Effective Sales Onboarding
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5 Keys to Effective Sales Onboarding
Onboarding new salespeople properly will help you get the most out of your sales team by efficiently getting new talent up to speed. However, to be done correctly you need to carefully consider the process. Fortunately, the sales experts at Sandler UK have come up with these five tips to ensure your onboarding goes smoothly.
Preparation
We have all spent a few hours waiting around on the first morning when starting a new job. Sales leaders should prepare for new salespeople’s start dates as much as possible, so they can get them ready to sell as soon as possible. Creating a personalised onboarding plan with everything required and tasks allocated to all necessary staff members is the best way to prepare. Below, we explain the four most important elements this plan should cover.
Discuss the top ten behaviours and tasks
Rather than focusing on outcomes, we believe it is more important to focus on behaviours and critical tasks during onboarding training. New hires need to understand what the behaviours are, why they are important and how they impact the bottom line. Here are the common top ten tasks and behaviours:
- Lead generation
- Building relationships
- Qualifying opportunities
- Creating presentations
- Servicing customers
- Account management
- Territory development
- Behavioural plans
- Continuous education
- Executing the agreed selling system.
Establish coaching cadence
We have found the most effective onboarding process will follow the Rule of 20-90. This means spending twenty days on one-to-one coaching sessions to establish a consistent model of behaviour and then weekly check-ins for the following ninety days to ensure they are kept on track.
Set weekly goals
Goal-setting is a crucial key to effective sales onboarding. We recommend setting three professional goals and two personal goals for new salespeople each week.
Developing a feedback loop
This involves setting and following a coaching model. At Sandler UK, we recommend this four-step model:
Step one: Assess
Evaluate the salesperson’s competency, benchmarks, and timeline for success.
Step two: Establish
Work with the salesperson to agree on expectations for the coaching and set their goals.
Step three: Define
Share feedback and work with the salesperson to improve their skills.
Step four: Execute
Implementing the behavioural plan and using the skills they are developing.
For all the info on each of the five keys to successful onboarding, check out our free-to-download guide.
Training for sales leaders and more
For those looking for full-service sales training on leadership, onboarding, process development, strategy and more, Sandler UK is the number one choice. We offer engaging face-to-face training sessions at centres across the UK. For all the info, feel free to reach out to us and we can have an open and honest conversation about how we can help you grow sales.
