Onboarding New Hire Sales Executives — Current Situation
This technology industry service startup grew quickly as a forerunner in a new and rapidly expanding market segment. Infused with external capital and charged with growing revenue fast, the company embarked on a strategy to hire senior level Sales Leaders who could bring success with large, complex sales.
A large part of the company’s success to date is attributed to its proprietary business practices and cross-functional execution capabilities — both are an integral part of the sales process. Given the breadth and complexity of the sales process, the company’s original plan called for a 12-week New Hire Onboarding 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 new sales executives attained productive, on-the- job performance as quickly, effectively, and efficiently as possible. Specifically, the objectives were to:
Onboarding New Hire Sales Executives — Complications
New Hire Orientation Solution
The 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 is a Sales Cycle Simulation based on the sales process that was 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:
New Hire Orientation Solution (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 their key counterparts and to learn about the different functions, roles, responsibilities, challenges, targets, key projects, etc. Within Account Management, for example, new sales executives:
In the late stages of the On-boarding program new sales executives were apprenticed to an experienced Outside Sales Executive. They were then slowly “weaned off” until both the participant and experienced executive agreed that the new salesperson 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 learning objectives by successfully 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 what the participant had learned. 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. In addition to several client-focused presentations conducted during the Sales cycle simulation, the program culminates with a full proposal presentation to the prospective client executives (role played by senior executives). While the On-boarding program was not intended to develop sales skills, the performance test allowed company executives to assess the sales skills of new hires.
New Hire Orientation Results
New Hire Orientation Compelling Design Features
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