A successful on-boarding program is critically important if you want to shorten the ramp time of new hires and should be developed well in advance of a new salesperson joining your team! I suggest establishing a written, on-boarding schedule (at least a 30-day schedule but even better yet a 90-schedule) for all new salespeople. You want your salesperson to learn the culture and function of your company but you also need to support them during their ramp-up time.
Set realistic expectations for the first 90 days around learning and actions…not performance! New salespeople need product application knowledge, operational knowledge, company history (the good and bad), information about the competition and why your customers buy from you versus the competition. They need to understand how orders flow through your organization most efficiently. They need to learn the chain of command and how to get problems resolved internally. They need to meet department heads and understand how departments work together as an organized, efficient team.
Make sure you have a hiring profile/job description for your sales position. I’m talking about strategically delineated action items so the new hire will understand what meets minimum and what over-achievement looks like. At the minimum these action items should include:
• An Individual Success Formula
• A Compensation Planner for the Year
• Weekly Activity Levels such as:
- Number of outbound calls
- Number of outbound emails
- Number of face-to-face meetings
- Number of new opportunities uncovered
• An Objection Response Library
I’ll be posting specifics on each of these action items to detail how this new hire fits into your strategic business plan. Read my posts to ensure that you aren’t missing crucial steps in this process on:
- LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/rjohnboyens/
- Twitter at https://twitter.com/JohnBoyens
- Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BoyensGroup
