Sales Enablement 1. Onboard Smarter, Not Harder

Transcription

1 Sales Enablement 1 Onboard Smarter, Not Harder

2 Introduction: Onboard Smarter, Not Harder Smart onboarding programs produce sellers who can generate good conversations with prospects from the first time they pick up the phone. Effective sales professionals have a knack for building pipeline, and good intuition for converting the right leads into successful customers. Creating great sellers doesn t require long classroom sessions and thick training binders. Reps learn best when key topics are practical and reinforced throughout their work. Picture a trip to the mountains in winter. Would you rather carry hundreds of pounds of gear up an icy trail, alone? Or, would you prefer to be guided by a local expert who replenished your supplies and gave you practical tips every mile? Many of us would choose the latter choice, but most sales onboarding programs look more like the former. There is a better way. This guide describes sales onboarding programs that take advantage of the ways new hires like to learn. You ll learn some of the key findings of brain science to deliver training sessions that work. Finally, this guide will demonstrate the importance of including post-reinforcement for the greatest business impact. The more you engage sales reps in the onboarding process, the more they ll learn and the more they ll sell. Sales Onboarding Comes of Age Smart organizations consider a good sales onboarding program a strategic imperative and critical to their financial health. Structured, consistent onboarding programs not only shorten ramp time by over three months, they are also correlated with 10% greater sales growth and 14% improvement in quota achievement. The benefits of an effective sales onboarding program are clear, though unfortunately many organizations fail to optimize this critical period for new hires. While well-planned onboarding programs have been shown to boost win rates by 25%, poor onboarding programs contribute to the 40% of employee turnover that happens within the first month. You know what results to expect from an effective onboarding program, but how do you get there? Sales Enablement 2

3 Making Onboarding Smarter The onboarding process is a crucial time for new sales hires, and it can determine whether they stay for the long-term or quickly fall behind. Before your reps can reach the summit of success, you must first consider your starting point. Consider that while the typical organization spends $24K per sales rep to increase productivity, 49% of companies have no way to measure the return on their investment. That s like buying supplies for your trip to the mountains and then sitting at home, wondering why you don t have any pictures from the summit. Both you and your sales team can do much better. Every company approaches the task of improving sales onboarding from a different maturity level, though your team is probably in some phase of transition from one level to the next. Reactive Vague learning objectives, if any Onsite visit with company and team Heavily reliant on ad hoc shadow-training with current reps, as their schedules allow Self-study material, if any, is mostly related to the business and its product/service Key performance metrics are typically limited to quota achievement Managed Structured duration (2-4 weeks) with clear learning objectives Combination of self-study, peer training, and role play Includes company, product, sales motion, sales skills training, process, and tools training Clean hand-off to experienced sales reps for continued support. Some level of post-reinforcement and practice following training -- often provided by the sales manager. Key performance metrics typically include bootcamp completion and proficiency, plus lagging indicators of success such as time-to-first dollar, quota achievement and rep turnover. Sales Enablement 3

4 Optimized Structured duration (2-4 weeks) with clear learning objectives Combination of self-study, peer training, role play, and video coaching Includes company, product, sales motion, sales skills training, process and tools training Strong alignment with sales management for continued support. Handoff includes proficiency assessment and summary of strengths and gaps for continued sales manager support. A defined post-reinforcement program to further skill adoption, retention and application of desired sales behavior. Typically 1-3 months of weekly micro-learning sessions covering key concepts, video coaching and role-play practice sessions. Key performance metrics include both leading and lagging indicators of sales success. Sales managers correlate learning proficiency directly to customer meetings, pipeline growth, average contract value, time-to-first dollar, quota achievement, and voluntary & involuntary rep turnover. Which of these factors remind you of your company? Based on these maturity levels, you can see your starting point and plan for the resources you ll need during the journey ahead. You might recognize some sections of the trail from past experience, while others will motivate you to change your approach. Improving your sales onboarding process takes commitment, but you need guidance to stay on track. Finding Your Way Through the Wilderness As you optimize different aspects of your onboarding program, follow these steps: 1 Define your learning objectives and learning paths by week. What is it you want your seller to be able to do by the end of the week? Make this specific and measurable where possible. 2 3 Don t stop with onboarding. Make sure to add a post-reinforcement program. Identify the tools, resources and people you need in advance to be successful to support your program and launch schedule. Sales Enablement 4

5 Here is an example outline of a 30-day Sales Onboarding Program for a fictitious company, Robo2000. What s important to recognize here is that sellers are not just passive recipients of information, and they re not just vessels waiting to be filled with company facts and product knowledge. Engage sellers as active participants on their onboarding journey by using dynamic training materials, relevant scenarios, and real-life practice. Week 1 Learning Objectives The seller will be able to describe company culture, values, how the sales team is organized, our target market, and the the Robo2000 product family. The seller will articulate a 30-second elevator pitch about the company s unique value proposition through a video coaching clip that they share with their manager. Post-Reinforcement Review three competitors Week 2 Application of key differentiators in a comparison with a competitor Learning Objectives The seller will be able to describe the company s three main buying personas and apply our sales methodology to identify prospects that match our target use case, and disqualify prospects that are a poor fit. The seller will be able to discuss 5 customer case studies and pass a basic product knowledge test to ensure baseline proficiency. The seller will be able to use pricing tables to offer good-fit prospects the best value for their business. Finally, the seller will learn to add contacts and manage lead and opportunity conversion in our CRM. Post-Reinforcement Match potential customers to the appropriate proof point Week 3 Identify examples of where we ve done it with existing customers. Learning Objectives The seller will be able to describe each of the 5 stages of the selling process and identify 3 or more requirements to move an opportunity from one stage to the next. In addition, the rep will apply our sales methodology to advance a prospect through the first three stages of the sales cycle including use of value proposition and a customer example or proofpoint. The seller will be able to use a territory plan template to create a list of the top 20 prospects within their assigned territory. Concluding the third week, the rep will address common sales objections through a 2-minute video coaching clip which they share with their manager. Post-Reinforcement Product update Application of pricing and how to enter a sample order in the CRM Week 4 Learning Objectives The seller will be able to describe our top three competitors and articulate how the Robo2000 product family differentiates our company against each of these. In addition, they will apply their training to 3 x 30-minute live role-play simulations with their sales management team, demonstrating basic competency of our target prospect, sales motion, and sales methodology. The seller must pass a 20 question knowledge assessment with a score of 70% or higher, covering positioning, qualification, sales motion, tools and process. Post-Reinforcement Identification of the buyer s family inside a prospect account Match of the most likely value proposition for each buyer persona Sales Enablement 5

6 Tools & Resources Sales LMS CRM access Content support Pays for itself within days by providing self-study, structured practice, and quizzes to boost seller confidence and proficiency Critical for post-reinforcement. Once the seller is in the field, your best chance of reinforcing classroom teachings will be to deliver it within their workflow. Many products today, including Veelo, offer a direct CRM integration for post-reinforcement. Focused on product, process, tools, and the sales playbook. This is often the most difficult access point as content and knowledge are distributed across multiple repositories such as Sharepoint, Box, and Drive. Quite often these assets have been created by several key stakeholders over time. Involve them early. Join forces with sales leadership on the learning objectives, and they ll support your access to the right information from the beginning. Many companies fall short when it comes to post-reinforcement, but this is where you can get the biggest boost in program retention. Research has shown that we forget more than half of what we ve learned within 3 weeks, and after 3 months we only remember 16% of it. That s an optimistic estimate, too. If you re not comfortable with your reps forgetting the vast majority of what they learn during onboarding, be sure to include post-reinforcement coupled with frequent practice in the form of role-play and video coaching. Engage sellers during onboarding so they feel empowered to speak with prospects. Real-life sales experience is a wonderful teacher, but it s no substitute for formal practice during a rep s onboarding period. You ll get the best results when reps practice frequently during onboarding, because there s no sense teaching them to climb only while they re clinging to the edge of a cliff. Sales Enablement 6

7 Summary A multi-stage learning system gives sellers the ongoing reinforcement they need to apply their training in a real selling situation. Recall our example from above, comparing two expeditions into the mountains. Traditional onboarding programs force reps to learn everything they need all at once, with no chance for post-reinforcement. It s no wonder the majority of them won t be able to recall what they learned a month later. In-person and virtual training sessions are still necessary in an onboarding program, but they re not enough. Short training sessions spaced throughout a rep s ramp-up will give them the education they need in a format that s easy to process. Help your reps succeed with ongoing training and coaching in context, and they ll remember more of what they learned and sell more as a result. A comprehensive training program that includes a guided selling system may be more work at the outset, but it results in faster time to first sale, and new sales hires who are able to reach the pinnacle of success more much more effectively. About Veelo Veelo is a single, easy-to-use sales enablement platform that helps improve onboarding, enablement and sales performance optimization. Built on brain science principles, powered by a machine learning alongside Veelo s built-in tools, templates and integrations, Veelo ensures sellers are equipped with the content, coaching and productivity tools they need to win. Companies like Qorvo, Rubrik, Google, Vesta and others use Veelo to improve sales productivity and effectiveness. Ready to learn more? Contact sales@veeloinc.com or call today! Sales Enablement 7