Onboarding

Tips for Virtually Onboard New Sales Reps-01

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Tips for Virtually Onboarding New Sales Reps

In July, our Executive Open Bar topic was Remote Training Best Practices. This was a high-demand topic for obvious reasons with so many workforces now at home.

If you’re new to the “Open Bar,” this is a Leader-only sharing forum where friends of Factor 8 talk about what’s working, what’s not, and share challenges and best practices. 

*Sorry you missed the discussion. Watch our webinar on virtual training best practices to learn what great virtual sales training looks like. 

During this session, I got to put on the expert vs. facilitator hat on as most of our participants were Sales Leaders and not one on the call had a learning department helping with remote learning.

Say What!?

It’s a sad truth, but one we hear a lot. Sales Leaders are doubling as Enablement Leaders and their Sales Managers as Trainers. So let’s start here:

If you have more than 25 people onboard, it’s time to start investing in an internal enablement department. And if you have 25 salespeople, you’ll need a dedicated sales trainer or coordinator and a budget of at least $1500 / rep per year. 

Sales Leaders need new hire and ongoing learning for their sales reps and their sales managers. Their jobs are too busy to hire, train, coach, and manage these teams.

OK, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here are some tips we shared to help these busy folks:

1. Make New Hire Onboarding as Self-Paced as Possible. 

A very common mistake is for leaders to assume we own 100% of the learning. We try to download everything a newbie needs in multiple video sessions and drive ourselves crazy with post-it note reminders of stuff to add between meetings. Here’s the deal: you’re working too hard and they won’t retain it. 

Instead, try making a list of what a newbie needs to know and turn it into a research assignment. Have them use the website, intranet sites, knowledge centers, teammates, etc. to fill in your blanks and bring you questions for the rest. In fact, could their assignment be to create a presentation of this relevant information you could use next time? (See point 3) 

Now your video hour together can be an interesting story you share, Q&A and you quizzing them on what they learned.

Expert tip: beware of boiling the ocean. Do they need to know the whole history of your product set or the three key differentiators?

2. Capture for Posterity.

Another common mistake is “Groundhog’s Day” with newbies. If you’re hiring one or two employees every few weeks or months, you may feel like you’re starting over every time. Once you’ve made your new hire assignment like above, capture a blank page as a Google doc or save it to a new hire drive so you’re set for next time. Take ten minutes now to write out instructions to go with each assignment – even save them in order like day 1, day 2, etc. Your future self will thank you.

3. Use Free Bandwidth.

Because most people retain more information by DOING vs. reading or listening to you explain something, take advantage of their bandwidth. After researching relevant company history, what if they create a five-slide PPT and present it to the rest of the newbies (and save it in Drive for the next hires). Rather than just researching your top five products, perhaps they could make a video introducing them to the market. Each assignment is a better-fit learning activity AND a future resource.

4. Make Freebies Better.

There are lots of free guru videos, live streams, webinars, etc., out there. Yeah, you’ll have to listen to some product pitches along the way, but we’re looking for free training, right? So here’s how you make what’s out there better:

  1. If you attended and liked it, download / upload the video replay to your new hire training folder.
  2. Make a list of gurus you align to. There are lots of self-proclaimed experts out there, and helping your peeps align with your culture can be as simple as telling them a few folks to follow (and who to avoid).
  3. Surround the free events with pre and post-meetings. You can’t expect folks to attend a live webinar and then leave with changed behaviors or habits. In fact, your team will think it’s all optional unless you work with them afterward on what to apply, how to apply it, actual examples, and some role plays. Make it even better by setting expectations before the session and coaching on the key skills afterward.
5. Outsource What You Can.

Of COURSE, they love you, their fearless leader… but you’ll do well to mix it up. What internal experts can you leverage to teach topics? And what can be instantly outsourced to expert vendors?

Hint: There are five major areas where reps need training. Only two and a half are eligible for outsourcing:

  1. Product. What are your products and services, when and why do customers need them, how are you different from the competition? Use product leaders, marketing folks, other reps, case studies, testimonials, customer training videos, and customer success…
  2. Process. Think, “How a bill becomes a law.” What do reps need to know about getting orders processed, customers served, their timecards approved… you know, it’s how to get S#$* done at your company. Use operations leaders, support departments, other reps, the intranet, and the super-tenured folks who’ve been around forever.
  3. Systems. Don’t assume reps know how to use your tech stack. The average rep uses over 7 tools, do yourself a favor and buy the training from your vendor vs. teaching reps every step yourself. You’ll thank yourself later when you don’t have every person using the system in different ways. Best practice is when you have a professional training team that is utilizing a practice or sandbox system and incorporating timed system drills (e.g. end of day one, look up these customers in under five minutes, and end of day five we’re adding customers in under 2 minutes…)
  4. Acumen. Customer, business, industry. The big 3 used to be assumed when we hired a college degree. No such luck anymore. Your reps need to understand your industry, your customers’ industries, trends, terminology, acronyms, and basic business. Want them to talk ROI with the CEO… got to teach it first. Try using videos using your own internal experts. Some vendors can help here as well (Factor 8 teaches basic business acumen and has developed custom industry acumen courses for clients to use for all posterity.)
  5. Sales. I know, you hired for sales experience. Haven’t met a rep yet who can walk in ready to execute your sales process with your customers and your industry… have you? Even tenured reps need updates, brush-ups, reminders, best practices and help translating their sales experience to your situation. For example, did they ever sell virtually? Were they prospecting or managing existing accounts? A BDR skill set is vastly different from an AE and Account Manager skill set (check out how our certifications target different skills and outcomes). This is one you can outsource. I know a great company 😉 

If you found this blog helpful and you HAVE or ARE the training department, watch our session on what good virtual sales training. The world has progressed FAR beyond the video and narrated PowerPoint, aim higher with us and let’s help eLearning suck no more.

virtual sales challenges

Tips for Successful Sales Rep Onboarding

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Tips for Successful Sales Rep Onboarding

When I was in corporate America leading training organizations, my “white whale” was onboarding. I built programs, I improved programs, I chased the ever-elusive perfect new hire training experience. Pretty dorky, I guess. But MAN what a challenge.

I measured success by ramp time. Even that requires a special report of rep success by hiring cohorts (go ask for this now, it takes a while to build). And like the old game show “Name that Tune,” I challenged myself to get each group to quota in slightly fewer weeks.

I found great success, usually to the tune of about 50-100% decrease in unproductive time – or twice as fast to quota. I did it for an outsourced IBM hardware program hiring hundreds/year, for international launches of virtual SAP teams selling software, and even for small groups of reps selling waste management services (yes, I can tell you a lot about dumpsters now).

There are many keys to success – it’s a complex animal, isn’t it? Here are a few of my favorites:

  1. Institute rigor. Most trainers and reps approach new hire training as a break time. Reps get lazy and trainers “fill time.” Instead, think of the final 2-3-week step of the job interview. I’m talking daily tests, on-time starts, and class stack-rankings. It fosters an achievement culture.
  2. Self-guidance speeds learning over hand-holding. When onboarding a remote team, the go-to move is hours of Zoom calls with experts spewing data (sadly, this is called “teaching.”). Instead, put your newbies in charge of finding information, drawing conclusions, and completing tasks. You can use recordings of past “training” + your intranet and website to complete a quiz that invites decisions or conclusions and mirrors what the customer may ask. For example, after listening to your product person give the history of your solution set, they answer questions about product features of the most recent product and how it’s different from your competitor’s solution.
  3. Include all key areas. Most programs go heavy on systems and products. But that is a fraction of the picture. Reps and Managers need knowledge and skills in:
    1. Business, industry, & customer acumen: this gives us conversation confidence
    2. Sales skills. Even if you hired for experience, they’ll need to flex new muscles with your services in your industry in your sales motion (e.g. the online demo, virtual selling vs. face-to-face presentations) This is the easiest to outsource.
    3. Process. Remember Schoolhouse Rock? How a Bill Becomes a Law? Reps and especially managers need to know how a prospect becomes a renewal – the steps and departments and people involved in the business of your business.
    4. Product. Make this better by teaching them how to SELL it, not it’s full history.
    5. Systems. Make this better with scavenger hunts and timed drills. Can they talk and order entry and multi-task at once? It’s a key success factor.
  4. Just in time training. Resist the temptation to deliver training for the whole job upfront. They’ll only retain about 10% of what they don’t apply immediately. And frankly, you’ll scare them more than you’ll help them. Focus onboarding on what they need their first month on the job. Drill it to build confidence and let them loose. They’ll come back for the rest. Confidence is the name of the game for new reps, so let them graduate not knowing what they don’t know.
  5. Synthesis. Now that you know the five categories, mix them up and drive scenarios where they use them together. The key is to mimic the job. Have them use the CRM to look up customer data, in a sales role-play where the customer is talking about a product. You know, a typical call. Bonus: have them play along while listening to real recorded calls. Tip: if you’re assigning a single-thread task, re-think how to add a layer or how to add an assignment and/or rigor to it. Don’t just attend a session, write a report, create a video, answer ten questions. You get it.
  6. Application. Remember, the goal isn’t a perfect quiz score, the goal should be a well-executed call. What we know and what we can do under pressure are different. Consider using a call coaching or QA form as your final test and have their manager play the customer and give them their grade.
  7. Voice of the customer is key. Use recorded calls, case studies, even joint interviews of customers to get a feel for your ICP and why they chose you. Recorded calls are my favorite. Play the pause game where you listen to a sales call and pause every 5-10 seconds. Ask, “What is the customer thinking” and “What would you do next?” It’s the best way to get reps into the mind of the customer – making them better sellers.
  8. Keep managers at about 20%. Here’s a double-edged sword. YES, we want managers involved in new hire training but they SHOULD. NOT. OWN. IT. Your managers are the busiest people in your company and by putting new hire onboarding on their plate, you’re asking that the rest of their team receive no more coaching. Managers should do a daily check-in, a few role-play tests, and expectation-setting meetings. Hire a trainer or a coach to manage the rest. Training is a professional skill and done right will triple the retention of your trainees.

BONUS: Get on the phones as soon as possible! Find the low-probability deals, the lost accounts, or data-cleansing lead projects to get reps outbounding and talking to prospects ASAP. They’ll learn more from their mistakes, they’ll find their fail points and fears and be able to address them.

Is training part of your sales rep onboarding plan? It should be!

Download our Overview Brochure to learn more about our virtual and inside sales training programs for both sales reps and sales managers.


4 Tips to Build A Great Inside Sales Team: What Makes a Good Rep

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4 Tips to Build A Great Inside Sales Team: What Makes a Good Rep

There are millions of inside sales reps in the world.

Reps know this and want to be the one-in-a-million rep that impresses their managers. Managers, on the other hand, should be honing each rep’s skills to mold a team of one-in-a-million reps.

That’s a tall order, right? It’s not as hard as you might think. It all comes down to knowing what makes a successful inside sales rep, and the best practices for training.

More

inside sales lessons

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Three Inside Sales Lessons From A Six-Year-Old

Last week my son made his first sales call. For an inside sales thought leader, you have got to believe this was big in my house! My brave six-year-old D.J. read the school script to relatives & friends and got pledges for his APEX fundraiser.

READ: Sales Is A Confidence Sport

Watching a little human do this for the first time made ME nervous – and OH. SO. PROUD. It reminded me of a few truths we could all keep in mind when preparing new hires to take to the phones for the first time:

Don’t assume anyone can do this

ANY human will get nervous asking people for money over the phone. Let’s all keep this in mind when we ask for more dials and results. His brother BAILED after one call (and he’s the extrovert in the family!!).

Set up small wins early and celebrate BIG

The small wins he got (and we celebrated big time) energized him to make more calls. He was pulling aunties out of the woodwork! When we set up small wins early and celebrate BIG, they’ll be hooked.

Do a better job teaching rejection in new-hire training

When he got his first “no” he totally rolled with it and still wanted to make another call. Why? Because we set it up ahead of time that it would likely happen, why, and what to say. Special shout out to Uncle Shawn who agreed up front to say no to a six-year-old so we could teach this lesson (THAT wasn’t easy!). More “NO” in role plays and more help in why they happen and how to handle them.

Remember that just like a first grader, our new hires watch us to determine how to act. It’s good to show some nerves, to celebrate small wins, and to get right back up like a “no” doesn’t sting a little. I know that the next time I’m in class I’ll be a little less tough on the 23-year-old making their first calls.

By the way, my proudest moment was when he DITCHED THE SCRIPT and felt confident enough to use his own words. I can’t believe I didn’t record it! 

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8 Signs That Your Rep Onboarding Program Is Broken

Do you mind if I start with the obligatory story? I think it’s one you might recognize. It’s the one about a busy sales manager frustrated with the under-trained newbie reps she got as “graduates” from her training department.

But this story is about me. I was the “undertrained newbie” – and the boss. I was twenty-four, and was brought in from the outside to manage a team of 15 outbound B2B Reps in tech. I’m new. My team is new, and we’re all “graduates” of the company onboarding program and all 100% clueless. (Yes, of course we turned it around and were the number one team within a quarter – cue the Rocky music here – but this isn’t that story.)

This is the story of being frustrated that you can come out of a 2 or even 4 week program and still have absolutely no idea how to do your job.

Who do I call first?

What do I say?

Why isn’t anyone calling me back?

What’s the product SKU for an IBM Thinkpad again?

Sound familiar?

Brace for it–now I’m going to hit you with some stats.

  • One in five sales executives are satisfied with their Rep onboarding program (Sales Architects 2014).
  • Fifty percent of reps selling today need to be retrained (or removed) (Bain / CEB 2016)
  • Organizations spend an average of 3x more on rep tools than on rep development (Inside Sales.com 2016) and 25X on recruiting (Training Magazine)
  • Attrition can be cut in half by a good training program (Training Magazine)

So, are you an unwitting accomplice to rep abuse? Let’s find out. Here are some top signs that your new hire training might be broken:

1. The majority of your attrition occurs in the first five months.
They like the company, don’t mind the job, but they’re not ramping up fast enough to make money and they’re frustrated. Time to pull the ripcord.

2. It takes your business development reps over 3 months or your account managers over 6 months to ramp to target.
There will always be a ramp, but a great new hire training program can cut this in half (and significantly impact your attrition, too).

3. Average call length is about 1:30.
These are voicemails, every last one of them. If your reps can’t get people on the phone, keep them on the phone, and get calls back, they need better sales training.

4. Your program is under 4 days or over 4 weeks long.
The first is an orientation, the latter is a firehose. Get them on the phones after two weeks and bring them back for the rest of it! Check out my video on “Just in time” New Hire Training.

 

5. Your reps have no clear plan of attack for their lead list / book / and/or day.
Ask them how they decide who to call. If they say they start at the “A’s…” then you’re missing a cohesive sales strategy – or your training department isn’t training it.

6. You aren’t training any business, customer, or industry acumen.
Forrester taught us that over 60% of buyers found their sales rep added no value to the buying process. College isn’t teaching them how, and we have to.

7. You’re using the same training as the field.
I get it, you had to use something and your org is new. But it won’t work and frankly frustrates reps to try this old-school model in their new-school world.

8. HR is teaching your reps how to sell.
85% of the best-in-class use a professional sales trainer or curriculum. When’s the last time HR sold your product?

How’d you do? Some of these might take a custom report, but trust me: you’ll be glad you had it created. Your training department needs to be your partner like marketing is your partner – no, scratch that, recruiting is your partner…wait, I can do better…payroll is your partner.

In a recent model I completed with Microsoft, we found that they could add over $50 million back into revenue by cutting new hire sales ramp time down to best-in-class – and nearly double what they could save by cutting attrition to the same. If you focus and invest here, it will quickly be like having another 1/3 of your headcount to help you hit the number.

Ready to fix your oboarding program? Learn the components of a World Class onboarding program that you can steal immediately. Read the article here.

Want more? I did a quick video on what good sales training looks like. What are you going to change in your onboarding program?

This article originally appeared on SalesPop!

 

 

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