Client Case Study
Situation — Sales Executive Onboarding: Professional Services
This technology industry service start-up grew quickly as a forerunner in a new and quickly expanding market segment. Infused with external capital and charged with quickly growing revenue, the company embarked on a strategy to hire senior level sales executives that would bring demonstrated success with large, complex sales.
In addition, a large part of the company’s success to date was attributed to their proprietary business practices which are an integral part of the sales process and highly interdependent with multiple functions within the organization. Given the breadth and complexity of the sales process the company’s original plan called for a 12 week on-boarding process that would “certify” a sales executive’s knowledge and understanding of how the company sells and does business.
The goal of the Onboarding program was to ensure that each new sales executive attained productive, on the job performance as quickly, effectively, and efficiently as possible in three areas:
Complications — Sales Executive Onboarding: Professional Services
Approach
The senior new hire on-boarding program approach blended various learning methods within a structured framework of eLibraries, presentations, meetings, real-world tasks, shadowing, mentoring, and apprenticeships.
The underlying context of the On-boarding approach was a Sales Cycle Simulation based on the sales process used to acquire one of the company’s largest clients. Sales Cycle activities, deliverables and presentations were blended into the 5-week learning process and provided realistic “performance tests” at each phase of the Sales Cycle. Areas covered within the Sales Cycle included:
Approach —cont.
Participants were also immersed into “on the job” learning contexts in numerous functional organizations such as, Marketing, Inside Sales, and Account Management to meet key counterparts and learn about the different functions, roles, responsibilities, challenges, targets, and key projects.
Within account management new sales executives:
In the late stages of the new hire On-boarding program new sales executives worked as an apprentice to an experienced Outside Sales Executive, slowly weening off until both the new hire and the Outside Sales Executive agreed that the participant was ready to call on clients and lead his/her team.
Participants moved through the On-boarding process as quickly as they were able to demonstrate pre-determined learning objectives by completing varying types of performance tests. Most performance tests involved being observed performing a task or presenting back to a subject matter expert or group. In these cases the primary focus was to give and receive feedback to aid the learning process.
Performance tests associated with key steps in the Sales cycle were evaluated more critically by company executives using several client focused presentations during the Sales cycle simulation. The program culminates with a full sales proposal presentation to the perspective clients executives (played by their senior executives).
Results
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