What is Sales Onboarding?

We define sales onboarding as a structured process to decrease the time between new sellers joining day and the first measurable business results. So, what does that mean? Onboarding training covers everything the sales rep needs to know to perform their duties in the most effective way possible.

Research on sales rep onboarding and enablement shows that an effective formal onboarding process decreases the time to reach total productivity by at least 12% over six months and 18% over 12 months.

Don't confuse sales onboarding and sales ramp-up. These are two completely different processes covering different aspects of a sales rep’s job.

Onboarding training is when the sales rep gets to know the company, product, and workflow inside the team. The sooner a salesperson finishes onboarding, the faster you’ll see the first closed deals.

As a team leader, if you build your employee onboarding process logically and with clear structure, you will increase the chances of successful onboarding.

Remember that onboarding is not just a welcome box with a notepad and pen, and not just a T-shirt with your company logo. This article will explain why onboarding is necessary for the selling process, its advantages, and how you can use onboarding in your company.

Get ready. Here we go!

Advantages of Sales Onboarding

Onboarding provides a valuable and practical foundation for you to develop your sales rep into a savvy business shark. In short, the purpose is to put the knowledge of the product, the specifics of work in your company, and its place in the market into the employee's head. Prepare a solid foundation for the professional's career growth, and you'll be happy with the result.

Another significant reason to implement a sales onboarding process in your company is employee retention. Not all companies take enough time to adapt a sales representative to a new environment, resulting in the loss of potential success. To avoid this outcome, plan structured onboarding and check in with your new employee regularly. You will show that you are interested in developing the salesperson in your company. It will help retain the employee.

Put time and effort into a successful onboarding program to benefit from the sales rep. The faster the employee adapts to the company, the sooner they will bring you profit, which is the point of sales, right? Why not take the chance?

3 Sales Onboarding Practices

Now that you know the advantages of onboarding, let's move on to specific tips. How should you organize onboarding in a company? How can you make it effective? Let’s dive in.

Here are some simple practices that will help you implement onboarding in your business. Take advantage of them to get your sales reps up and running faster!

1. Allow Time to Learn About the Product

Immersing yourself in a new company and learning about the range of products and services takes time. It’s called “drinking from the firehouse” for a reason—the amount of new information can be overwhelming!

Help the new sales representative get to know the product and learn about it. Allow them to test it, to experience all its features.

Only by understanding the products well will your sales managers be able to move forward and increase your sales. It is an undeniable point, but often business owners allow limited time for a new employee to become familiar with the services and products of their business.

Allow plenty of time to learn about the product. Remember, a successful onboarding experience allows the sales rep to start making a profit for your company much sooner, which will pay off in the future.

2. Make Onboarding Interactive

Let's face it: not all people like to learn. Maybe you don't either. Onboarding is also learning. Your task as a team leader is to make onboarding exciting and not dull.

How do you do that?

For starters, use videos. Users absorb videos more effectively than text. Record a product demonstration or company presentation in video format.

Try to implement gamification and make onboarding a fun competition. Give points for completing modules, and come up with an incentive system. Reward small achievements to increase the sales reps’ motivation and mood.

If you make the modern onboarding process enjoyable, then it will be more effective. Let technology help you.

3. Use mentoring

Establishing a relationship of trust with management can be difficult. It's much easier to do so with a more experienced colleague. Try appointing a mentor for your new sales representative. It shows your interest in the employee's success and future career development at your company.

In addition, having a mentor can positively impact the employee's learning curve. There will always be someone to ask questions and get their information.

The bottom line is that mentorships make onboarding more effective. It is a great way to help a new sales rep fit into the team and make personal connections with other employees.

How Sales Onboarding Can Reduce Ramp Time

The more effective onboarding is, the quicker your new employee will adapt to the company. The connection between good onboarding and the number of deals a new sales rep makes is obvious.

If your company wants to move forward quickly and make more money, you should reduce the time it takes for a sales rep to adapt. Use effective practices to help the employee get up to speed more quickly and start closing deals and attracting new clients.

You've already attracted top talent to your company. Now you need to develop that talent within the business and help new employees use their full potential as quickly as possible. It's not as easy as it sounds, but you should take advantage of every opportunity to adapt quickly.

Hopefully, we have convinced you of the significance of sales onboarding training sales reps. If you’re going to take advantage of an effective sales rep onboarding platform, book a demo with our expert and learn more about Gradual!