11 Ideas to Transform Your Strategy

Sales Onboarding Cheat Sheet:

Onboarding is a universal challenge for sales organizations – nearly every company hires sales reps and needs to do something to train and prepare them to sell.

But the reality is that most companies aren’t succeeding; 62% say they’re ineffective at onboarding new sales reps, according to the Sales Management Association.

And the stakes are high – if new sales reps don’t ramp up to productivity quickly, companies can take a huge hit in terms of revenue and retention. For example,

it can cost organizations $97,960 just to replace the average sales rep, says a DePaul University study.

For companies to improve their onboarding strategy, sometimes all it takes is a new idea, approach or tactic.

This Cheat Sheet will provide 11 ideas for starting or revamping your onboarding program with the help of sales readiness technology.

Introduction

1. Add variety to your learning methods

Sticking strictly to in-person classroom training or boot camps (with the old ‘fire-hose’ approach) isn’t going to cut it for today’s new sales hires. Learning is not a one-and-done process; if reps are hit with too much information at once, the chances of them retaining it is much lower.

Today’s reps (especially millennials) want to take a more modern approach to training that incorporates a variety of formats, with skills they can learn quickly and put into action right away.

When designing onboarding curriculums, use a variety of formats (such as digital courses, videos, PowerPoints with voiceovers, PDFs, webpages and more).

Create bite-sized, microlearning courses so reps can consume material piece-by-piece, instead of in one big gulp.

Brainshark allows you to create course sessions for live events (such as instructor-led training and webinars) so you can manage them alongside all other learning activities for new hires.

Quick Tip

And make learning content accessible on-the-go via mobile devices so reps can learn anytime, anywhere.

Connor Robinson

Susan Kelliher

Archie Wilson

2. Take an agile onboarding approach

When a new rep comes on board, it can be overwhelming not just to them, but to the sales enablement team in charge of ramping them up. There’s a lot for reps to learn in their first few months on the job: product and company information, key messaging, competitive differentiators and sales methodology, to name a few.

By adopting an agile approach to onboarding (based upon agile software development principles), you can break the often months-long ramp process into shorter time periods of training and coaching, focused on

building proficiency in key competencies through sales activities, such as a demo call.

For example, give a new rep 2 weeks to prepare for their first demo call. During those 2 weeks, the rep will complete training courses and be required to pass a certification demonstrating their readiness to deliver the demo. Once that activity has been completed, they can use these new skills immediately on their first call, while preparing for the next key activity in the sales cycle.

Not only will this approach keep you organized, but

you can certify that reps have mastered the skills and knowledge for each key sales activity. Or you will see that a rep is not ready for the activity and can assign them additional (or repeat) training.

Read More: The Brainshark Agile Sales Onboarding Methodology

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3. Assess readiness at multiple levels

Many companies use quizzes and tests to assess readiness, but how can you be truly confident that reps can ‘stand and deliver’ what they learned when it’s game time?

By adding multiple levels of assessments to onboarding courses, you can certify whether reps have absorbed the material and can relay it back.

You can leverage sales readiness technology in a few key ways: through video coaching activities where reps are asked to record a video articulating messaging or responding

to key questions, or via screen recording where you can assess reps’ presentations and demos.

New reps will be more motivated to engage with learning material if they know they’ll be tested and asked to demonstrate what they learned. Plus, you’ll be able to verify their readiness, instead of only ‘checking the box’ of training completion.

Read More: Why Sales Training Needs Micro-Assessments

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4. Facilitate practice opportunities

To reach mastery of key messages, reps need ‘reps;’ meaning they need repetition in the form of practice opportunities. In sports, business and public speaking, for example, people practice their craft all the time to fix the kinks and continuously improve. The same should be true in sales.

With sales readiness technology, reps have a safe and comfortable environment to practice skills and messaging.

For example, if a new rep is trying to perfect their elevator pitch, they can record a video coaching activity with as many ‘takes’ as they’d like. The pure act of repetition is helpful to the rep to self-assess what they did right and wrong. Once the rep has a ‘take’ they feel good about, they can request feedback from managers and peers.

The more reps practice, the more comfortable they will feel once they start selling. Also, by practicing, reps will be able to see their mistakes and correct them, instead of slipping up during a buyer interaction.

5. Incorporate peer learning

New reps often want to see ‘what good looks like’ when they start at a new company. The sharing of institutional knowledge and best practices has always taken place informally among sales reps, but it’s your job to organize and make it accessible for your new hire classes.

Sales readiness technology with video coaching capabilities can help you create structure around peer learning. You can capture the knowledge of A-players and veteran reps by asking them to record a video (via webcam or mobile) where they share best practices,

tips and tricks or even answer questions like, ‘how I won the deal.’

These videos can be reviewed for quality and key points, and the best ones can be tagged, saved and shared via your sales readiness platform, incorporated into formal onboarding courses or added to the leaderboard. This content can be incredibly helpful for new hires to see how successful reps sell and get inside tips on what works and what doesn’t.

Read More: Peer Learning for Sales

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6. Provide anytime, anywhere access to resources

To support reps during the onboarding process, they don’t just need training courses, they also need easy access to ‘just-in-time’, continuous learning resources.

A sales readiness tool can be a one-stop-shop for these resources. For example, a new rep may have a discovery call coming up. As they complete training and coaching activities in preparation, they also may need to reference specific information as a refresher.

By making relevant content and training available and searchable, reps can find it no matter where, when or how they’re working. You can also add tags and filters and make it accessible via mobile devices, the CRM and email.

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7. Jump-start with pre-boarding

Sales onboarding doesn’t necessarily have to start on the same day your new reps start. While you can’t legally compel employees to do any work before they’re officially in the door, you can give them the option to jump-start the onboarding process.

Before reps show up for their first day, send them a ‘new hire kit,’ with basic learning content around your product, company, industry, customers and key competitors. You can present this content in a simple, easy-to-consume format, like a video or a PowerPoint with a voiceover. It’s also helpful to include

other recommended material (books, blog posts, podcasts) to get them excited for their new position.

The benefit of pre-boarding is that when a rep starts, they’ll already have a baseline of knowledge and can get on the road to productivity even faster. Plus, your company will give off a good impression right away, showing the new employee that you’re invested in their success.

With your new hire kit, send along some company swag (like a notebook, pen, t-shirt) and have your sales leader record a welcome message via video.

Quick Tip

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8. Onboarding for every sales role

Every employee in your sales force needs to be onboarded, but most of the time, onboarding programs are only geared towards new sales reps. But it’s equally important to support customer-facing hires by identifying their core competencies and creating customized training paths for each group, including sales engineers, SDRs, and even sales leaders.

For example, sales leaders may not need a boot camp, but you can send them on-demand learning to review on their own time. Sales engineers, on the other hand, will need more in-depth product and demo

training, as well as practice opportunities. SDRs will be focused on their elevator pitch and preparing for their first prospecting call, so prioritize the skills that will enable them to succeed in those activities. And if you’re bringing on new channel partners, provide learning materials that will help them understand your product and value proposition.

“Brainshark is not only a resource to train new hires, but to quickly utilize and provide on-demand training for partners. It’s a great tool to learn and provide value to partners as sales resources.”

Liz Barnhart, Senior Director of Channel Sales, Talari Networks

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9. Create an onboarding treasure map

Most onboarding programs have a certain number of tasks that new reps need to accomplish in a certain period of time before they’re fully ramped. With a sales readiness tool, reps can track their learning activities, progress and due dates. In addition to that, you can also provide an onboarding ‘treasure map’ that includes all the tasks that need to be completed before onboarding is done.

Deliver the ‘treasure map’ on day one to new reps so they immediately know what they’re expected to accomplish. You can include training and

sales activity milestones (that they’ll access through the sales readiness tool), as well as other tasks, such as meeting with key people or getting access to the CRM. By adding these key activities to a map, reps can stay on top of their progress and be motivated to complete all the items within the onboarding period.

10. Use the ‘buddy system’

When new salespeople join an organization, they have a unique onboarding program to get them up to speed quickly. But like everyone else, they’re also a brand-new employee that needs to learn how to navigate your company.

Pair new hires with veteran reps as part of a ‘buddy system.’ New reps can lean on these more tenured reps to shadow them on calls, ask questions and be introduced to key people in the organization. Establishing these mentor-style

relationships provides new reps with a go-to resource throughout onboarding as a well as a long-lasting connection they can count on throughout their tenure.

There may not be an equal number of new hires to your veteran reps, so incentivize veterans to participate in the ‘buddy system’ by offering up prizes or gift cards.

Quick Tip

The Brainshark sales enablement platform equips businesses with the training, coaching and content needed to prepare salespeople when, where and how they work.

With Brainshark, companies can: enable sales teams with on-demand training that accelerates onboarding and keeps reps up-to-speed; validate readiness with sales coaching and practice that ensures reps master your message;

About Brainshark11. Extend learning beyond onboarding

After onboarding is completed and reps start selling full time, the learning shouldn’t stop. Onboarding won’t cover everything reps need to know as they encounter all types of selling situations; they need to always be working on honing their skills and acquiring new knowledge.

Once the onboarding period is over, deliver continuous learning,

coaching and practice to reinforce onboarding material, for milestones, such as product launches or sales transformations, and to address skill gaps, where reps need to upskill in a certain area.

Read More: The 4 Pillars of Sales Readiness

and empower sales organizations with rich, dynamic content that can be created quickly, updated easily, and accessed anywhere.

Thousands of customers – including more than half of the Fortune 100 – rely on Brainshark to identify and close performance gaps, and get better results from their sales enablement initiatives. Learn more at www.brainshark.com.