A 2018 research study by The Sales Management Association showed that 62% of companies feel they aren’t doing an effective job of onboarding new sales hires.
Can you relate to this statistic? If so, that’s an issue.
Onboarding new employees is incredibly important — and with sales reps, a solid onboarding process is even more essential. Your sales team has a massive impact on the cash flow of your business.
Keep that cash flow strong by onboarding new reps the right way. Here are five things your sales onboarding process is probably missing.
#1. The Right Timing
Hitting the right balance for your sales onboarding timeline can be tricky. Some companies push their sales staff out of the nest too early. Others swing the opposite way, piling on so many onboarding materials that it takes months for new team members to dig their way out. So what’s the best answer?
It generally takes about three months for a new sales rep to feel confident in their abilities in front of a buyer. In most cases, it will take more time for them to be fully competent; they have a lot to learn to represent the product well and feel self-assured walking through the sales process. But your initial sales onboarding process will likely take about three months. This gives you ample time to walk through the four phases of onboarding (listed below) without dragging things out too long:
- Pre-onboarding
- Welcoming new team members
- Sales training
- Continued support as they transition into their new role
#2. Personalization
Your goal is to make your new sales reps feel like a valued member of your team. So if your onboarding materials are generic and impersonal, that’s not going to cut it.
Incorporating personalization into the onboarding process is key to welcoming new employees into the group. Give each team member their own personalized welcome package. Consider organizing a team building event so everyone can meet each other. Or set up “big sibling” relationships between veteran employees and new hires.
It’s also important to make an effort to personalize onboarding materials as much as possible. AirDeck makes it easy to personalize documents like a PowerPoint or a Google Doc by using the platform’s audio and video narration options. Speak directly to your new team with personalized content, breaking down complex, tedious documents in an engaging way.
#3. Convenience
Everybody is short on time. Make your onboarding process as convenient as possible so participants won’t dread the work they have to do.
Technology is an easy way to make sales onboarding more convenient — for both you and your team. Firms that know how to use technology are 57% more effective at sales training and development than companies who don’t use technology well.
Implement technology into your onboarding process with AirDeck, which offers a way to provide better training on-demand. Create a presentation in AirDeck and then share on-demand access with a secure, unique link. Sales reps will be able to work through the content whenever they’re available.
#4. Culture
Communicating your company’s culture might not be at the top of your priority list for onboarding. But it’s more important than you might think: Companies with strong culture have seen a 4x increase in revenue growth.
Integrate new sales reps into your company’s culture as soon as possible. Explicitly communicate your organization’s mission statement, values, ethics, and expectations. If your employees are remote, make a point to have as much face-to-face time as possible (even if it’s just over Zoom). And consider rewarding employees who live out your values with an incentive such as a gift card or catered lunch.
Being immersed in company culture from day one will allow sales staff to do their job as effectively as possible.
#5. Analytics
55% of organizations don’t measure the effectiveness of onboarding programs. This is a major mistake. When you don’t know how well your program is working, you won’t know how you can improve and optimize it to be as good as possible for new employees.
How can you track your onboarding program quickly and painlessly? AirDeck makes it easy to track the results you’re getting from your onboarding program. Track viewing activity for each individual slide in a presentation to see whether your onboarding materials are capturing your staff’s attention. The insight you’ll gain makes it easy to tweak the content as needed to get your point across more effectively.
For additional feedback on the onboarding process, provide a form or survey for new hires to fill out once they’ve successfully been onboarded. Ask questions like:
- On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate your onboarding experience? Explain.
- Do you feel that you have the tools and resources necessary to do your job well?
- What’s one thing we could have done to improve your onboarding experience?
When your new sales reps start meeting with buyers, their performance can also indicate how effective your onboarding program was.
Onboarding sales staff might feel like a daunting project. By incorporating these five aspects into your onboarding process, your new sales reps are much more likely to see success.
