New Hire Sales On-Boarding in EMEA: Technology

Increasing Speed to Quota for Sales Reps in EMEA at a Fast Growing Technology Company

Client Case Study

Situation

This high-growth global technology and services firm delivers customer-proven solutions that accelerate IT by reducing complexity and enabling more flexible, agile service delivery.

With more than 500,000 customers and 55,000 partners, this high tech leader develops solutions help organizations of all sizes lower costs, increase business agility and ensure freedom of choice.

With accelerated hiring forecasts of 30-50% employee growth per quarter, the company wanted to:

  • Decrease Time to Quota
  • Increase Average Deal Size
  • Diversify Portfolio Mix

Complications

  • Unclear Metrics: Activity and output success metrics are not agreed upon by role and region.  They are also not aligned with compensation and performance management systems.
  • Legacy: Where it makes sense, current on-boarding content, processes, and feedback (i.e. probation, start time, buddy process and meeting with Sr. Management) needs to be incorporated into the new process so that we do not reinvent the wheel
  • Skills and Tools: Deal collaboration, Account Planning, cross and channel selling skills and tools should be incorporated into the skill building and process design
  • Hiring: The timing of the new process should align with hiring forecasts and the company should improve behavioral interviewing skills and processes to make sure that the right people are being hired before on-boarding them
  • Sales Enablement Expectations: Expectations should be set regarding what additional sales enablement support can be provided so that teams do not have to “build their own stuff.”

Compelling Design Features

  • 28 performance tests on a weekly and monthly basis to measure and monitor proficiency across 10 key skill, knowledge and coaching areas.
  • Shadow sales and performance coaching were used to ease new hires into complex sales situations.
  • Online support tools and virtual coaching used to support multiple languages and geographies.
  • Integrated with current sales process and methodologies.

Approach

  1. Assess & Design: Custom designed 6-month experiential new employee orientation program (from acceptance to 6 months on the job) focused on:
    • Manager Coaching and 90-Day Plans to drive consistent performance coaching from sales managers combined with 90-day plans.
    • Individual Accountability to track key performance metrics at the individual level.
    • Designed Reinforcement including the alignment of incentives, consequences, recognition, processes, and systems to support objectives.
    • Continuous Improvement: The design approach is iterative and will continuously evolve with changing business needs and strategic growth.
    • Tailored to Roles: Foundational design for all with tailored tracks by role.
  2. Pilot: Piloted sessions in France, Spain, Russia, the UK and Germany.
  3. Continuous Improvement: Incorporated feedback and lessons learned into design and delivery.

Results

  • 27% increase in speed to quota
  • €1,005,516 of new business directly attributed to the new process
  • 100% new hire and hiring manager satisfaction
  • 99% rated the 90-day tools as “practical” and “very practical”

Related Information

LSA is an instrumental training outsourcing partner helping us to build leadership and management capacity while strategically investing in our people.

LSA’s flexibility, depth, and breadth of expertise allows us to deliver top quality solutions that are directly tied to key business plans and talent management strategies.

Their ability to custom design, deliver, and evaluate high impact Management Training Programs has been excellent. They are true business partners and a pleasure to work with.

Margaret M. Mader
Vice President, Human Resources

Hyperion

We have partnered with LSA for years.  Our organization’s learning needs have increased, decreased, and increased again over time.

The beauty of LSA’s business model is its flexibility and depth of their expertise.

When we need strategic or tactical outside help that we can trust, we use LSA knowing that we can depend on outstanding quality advice and targeted solutions every time.  You cannot go wrong with LSA.

Margie Bunting
HR Manager

We partnered with LSA to help custom design, deliver, and measure an advanced new employee on-boarding process. It was well thought out and bought into by sales leadership.  The combination of targeted sales tools, technology, coaching, performance plans, training, and reinforcement made all the difference.  The solution quantifiably improved new employee and hiring manager satisfaction and increased the speed to sales quota for new hires.

I would highly recommend LSA Global for any sales enablement team looking to increase the engagement and speed to productivity of their sales force. We are excited to implement the program globally as we continue to scale.

Rochana Golani
Director, Global Sales & Technical Field Enablement

I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed working with LSA on the design and delivery of the experiential new employee on-boarding training.

I’ve been getting tons of positive unsolicited feedback.

You truly exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Steven Gray
US Enterprise Services

LSA Global brought a fresh perspective to our behavioral based interviewing strategy for key executive positions that we needed to fill.  They helped us to develop questions that produced a much deeper understanding of candidates’ capabilities.

Throughout the process LSA was also very responsive in dealing with short lead time requests.  Thank you!

SPO Partners & Co
Kim Silva, CFO

I’m not sure if I’ve run across a company that can match the depth and quality of LSA’s consultants and facilitators.

I highly recommend LSA to anyone seeking a trusted training, coaching, and consulting partner to improve performance – at both a tactical and strategic level.

They really get talent, learning, and performance.

Jeff Coon
VP Human Resources

Exelixis

Having a training outsourcing partner like LSA to support our talent management needs has been a real blessing. In an emerging company where typically you can’t afford the infrastructure necessary to provide a full range of offerings, having an external partner like LSA has been a blessing.

They deeply understand our business and our culture.   They do a great job on a wide range of customized training, consulting, and coaching solutions for us.

For us, they are definitely better than having our own internal Training and Organizational Development function.  They always do what it takes to hit the mark.

Chris Wells
Vice President, HR and IT

What a personal and professional pleasure it has been to partner with LSA. They are truly a strategic partner.

LSA has delivered top notch management development programs and worked with key teams to build the targeted skills they need.

LSA understands our business, our strategic initiatives, and the needs of our customers.  They have been a real blessing for our L&D team.

Jeff Rangel
Director of HR

As a Training Outsourcing Partner, LSA consistently saves me time and money by understanding what matters to our strategy and what works in our unique culture.

Their practical and outcome-oriented methodology is fantastic and allows us to deploy better solutions faster.

I highly recommend them to anyone looking to raise the talent bar with a true strategic partner.

Tim Bonnet
Director of Training and Organizational Development

Dimension Data

The experiential New Employee Orientation was an incredible success for 2,500+ new hires over 4 years spread across the globe.

LSA partnered with us to create an innovative solution on very short notice and added a huge amount of value.

We could never have done it without their unmatched combination of expertise, professionalism, and creativity that aligned everything with our unique culture and growth strategy.

Even our executives and experienced hires were blown away!

Brenda Wagner
Founder and President

Proxicom

LSA Global has been a great partner in helping us move toward being “the leading developer of talent in the service performance management industry.”

I have engaged LSA to help develop best-in-class programs in the areas of: Executive On-boarding, Manager Training, Sales Training and Coaching, Employee Engagement, and Instructional Design.

They have consistently met or exceeded my (very) high expectations and are always responsive to my needs to increase performance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and sales growth.

Mike Normant
Senior Director, Training & Development

Service Source

The quality of LSA’s Leadership Training Programs and facilitators is always top notch. We recognize and appreciate the hard work LSA always goes through to align to our unique culture and meet our specific requirements. Thank you for regularly going above and beyond. Your support and dedication, both on the strategic and tactical side, have been outstanding!

Anna Meyer
Leadership Development

Intuit

LSA asks the hard questions, listens, and understands both our business and talent needs.

We greatly benefit from their expertise ranging from assistance with personal development plans, to enhancing team performance, to enterprise-wide talent management challenges.

LSA provides great ideas, a fresh and practical approach, and valuable guidance on how to get the most from your talent.

Kristin Westland-Kaune
Director, Team Development

We hired LSA Global to design and deliver a customized outdoor experiential new employee orientation program for our recent group of MBA new hires.

The program reinforced WIPRO core values, helped to build relationships with fellow associates, and enhanced the group’s ability to operate successfully in the global world.

I definitely recommend LSA for effective employee onboarding of top talent.

Vishu Venkat, PHR
Talent Acquisition

LSA helped us to create the strategic clarity and alignment we needed for our team to thrive.

The practical, no-nonsense, and outcome-oriented approach really helped us all get on the same page and set us up to be a high performing leadership team to focus on what matters most.

Michael Carter
VP Human Resources

Samsung

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