2. Sales Onboarding
Introduction
Hiring is one of the most critical factors in the success of
any sales organization. Companies recognize this as fact
and are willing to invest significant time, effort, energy &
money in hiring the best Sales Reps.
Everyone wants “A-players” and everyone is competing
for that small and limited talent pool.
So let’s say you are one of the lucky few and you actually
do hire a great candidate. What happens next?
In our research we found that it takes, on average, 4.5
months for an Inside Sales Rep to be fully productive.
That’s nearly 82 selling days! Why so long?
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3. Sales Onboarding
The investment in onboarding
Here’s my hypothesis:
Sales & Marketing leaders are making
a strategic investment in their hiring
process and then undermining it with a
tactical onboarding process.
The result is that our Reps aren’t being properly prepared
to take the selling field.
So, specifically, where are we going wrong and how can
we address the issue? As I see it, there are 5 key
areas, gaps really, between where we are today and where
we need to be.
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4. Sales Onboarding
The 5 onboarding gaps
1. Context
2. Orientation
3. Planning
4. Investment
5. Coaching
These gaps are holding us back. These gaps lead to long
ramp times.
They expose us to the risk of new hire failure. And they
leave us with great Reps who just aren’t performing up to
their full potential.
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5. 1. CONTEXT

6. THE CONTEXT GAP
Buying & selling has changed
But our onboarding process hasn’t.
SiriusDecisions shares that buyers are 70% through their
buying process before they ever speak to a Sales Rep.
So how do Reps engage with these extremely
knowledgeable buyers, when all they can talk about is
their products?
Reps need to be speak to the
buyer’s challenges, what they
care about, how they are
measured, etc.
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7. THE CONTEXT GAP
The context gap
Here’s a useful quote from Tom Peters:
“ If you went to a play, and someone
appeared on stage and proceeded to
read the play - with no acting - you'd say
they missed the point of theater. ”
That is what typically happens when we hire reps and then
connect them to the fire hose of
our products, our value proposition,
our message, our features,
our benefits, etc.
The buyer is conspicuously absent
in all of this.
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8. THE CONTEXT GAP
Them before us
Onboarding has to evolve to meet this new selling
reality. Help your Reps really understand your Buyer
Personas.
Put it in context for them. Help them develop a
language that will resonate with your buyers. This is an
investment you simply can’t ignore.
What follows is a rough sketch of how
to address this context gap.
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9. What if ?
You let your customers do the talking?
Video interview them, asking:
• “How would you describe their role?”
• “What was your life like before our solution?”
• “How would you tell the
story of what we delivered?”
Record once and share many.
There is no better way to arm
your Reps than with these stories.
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10. THE CONTEXT GAP
Addressing the gap
Traditional Approach Additional Context
- A day in the life of our buyers
- Their top 3 challenges & how
they address them today
- How they’re measured/comp’d
Our value proposition What’s in it for them
Our products With us/without us vision
Our sales process How our buyers buy
Our messaging Messaging by buyer persona
Our CRM Leveraging CRM
Our selling tools Selling tools by persona
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11. Formatted to fit your screen
This is just a small excerpt of a much larger ebook on Inside
Sales Onboarding.
You can get the full ebook here:
http://www.bridgegroupinc.com/inside_sales_onboarding.html
Regards,
- Trish Bertuzzi
President & Chief Strategist | The Bridge Group, Inc.
@bridgegroupinc
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12. CLOSING THOUGHTS
About The Bridge Group, Inc.
We're an Inside Sales Consulting &
Implementation firm.
We’ve helped Sales & Marketing leaders from over 180
B2B technology companies make the big decisions: on
implementation strategy, productivity &
performance, process, technology and tools.
More information
Phone: (978) 562-2623
Email: info@bridgegroupinc.com
Web: http://www.bridgegroupinc.com
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13. PHOTO CREDITS
Buyers journey map (p.7) - http://laurenondemand.com/tag/b2b-lead-generation/
Tom Peters (p.8) - http://www.tompeters.com/toms_world/a_day_in_the_life.php
Road sign (p.9) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/reflexer/5293808298/
Client video (9.10) - http://www.nasuni.com/news/nasuni-blog/law-office-utilizes-cloud-storage-
to-mitigate-growth/
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