticed is that no matter the sales organization’s size, industry, or situation, they have similar issues in terms of how to create an effective program, including resources, dependencies, and considerations. That said, here are my ”deep thoughts”—the key things you should keep in mind when creating or revising your sales onboarding program. You may consider them no-brainers, but I believe they are worth repeating. 

Take a deep breath and just listen. In order to build strong, trusting relationships, it is imperative to ensure our listening techniques are always on full force. This makes a huge difference in terms of understanding our customer’s onboarding needs, providing the best solutions possible, and saving valuable time. 

The employer/manager relationship makes all the difference. The essential component of any successful onboarding program is the employee/manager relationship. As many surveys have shown, this is one of the main reasons why people stay or leave an organization. As training professionals, we should always keep this in mind when developing an effective sales onboarding program. For example, an onboarding guide should always include management observation and coaching check-in components, such as listening to rep’s calls with customers, reviewing rep’s sample voicemails and emails, one-on-one meetings, team meetings, developmental planning sessions, and so on.

 Make the right connections. When creating an effective onboarding program, you’ll also want to surround yourself with the appropriate people in the organization. Who should you be working with—the sales managers? Sales reps? Subject matter experts? Marketing/product managers? You need to ensure you are working with the right people and utilizing them correctly.   

Be a detective. Repeat after me: “Repurposing is your friend.” Don’t feel that you need to reinvent the wheel every time. Sales onboarding has been done numerous ways. The trick is to search out the elements (or “nuggets”) that apply to your organization. I’ve found that online websites (such as ASTD’s Sales Enablement Community and LinkedIn) are filled with useful information and contacts. My sales team also connects with new sales reps during orientation. This gives us an opportunity to ask them what is working, areas of improvements, and what has worked at other organizations. This provides valuable insights and additional contact information. 

Think outside the box. Why not consider developmental opportunities above and beyond standard learning modalities when acclimating sales reps into your organization? For example, ask reps to: create and present sales-related topics during future departmental/lunch-and-learn sessions, videotape “how to” best practice videos, write internal sales blogs, speak at a sales-related external event, and so on.

Storyboard, storyboard, storyboard. I’ve found this technique to be extremely useful when developing our internal Inside Sales Training website. Taking the time to create PowerPoint storyboard slides based upon the sales organization’s needs really went a long way in giving them something to visually relate to, and this helped them determine next steps.

Communication is key. Another component that sometimes gets overlooked is ensuring the overall sales organization knows what’s going on in terms of any onboarding development or initiative. Avoid sales reps asking questions such as “What’s going on?” or “Why didn’t I know about that?” by sharing heads-up information. This helps avoid miscommunication and keeps everyone in the loop. You may want to consider providing “coming soon” communication via email distribution lists, departmental meetings, internal posters, inter-office handouts, and so on.

Don’t forget the lessons learned. Nothing is perfect, ever. Learning from past mistakes and being open to new ideas and techniques will help make your onboarding program even better. It also shows that you are listening and committed to ongoing improvement. 

Follow-up is essential. Onboarding is a process, not an event. So, what’s your process? It really depends on your organization’s needs. Is it a multi-certification process based upon a blended learning approach? Does it include practice coaching sessions? New hire reunion sessions? Lunch and learns?  Meets and greets? Follow-up surveys? Departmental training sessions? Follow-up activities ensure that you are connected to the rep’s success, they demonstrate your commitment, and they build trust with your internal customers. 

Celebrate and share the successes. This is so important. If you have successes, then share them! People want to know what is working, and it’s great to share this with other training professionals. Why not have others benefit from your best practices and lessons learned? That’s one of the reasons I’m writing this blog. Be proud of your accomplishments and pay it forward. It makes perfect business sense and promotes positive karma.

Above all, have fun! – An onboarding program should be interesting and enjoyable. If everyone involved is not engaged in the process, then really, what’s the point?