Introduction
A lack of an effective onboarding program is one of the causes of poor sales performance and high turnover among new sales hires. The first few months of new sales reps are the most critical to their retention, performance, and sales success, so it’s crucial to get your sales onboarding process right.
Many organizations come short when it comes to executing a sales onboarding program. In this post, we want to share our tips for getting your sales revenue ramp up significantly by strategizing and planning an effective sales onboarding program.
Why Does Successful Onboarding Matter
Sales onboarding is one of the critical stages for new hire training, and an effective onboarding program enables the newly hired reps to make an impact on the organization. Effective onboarding can enhance sales productivity, as well as lower turnover rates.
Here are the top four reasons sales onboarding matters :
- Setting up expectations: Defining goals and setting up expectations will outline what sales reps should accomplish. This will establish accountability and transparency with your sales reps.
- Improving Retention: A successful onboarding program plays a huge role in attracting and retaining top talent.
- Engaging sales reps: Engaging sales reps start with onboarding. When sales reps get all the resources, tools, and information they need, from the start they are more likely to be highly engaged in their work, believe in the company’s vision, and contribute ideas to improve the overall sales department
Best Practices to keep in mind while creating an onboarding program
Here are a few best practices to help you build your onboarding program:
Build a company story: Come to the table with a clear vision of your goals. What are your company’s mission and vision? What are your company values? What do you bring to the table? How is it different from your competitors?
Provide clear, concise messaging: With a clear understanding of your company values, new sales reps need a guide on how to convey your message. Your onboarding program should provide key messaging tips for a variety of different sales situations and opportunities.
Target the right customers: Develop sample profiles of customers that are a good fit for your products, including personalities and relevant industries. Learning how to pick and choose potential customers is a great way to help new hires understand your ideal customers and sell to them effectively.
Standardize the process: Access to paperwork, manuals, onboarding materials, and centralized messaging can significantly improve the results of the process. Enlist the help of a dashboard-style system that keeps everything in one place. A simple, effective, repeatable system will help new reps feel confident when the process begins, and give a simple way to check back and review important information when needed. Provide continuous support: Using a sales readiness platform that standardizes your message is just the first step toward improved sales and retention.
Final Thoughts
Strategizing and executing an effective sales onboarding program will generate significant ROI for your organization.
To enhance sales productivity and ramp up sales rep effectiveness, explore a user-friendly software that tracks new reps’ progress through onboarding modules and identifies competency gaps of reps in certain areas. Book a demo today to see how Awarathon can improve your sales onboarding program!
