There is no shortage of sales onboarding solution options to choose from and most of them offer basic instructor-led training that is created once and typically isn’t updated for months or years at a time.

In contrast, an advanced sales onboarding solution will have:

  1. Curriculum-based training that comes in different forms and allows reps to learn your sales methodology in a way that’s best for them.
  2. Experts who can quickly record helpful content for reps based on their expertise.
  3. Accurate scoring that grades reps on a variety of skills and offers valuable feedback.
  4. Visual data points on sales KPIs (like bookings and close rate) that quickly allow you to see where reps are struggling.

You should be looking for those four features when evaluating high-quality sales onboarding solution options.

In this article, we’ll go over six sales onboarding tools, starting with our own, Bigtincan Learning (formerly Brainshark), which we’ll carefully explain in the context of those 4 factors above.

Note: Bigtincan Learning (formerly Brainshark) was built to fulfill the four factors above. You can read about it in detail below or schedule a demo if you want to see exactly how it could help your sales organization.

Bigtincan Learning

Bigtincan homepage: Prepare your teams today to win more tomorrow.
Bigtincan Learning is built to directly address the four requirements of an advanced onboarding solution mentioned above:

  • Training
  • Content creation
  • Coaching
  • Scorecards

Below, we’ll explore each one in detail.

Key Feature #1: Curriculum-Based Training That’s Easy to Navigate and Track

While most sales onboarding solutions have some type of LMS (Learning Management System) that houses their training, not every platform has an intuitive interface that allows reps to easily navigate through content.

Bigtincan Learning surfaces all training on the home screen where courses and curriculums are searchable and can be filtered by industry, sales stage, products discussed, and a number of other categories so reps can quickly find different trainings.

A preview of the Bigtincan Learning platform in action: Everything is searchable
From their personalized Learning tab, reps are able to view the curriculums they are currently enrolled in via the built-in progress tracker while also being able to view how many assignments need to be completed, the completion percentage, achievements earned, and course sessions (course sessions meaning actual live meetings via zoom or in-person).

Bigtincan Learning: Assignments to be completed, Completed, Achievements, etc.
Managers can place due dates on trainings, and in the event that a rep does not complete a training by the given due date, an automatic reminder can be sent eliminating the need for manual follow-up.

Content is organized by curriculums and those curriculums are broken down into courses that can be marked as either optional or required to complete. Reps are even able to pick up and resume a training they weren’t able to complete prior.

Bigtincan Learning Content
Bigtincan Learning also has the option of tying curriculums together.

For example, if a new rep is required to complete a mandatory 30-day curriculum, the next curriculum can be set to automatically unlock on day 31, making it super simple for sales reps to move through the proper training without managers having to manually make certain training accessible every time a new rep reaches that point.

Managers can add additional assets into curriculums that they’ve either created externally or that they’ve purchased like live webinars and even other courses. In addition, these assets can also have prerequisites so you know that a rep has completed the required training before accessing another specific training or knowledge check.

Key Feature #2: Subject Matter Experts Can Quickly Create Impactful and Fresh Content

In most sales onboarding solutions, creating and uploading new content is a long and tedious process that involves first contacting the head of the specific department in which the training is being recorded, then further deciding which curriculum, lesson, and chapter it belongs to, before actually creating and uploading that content. This discourages the wider team from adding and updating to the learning content.

But, what if there’s a rep within your organization that excels at a particular skill that you’d like them to share with other reps? Bigtincan Learning directly addresses this concern.

Bigtincan Learning allows for subject matter experts to quickly record training content that is editable, trackable, and can be easily uploaded to different curriculums or just be available when someone searches a related phrase, even if it’s not added to any particular curriculum. 

Bigtincan Learning Favorites: Training videos and Content
Training videos can be recorded using any webcam or screen recording solution or they can be recorded directly in Bigtincan Learning’s platform. A rep can easily make a five minute video using their phone or laptop explaining a technique they use that’s been working well, or sharing the way they position a particular product feature — without having to jump through the hoops of deciding every last detail of where this content will go and if it’s approved by the curriculum managers.

Content can be created in different forms such as podcasts, screen recordings, quizzes, and product overviews, so content creators have the option to produce the type of content that best fits with what they’re teaching.

This content is simply uploaded into Bigtincan Learning’s platform, and is discoverable by anyone via search — it does not need to be formally integrated into an existing training curriculum (unless the team wants to do so).

For example, if a rep is doing onboarding or training and is searching for “sales pitches” or “sales pitch practices”, it will show content that other reps have created — even if the content is not yet available in a particular lesson or chapter within the training curriculum.

This dramatically increases the amount of internal knowledge sharing that happens on your sales team while keeping training material up to date (as opposed to only having old curriculum-based training), which can speed up the sales onboarding process of new reps.

In addition, if there is an instance where a rep wants to quickly share content with someone inside or outside of their organization, Bigtincan Learning makes it easy to do so with our Outlook integration.

Bigtincan Outlook Integration
Reps can directly search for content within Outlook and quickly insert it into an email that can either be sent internally (for another rep to quickly reference a particular sales training) or externally (to clients to further the sales process, such as a customer testimonial).

In addition, you’re able to view specific data points about the content sent out — like how long someone has watched a video and, specifically, which parts of the video they watched.

Key Feature #3: Reps Can Display and Be Scored on What They’ve Learned

Most sales onboarding solutions have some type of training content available for their reps, but  to ensure that reps are really learning the skills needed to close more prospects requires coaching. 

When we say coaching, we mean a way for salespeople to display product knowledge and actually practice what they’ve been learning. Sales managers also need a way to give feedback on their performance.

Bigtincan Learning lets sales managers know specific details about how their reps' presentation can be improved (i.e. accuracy and expertise about a topic) via a scoring criteria. The scoring criteria grades reps on a number of areas like confidence, displaying expertise, certainty, and energy behind their presentation.

Bigtincan Learning Coaching Feedback
Bigtincan Learning also utilizes AI-machine scoring that can accurately detect important elements in a reps presentation like filler words, rate of speech, and the emotions conveyed. This is important because it allows managers to provide more nuanced feedback and gives reps clarity on the exact areas they need to improve during sales calls.

Bigtincan Learning: Coaching Feedback (Grade Level, Filler Words, Duration, Rate of Speech)
Each presentation is able to be scored by multiple reviewers, which allows multiple subject matter experts to give feedback in their area of expertise on the same presentation. This gives the sales rep in training a holistic view of what they need to improve as opposed to just a singular point of view.

Reviewers have the ability to set specific timestamps allowing reps to reference the exact point of the presentation that needs to be improved or where they did well. Reps are also able to easily submit their presentation via webcam, screen recording, or by uploading a video directly into the platform.

Key Feature #4 Scorecards Help to Quickly Identify Skill Gaps within Your Team

The quicker sales managers are able to identify where their reps are struggling, the quicker they can address the issues and further close skill gaps.

Bigtincan Learning uses scorecards to give a visual representation of exactly where reps are falling short during the sales process.

Bigtincan Learning Scorecards
Sales KPIs are broken down by the following categories:

  • Opportunities created
  • Pipeline created
  • Opportunities won
  • Bookings
  • ASP (average selling price)
  • Close rate
  • Sales cycle

Each sales data point is visually represented by the colors green, yellow, and red (green meaning you’re doing well, yellow being mediocre, and red meaning not doing well).

In the case that you already have previous sales data, Bigtincan Learning also integrates with Salesforce and allows you to import data directly into scorecards so you can get a clear picture of the current state of your sales team from day one of using our platform.

Managers also have the option to dig further into the data of an individual rep to see every course or curriculum they are currently enrolled to and whether or not they have completed it.

This data is filtered by:

  • Sales rep by activity
  • The different types of training
  • Completion date
  • Enrollment status
  • Whether or not a training is overdue

Bigtincan Learning Enrollments: Activity, Type, Completion Date, Enrollment Status
This makes it easy for sales managers to make the connection between where a rep is struggling vs how they performed on a course teaching that particular skill.

For example, if a manager sees that a rep is struggling selling value to potential customers and then notices that they didn’t pass a required course on how to sell value, the manager can make a data driven decision to have that rep retake the course and do more activities to continue further improving this skill.

If these features sound like they can help your sales team with successful onboarding, you can learn more and get pricing by booking a demo here.

Other Sales Onboarding Solutions

Here are a few other sales onboarding solution options.

Mindtickle

Mindtickle homepage: Be Ready To Grow Revenue

Mindtickle is a popular sales onboarding solution that focuses mostly on coaching and performance management.

To help enable sales readiness, their platform includes readiness tracking to see how reps are performing over time. They have pre-built templates to quickly deliver old and new hires the knowledge they need, and program insights to manage skill development, analyze teams, and use existing data to improve an organization’s training process.

User reviews of Mindtickle on G2 compliment the platform’s intuitiveness, ease of use, and their customer support.

Apty

Apty homepage: Enterprise Software Adoption at Scale
Apty
is another sales onboarding program option with a specific focus on enterprise-level companies. They help enterprises increase product adoption and simplify the learning curve for new employees.

Their platform is simple to use and fully customizable — enabling users to create preferred employee onboarding flows and easily add new content via Apty’s code-free Editor.

While they do not have their pricing listed on their website, they do offer a free evaluation or a quote on a plan that is custom to you and your organization's needs.

Reviews have mentioned the efficient onboarding process and in-app guidance that reps have experienced.

Allego

Allego homepage: Make Success Your Superpower
Allego describes themselves as a virtual learning and sales enablement platform that promotes an easy workflow and effective onboarding experience for sales reps.

Experts are able to quickly curate content for their team members that is measurable and helps to engage new sales reps — minimizing downtime, boosting productivity, and increasing selling potential.Their solution is also compatible with both iOS and Android mobile devices to easily access training at any location.

Their peer-to-peer sharing allows for training to be quickly dispersed across teams and provide executives accurate insight to enforce the most effective sales training for their reps.

LevelJump

LevelJump homepage: Outcome-Based Sales Enablement
LevelJump
is a sales enablement and readiness solution, acquired by Salesforce, that brands itself as simplifying the process of tying your sales performance to training programs, coaching, and go-to market readiness.

Their solution includes features like outcome analytics — offering a visual way to look at program achievement and quickly discover patterns in the programs that are delivering your team successful results. It also includes an embedded milestone feature that allows sales leaders to view metrics and place milestones (i.e. activities completed, deals closed, etc.).

Their pricing starts at $45 per user with a minimum requirement of 35 users. If you manage a team of more than 500 users, they offer custom plans and pricing.

SalesHood

SalesHood homepage: Enable More Sellers to Perform Like Your Best
SalesHood
is an all-in-one sales enablement platform that focuses on promoting bite-sized training and micro assessments to help new sales hires learn faster.

The solution features a team dashboard that lets managers see, at-a-glance, a summary of all the current programs their team is working on and if their training is overdue, upcoming, or complete.

Every rep has a “ToDo” section in their dashboard that displays their required programs, due date, and progress percentage, so training can be completed in an effective and systematic way.

Reviews suggest that SalesHood excels at coaching productivity and its ease of use.

Similar to some of the other sales onboarding solutions mentioned, their pricing is not displayed on their website, so you’d have to reach out to them in order to get an accurate quote.

Start Effectively Onboarding Your Sales Team

There are plenty of sales onboarding solutions to choose from. Truly understanding your company’s needs is the first step in choosing the solution that’s best for your team.

We’ve found that the best sales onboarding solutions do the following:

  • Promote effective sales coaching through great training.
  • Improve client retention (this happens as a result of in-depth product knowledge).
  • Increase sales rep effectiveness to close more deals at a faster pace to increase company revenue.
  • Enhance company culture through experts sharing knowledge and constructive feedback.

Bigtincan Learning is a great choice for organizations looking to improve their sales-readiness and onboarding process to effectively help their sales teams increase their bottom line while decreasing new hire training time. If you’re interested in giving Bigtincan Learning a try, you can schedule a demo to see if our solution is the right fit for your team’s needs.