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SALES ONBOARDING: 6 TIPS TO HELP YOU RAMP UP YOUR SALES REPS AND ACCELERATE
REVENUE



It’s been reported by the Sales Management Association that the average sales
new hire spends 10 weeks in training, only becoming productive after 11.2
months. Onboarding new sales talent is a huge investment for most organizations,
and getting it right can be a make or break for your business.

It’s not surprising that effective onboarding services that meet or exceed sales
reps’ expectations can improve quota attainment by 16.2%, but what is surprising
is how many organizations aren’t truly maximizing their reps’ time during their
onboarding phase.

Effective onboarding services that meet or exceed sales reps’ expectations can
improve quota attainment by 16.2%.

In this post, we wanted to share our tips for getting your sales reps ramped up
quickly and enabling them to start crushing revenue targets sooner.

1. Put people before processes

It may sound simple, but in order for your onboarding efforts to be truly
effective, you want to make sure that you have the right people in the right
roles. When you’re hiring new reps to join your team, it’s important to evaluate
based on performance metrics from their previous roles, but also soft skills.

Your reps are the faces of your company in the market, so it’s important to
ensure that on top of having role-related knowledge, you’re screening reps for
qualities like empathy, grit, and creativity. Having the right people on your
team will make them a lot more receptive to your onboarding efforts — and help
you reach your revenue targets faster.

2. Establish what success looks like

When we talk about success in the onboarding phase, we’re looking at two key
outcomes. Firstly, a successful ramp-up period that gives reps a complete
understanding of your business and how it operates. This can include sales
processes like identifying qualified opportunities and market knowledge. Then,
there’s long-term success. This includes things like revenue targets and quotas
— the things your reps will be measured by when they’re fully on board.

If you’re not sure of what your targets are, there’s no way you’ll be able to
empower your reps to work towards them. Make sure to take the time to set
measurable goals so that your team has a clear understanding of your
expectations from day one. Doing so will also help provide context as your reps
move through the onboarding process.

3. Build a blueprint

After establishing a clear set of goals, it’s important to ensure your
onboarding program maps to the skills, processes, and content that will help
your reps achieve those goals — both short and long-term. Organizing your
onboarding program in this way helps to clearly define the competencies that are
needed to succeed as well as helps you and your reps understand how far along
they are in the onboarding process.

Within your blueprint for your sales onboarding, make sure you’re focusing on
the knowledge areas that are most important to your business. These might
include:

 * Addressable market (revenue opportunity available)
 * Your customers (who you’re serving)
 * Product (what you offer based on customer needs)
 * Sales motion (methodology, tools, and process)

4. Enable your reps with on-demand learning

By adopting an on-demand learning approach, you give reps the opportunity to
learn at their own pace, rather than waiting around for calls to shadow or for a
supervisor to walk them through a particular selling approach.



Having on-demand resources available to your reps to review and even use for
virtual role-plays will help your sellers get up to speed faster. It will also
give them more confidence in their skills as they can be honed and evaluated in
a virtual environment!

Some examples of common on-demand training modules include:

 * Industry news and trends: Help reps start speaking your prospects’ language
   from the get-go by familiarizing themselves with how to speak about hot
   topics in your space and navigate industry jargon.
 * Objection handling: Compile the most common objections that reps at your
   company face and provide strategies for overcoming them.
 * Pitch presentations: Give your new reps the opportunity to learn and
   understand how you present your product to buyers.
 * Veteran tips: Have your most seasoned sales reps provide their top tips for
   excelling in the field. It’s always great to hear advice from a
   high-performing peer!
 * Sales process: Provide an overview of what the sales process at your
   organization looks like, including what reps are expected to do at each
   stage.
 * Competitive insights: Ensure your reps have a strong understanding of how
   your product offering differs from your competitors and what makes yours
   stand out.

The best part about making these specific training modules available on-demand
is that it doesn’t take time away from your high-performing reps who are already
busy selling, and it also ensures consistency in the onboarding process.

5. Test and measure key competencies

When a sales rep isn’t fully prepared to answer questions and address the needs
of prospects, they will struggle to hit their sales targets and quotas. In fact,
in the last year, 57% of sales reps were expected to miss their quotas.

As your reps move through the onboarding process, it can be difficult to truly
gauge their comprehension levels and how close they are to start driving
revenue. What helps is being able to track onboarding session completion rates,
as well as conducting knowledge tests along the way. This will allow you to
identify knowledge gaps and give more training attention where it’s needed.

As a manager, some key knowledge areas you’ll want to test for include:

 * Product knowledge — especially the ability to effectively demo your product
 * Competitive intel
 * Pricing packages
 * Buyer personas
 * Post-sale services and support
 * Prospecting process
 * How and when to qualify a lead
 * Vertical- or territory-specific knowledge
 * Ability to use your CRM



Using data is really the only concrete way to determine how prepared your reps
are to sell. A Readiness Index is a great way to get a holistic view of reps’
sales readiness, factoring in coaching, knowledge, and skill.





6. Implement a sales everboarding strategy

On-the-job learning shouldn’t stop with onboarding. In the sales world
especially, messaging, techniques, product offering, and strategy are constantly
evolving. So it’s integral to ensure ongoing sales readiness with continuous
learning programs.

There are a number of different ways you can promote ongoing learning within
your sales organization, but some of our favorites include:

 * Micro-learning modules: These are great for quick tips and competitive intel
 * Certification programs: Ideal for new product and messaging rollouts
 * Quizzes: Perfect for gauging knowledge retention so sales leaders know when
   to coach
 * On-the-go learning: Provide mobile access to your training modules with an
   app or mobile dedicated site so they can be accessed any time, anywhere

As a sales leader, it’s important to recognize that the way you structure your
onboarding program and enable your reps from day one has a huge impact on your
bottom line. Taking these considerations into account will help you ramp up your
sales reps faster and accelerate your time to revenue. Who doesn’t want that?

For more information, download “5 Must-Haves for Any Sales Everboarding Strategy
Checklist.”


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