How To Effectively Onboard Your New Sales Starter To Ensure They Ramp Quickly
So you have a new sales starter, and you want to ensure they hit the ground running, but you’re unsure where to start? Well, read on because you will learn how to assure your new starter ramps up quickly…
Should I train the new starter on product knowledge?
Easy answer, yes, you should provide product knowledge, especially if the service/product is pretty technical. Other things to consider is who are they selling to, is it an educated buyer or an un-educated buyer (more on this in later blogs).
However, please don’t give them a brain haemorrhage with new information, provide the necessary information required to allow them to sound competent in the space they will be selling.
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Next, build product confidence.
Give them a list of all current customers and ask them to reach out to them and ask a bunch of questions, questions such as:
- Why did you choose to work with us?
- What problems were you facing before working with us?
- What wins have you seen working with us?
- Whats challenges do you face in your industry?
- What goals are the most important for you?
This exercise will give the new sales starter a much better understanding of your product than a weeks worth of product training. It also gives them examples and case studies of how the company has helped others, so the next time they are speaking with prospects, they have relevant information and stories they can share.
The final thing so great about this exercise is it helps the new sales starter buy into the product. Nothing will build their confidence in the product better than hearing stories from users who are solving problems and achieving goals.
It would also be a good idea to ask them to go and read any reviews and testimonials the company has received. This works the same way as the above statement describes.
Define the landscape
Next, they should take the information from the discussion with the current clients and use this to build Ideal Customer Personas (ICP), sometimes known as Ideal Client Avatars, Marketing Personas or target audience.
You want them to look for the commonalities between the clients, things such as:
- The Challenges
- The Goals
- The Demographics
This will help them create a clear picture of who they will be selling to, the goals they have and the challenges and pain that gets in the way.
If you have someone within your business that sounds like this persona, ask them to book some time with said person and ask them a series of questions, such as:
- What goals are important to you?
- What challenges do you face daily?
- Tell me about your day to day activities?
- What information gets your attention?
And finally, onboard them into a sales program, preferably one that gives ongoing support. When you work with us, all of our sales training to onboard your new sales starter includes :
Pre-Training Plan
30-days prior to training, managers will be set up on our On-Demand Learning Hub with access to the associated content being trained.
10-days prior to training a call will be scheduled with managers to review and answer questions/discuss training reinforcement and additional challenges.
On-Demand Hub
Access to On-Demand Learning Hub for 12 months post-training completion.
Post-Training Plan
30-days post-training, a 60-minute remote meeting (zoom) with sales team for Q&A and content refresher.
Talk to us about your sales training requirements – Click Here.
Your new sales starter is now in the best possible position to succeed in their new sales role. Set them free, but be sure to help them, support them and coach them into the best possible version of themselves.
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