Sales Onboarding & Turnover: Telecommunications

Sales Onboarding

Improving Speed to Sales Productivity and Reducing Unwanted Turnover

Client Case Study

Situation: Sales Onboarding

Struggling with unwanted sales rep attrition during a period of rapid change, this telecommunications client was missing growth targets and market opportunities to expand.  Sales leadership wanted to:

  • Increase sales to new clients.
  • Maintain their existing customer base.
  • Increase average deal size.
  • Reduce salesperson turnover.

Complications: Sales Onboarding

  • Transactional Mindset
    The existing sales force operated with a predominantly product-centric approach. They lacked the consultative selling capabilities required to diagnose underlying customer business challenges and position integrated, value-based solutions.
  • Slow and Inconsistent Speed to Productivity
    New hire ramp time — averaging 5 to 7 months — was misaligned with business expectations. In addition, performance variability across sales representatives was significant, indicating inconsistent skill development, onboarding effectiveness, and execution standards.
  • Unsustainable Sales Rep Attrition
    New-hire turnover among sales representatives reached 89%, signaling fundamental breakdowns in selection, onboarding, enablement, and early-stage support — resulting in substantial lost investment, decreased team morale, and disrupted revenue continuity.

Approach: Sales Onboarding

After confirming that the employee value proposition and hiring process were not root causes, the solution focused on four targeted initiatives designed to improve capability, consistency, and early-stage performance:

  1. Sales Leadership Enablement
    Delivered targeted sales management training and executive coaching to strengthen frontline leadership effectiveness — ensuring managers could reinforce expectations, coach to behaviors, and drive accountability.
  2. Consultative Selling Capability Build
    Implemented a customized consultative selling program to shift the sales force from a product-centric approach to diagnosing client needs and delivering integrated, value-based solutions.
  3. Sustained Reinforcement and Application
    Deployed a structured 12-week follow-through program to embed new skills through real-world application, coaching, and continuous feedback — closing the gap between training and execution.
  4. Measurement and Performance Tracking
    Established clear metrics to assess adoption, behavior change, and business impact — enabling training measurement and data-driven refinement to ensure a sustained return on investment.

Results
In three months:

  • 42% increase in average units sold per new sales rep.
  • 12% increase in average units price per sales rep.
  • 69% decrease in new hire sales turnover (from 89% to 28%).
  • 67% decrease in new sales rep ramp time (from 6 months to 2 months).

Related Information

LSA always delivers the right sales and sales management solutions to meet our unique needs. I especially appreciate their ability to deeply understand our business and our culture so that they can design the most valuable and impactful outcomes for us and our clients.

Sarah Parks
Senior Project Manager

Hyperion

We wanted our Channel Managers to get sales strategies and tools that would increase partner revenue and strengthen partner relationships. LSA Global’s ability to quickly understand our business and to bring experienced and proven resources to the table created credibility with both the executive and sales team.

We look forward to continuing our sales partnership with them.

Chip Whitman
Channel Excellence Manager

Thermo Fisher

We needed a way to improve customer training. We had to reach a disparate group of people in a very short period time. LSA gave us a new training methodology and a better way to go to market with our customer training that improved their experience and our brand positioning.

LSA delivered exactly what we needed and exceeded our expectations.  Thank you.

Hinda Chalew
Vice President of Marketing

LSA was instrumental in making our worldwide sales meeting a success. They saved me a ton of time with ‘best in class’ solutions to meet our business objectives. Whenever I’m in a pinch, I can count on LSA’s dynamic team of sales trainers and consultants to really go the extra mile.

They truly understand the meaning of customer delight.  Thank you!

Amy Walker
Manager

Seagate

Originally, we launched a RFP to partner with a sales training provider to improve the sales skills of our global distributor network.

LSA Global challenged our thinking by suggesting we focus on the systemic sales strategy, culture, and talent factors that create sales success before we invested in the more symptomatic needs of sales skills and knowledge.

LSA Global identified the critical strategic actions to improve overall sales performance and then designed and delivered world class business sales training across the globe to help increase revenue and margin.

I’m so happy we took a more strategic approach to sales performance with LSA.  Thank you for making this fit our culture.

Kim Benson
Director Human Resources

Trimble

We recently hired LSA to help us take our client delivery methodology to the next level as we continue to grow and help our clients succeed.

The custom strategy and design session exceeded our expectations. They really understood our business and delivered within tight time frames. They were the best I have seen for this type of complex, visible, and strategic work.

LSA’s ability to get a group of 20+ executives from around the globe on the same page, push their thinking to new heights, and ensure an executable plan was excellent.

I would recommend LSA to anyone looking to take their strategy and strategic execution to the next level.

Rob Sturgeon
EVP Client Delivery

Service Source

Seagate has always found LSA to be a highly valuable consulting, training, and coaching resource.

The recent business sales training programs they’ve delivered for Seagate University have been the right solution, of highest of quality, and highly customized to our unique business and culture.

I would highly recommend LSA to any company interested in offering top notch learning solutions that make a difference.

Tammy Dujmovich
Sales, Marketing & Customer Service

Seagate

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

LSA Global’s sales negotiation training and assessment process provided the sales negotiation tools and practices that have significantly enhanced our negotiations process. Their facilitators understood our business, its challenges, and framed the learning in a way that we understood.

I am very happy with the value we have received and would highly recommend LSA to others looking to improve their sales negotiations results.

Jeff Bizzack
President

Service Source

LSA Global demonstrated excellent expertise in sales and sales leadership, spent the time required to make sure the objectives were clear, and showed flexibility in shaping and sustaining everything that they did.

They “MEDRADized” the session to meet our unique needs, looked beyond the obvious, and got the key points across in a way that made sense.  Thank you!

Doug Stantial
North America Sales Training Manager

LSA Global rocks! Thank you for helping our executive team get aligned by creating a powerful and clear strategic direction and go to market sales growth plan that we could all fully commit to.

From a sales growth perspective, I am really energized about the outcome and grateful for what I have learned throughout the strategic clarity facilitation process.

Stacey Wong
VP Sales

Servicon-Logo-LSAGlobal

We evaluated 6 well known sales development partners in the market. We ended up selecting LSA global because of their unique ability to get results selling solutions.  They also had the strongest assessment, implementation, measurement, coaching, and global capabilities .

We’ve had such strong feedback from the executive selling program that there are requests to roll it out within the Marketing, Product Management, and our Leadership teams.  Thank you LSA!

Stephanie Lucey
HR Manager

What a refreshing change from the half-baked psycho-babble you normally get from training and consulting organizations. LSA gives you the practical and results-oriented assistance you need to define and reach your goals.

Their leadership, management, and sales expertise has been invaluable.  They think strategically and provide a results driven plan – not just a temporary fix.

They are great to work with, and even more importantly, they “get it!”

David Fiano
Director of Merchandising

We value the relationship we have with LSA Global. They customize and deliver top quality sales solutions when we needed them. They pay special attention to ensuring the solution fits our unique needs, business, and culture.

I would recommend them to anyone looking to greatly improve the skills of their sales force.

Carol M. Harbin
Manager, Worldwide Sales L&D

AMD

LSA is a great and high quality training and consulting resource. In less than a week turnaround time, they were able to design and deliver a ‘best in class’ inside sales solution to meet my team’s unique needs.

They definitely met my high expectations and were very responsive to my specific objectives.  Thank you!

Olivia Flach
Americas Retail Sales

Sandisk

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