What Is Sales Onboarding? The 8 Methods That Actually Work
Most sales onboarding programs aren’t fit for purpose.
They’re expensive, overly time-consuming, and incomplete.
Good onboarding programs—and we’re going to define exactly what “good” looks like—prove their worth across multiple measures. Whether it’s boosting win rates by 14%, increasing time to productivity by 37%, or more than doubling employee satisfaction.
Yet businesses so often get onboarding wrong. According to Hubspot, 84% of sales training is forgotten within the first three months. In addition, turnover of sales reps is three times higher than in other industries.
With that in mind, let’s look at how to build a sales onboarding program that hits all the right buttons and avoids those all-too-common mistakes.
The Benefits of Effective Sales Onboarding for New Hires
Effective onboarding has measurable effects across a range of areas. It facilitates integration into your team, boosts overall performance, and contributes to long-term rep satisfaction. Vitally, onboarding directly contributes to specific KPIs like win rate and revenue.
Let’s have a close look at the benefits of sales onboarding.
Accelerated Ramp-Up Time
Joining a new team is daunting. Even if a new hire has experience in demanding, results-focused environments, integration will always take time. Onboarding helps build competency quickly and shorten this process.
Ramp-up time is another term for time to productivity, the amount of time it takes for new salespeople to reach full output in line with the average performance of other team members.
Ramp-up time varies by industry. However, generally speaking, it should take no longer than three months.
Improved Sales Performance
Performance is where onboarding has the most obvious and measurable impact. Core sales KPIs like marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) to sales-qualified leads (SQLs), lead-to-customer conversions, and win rate are directly affected by successful sales onboarding processes.
In addition, sales prospects that understand your workflows, especially logistical aspects like your software stack, the structure of your team, and your preferred standard operating processes (SOPs), are less likely to be snagged by technical issues as they find their feet.
Enhanced Employee Engagement and Retention
Employee turnover is a big problem in sales. New employees leave at a rate that’s three times higher than nearly every other industry.
High competition, catalyzed by the increase in remote working, is partly to blame. But a lack of proper training, misalignment with company values, and the absence of attractive incentives also play a role. Sales onboarding eliminates many of these problems.
After onboarding, reps will not only have a clear idea of the team structure, company values and rewards program. They’ll also be equipped to get the most out of their role and reach full productivity measured by leads generated and won deals. All of these factors will have a direct effect on their job satisfaction.
Cultural Integration
“Culture” is one of those nebulous concepts that are difficult to pin down. The fact it can’t be quantified precisely leads many sales leaders to overlook it.
But data shows that a positive culture is a key priority for sales reps. According to research, 94% of executives and 88% of employees say that culture is essential for business success.
There’s no better way to integrate a new rep into your company culture than through onboarding. It’s a valuable opportunity to introduce them to your vision and values. Hands-on training sessions also provide a structured environment in which new hires can come into contact with the spirit and feel of the team from day one.
Consistency in Your Sales Process
What does consistency look like in sales? In a nutshell, stable revenues.
The term “sales rollercoaster” is familiar to many reps. It’s commonly visualized as an up-and-down, zig-zag performance chart showing fluctuating revenue.
A lack of consistency is most often the result of poor coordination. And poor coordination is usually due to new hires not understanding the nuances of your sales workflow.
With well-designed training programs, you can ensure new sales people are filling their calendars in alignment with the availability of AEs, sending executives leads qualified at the right level, and leaving enough time to complete the nurturing process.
One of the most effective ways to ensure sales cycle consistency is by using AI-driven automation. A solution like Artisan, and its AI sales development representative (SDR) Ava, helps you streamline significant parts of your sales process, including prospecting, outreach personalization, and follow-up. The result? More time for your sales reps to coordinate and align on tasks requiring human input. Book a demo to see how Artisan can boost your productivity.
The 30-60-90 Day Sales Onboarding Plan
Don’t worry, 30-60-90 isn’t another fad diet.
It’s a training system that’s emerged as one of the most well-tested and effective onboarding methodologies.
Let’s look at how it works.
30-Day Plan: Learning and Integrations
The first 30 days are about learning and acclimatization.
This is where new hires are introduced to the company. They learn about what you sell, the structure of your team, and the nature of your workflows and processes at a high level.
Key activities include:
Basic orientation
Meeting with sales leaders
Learning about your company’s products and services
Shadowing
Relationship building
Introduction to company tech stack and sales tools
60-Day Plan: Skill Development and Practice
The next 30 days involve developing practical skills and being assigned responsibilities.
Having familiarized themselves over the first month with your processes at a high level, reps are now ready for practical tasks and to start applying what they’ve learned.
Key activities include:
Training in specific sales techniques
Understanding responsibilities
Granular tech training (CRM, analytics, project management, etc.)
90-Day Plan: Performance and Contribution
The final 30 days are about understanding specific KPIs, setting initial goals, and settling into a set of responsibilities.
At the end of the 90-day period, a new hire should be equipped with all the understanding and specific techniques they need to achieve early-stage sales goals. Training is always an ongoing process. But the outcome of onboarding should be clear expectations and a practical set of skills.
Key activities include:
Assigning specific goals and KPIs (leads generated, meetings booked, deals won, etc.)
Feedback on current performance
Outlining of responsibilities
Designing the Best Sales Onboarding Program for New Sales Reps
So, what are the onboarding secrets of top-performing sales organizations?
It all starts with a rock-solid foundation of best practices. In addition, this foundation should undergo regular reviews and updates to ensure ongoing improvements.
Lets look at eight principles that underpin outstanding onboarding programs for new reps.
1. Define Clear Objectives and Goals
What are the objectives and goals of your onboarding program? It’s vital to know exactly what you want to achieve—in specific, concrete terms—before filling out the details.
The objectives and goals of your program will be unique to the needs of your industry and workflow. That said, most onboarding programs share a handful of core metrics.
The following objectives should sit at the core of your program:
Increasing time to productivity (ramp-up time)
Lower turnover
Workflow efficiency (emails sent, leads qualified, calls made, etc.)
Rep satisfaction
Consistency of results in terms of revenue, leads generated, and deals won
Notice that all of these outputs align with SMART goal criteria. They’re Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
2. Develop a Structured Onboarding Plan
Use the 30-60-90 plan to create clear milestones and time-bound phases for your onboarding program.
Phase one (30 days) should include the completion of introductory training and shadowing.
Phase two (60 days) should end with sales reps having the necessary practical skills and a logistical understanding of your workflow.
Phase three (90 days) is complete when reps are comfortable working towards specific KPIs and understand their roles.
Whatever framework you use—whether the 30-60-90 or another alternative—specific, time-bound milestones are a must.
3. Provide Comprehensive Training Content
Having a central, easily accessible resource that outlines all facets of your sales process cuts the head off the snake of confusion before it can even appear out of the grass.
Your training manual should include:
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and playbooks with step-by-step instructions showing how to complete tasks, including your sales methodologies.
A clear description of the roles of the individuals in your outbound sales team and the responsibilities they hold.
Sales collateral like brochures, case studies, and testimonials.
Detailed information about your product, pricing, industry, and customers, with segments represented by ICPs (ideal customer profiles) and buyer personas.
Your training manual should be a dynamic document. It should undergo regular reviews by sales managers—ideally at least once a quarter—to ensure it remains up-to-date.
4. Provide Continuous Support and Feedback
Regular check-ins during the onboarding process provide an opportunity to track the progress of new sales reps and identify challenges and friction.
Here’s a five-step template for onboarding check-ins:
Discuss progress towards SMART goals.
Provide feedback based on performance assessments.
Address challenges and obstacles.
Tailor the rep’s remaining onboarding plan.
Gather feedback about the broader onboarding process from the rep.
Remember that check-ins work best when they’re collaborative. Feedback from the rep is just as important as more objective data tied to performance metrics.
5. Foster a Positive and Inclusive Culture
With employee turnover in sales teams higher than in any other industry, the need for a positive and inclusive culture can’t be overstated.
In a sales environment, a positive culture has five elements:
A clear incentive structure where reps are rewarded for meeting targets.
An environment of open and empathetic feedback where workflow and interpersonal issues can be addressed.
An ongoing mentorship program that allows junior sales reps to learn from senior ones.
An explicit set of inclusivity policies covering anti-harassment, diversity training, accessibility, parental leave, and so on.
A flexible approach to work-life balance that prioritizes well-being and reduces the risk of burnout so common among sales professionals.
Competition is fierce in the sales world, and top-performing reps understand this. Providing a positive culture is one way you can differentiate yourself as an employer.
6. Regularly Measure and Evaluate Onboarding Effectiveness
You’ll only know if your onboarding program is successful if you measure it. A steady increase in your core performance metrics is the surest indicator you’re doing things right.
Here are the main KPIs for measuring onboarding success:
Time to first sale. How long after completing training are new reps making their first sale, on average?
Ramp up time (time to productivity). How long does it take new sales hires to achieve the average productivity level of experienced reps?
Retention rate. How many new sellers are leaving in a six to twelve-month period?
Quota fulfillment. How many reps are meeting their quotas after finishing training?
Employee satisfaction. How satisfied are reps with their role out of ten?
While most of these are quantitative measures that give exact numbers, employee satisfaction has a more qualitative dimension. This is equally as important as concrete metrics because it lets you form an understanding of overall satisfaction within the team.
7. Prepare for Remote and Hybrid Onboarding
Remote working is the norm in 2024 for sales teams. 71% of sales teams work remotely at least some of the time. And with competition being what it is, companies can’t afford not to offer hybrid working arrangements.
Here’s how to adapt onboarding to hybrid and remote working.
Use virtual collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, and Asana.
Make your training manual available online.
Run regular virtual meetups for team members to meet each other.
Offer interactive, personalized training experiences.
Ensure that all logins for software are provided at the beginning of employee onboarding.
In-person training is important, and there’s no replacement for working with reps face-to-face. However, with the right mechanisms in place, a hybrid model can be just as effective as an exclusively in-person one.
8. Leverage Technology and Tools
Tech inefficiency caused by a lack of proper training with sales tools and technology is one all too common. Which is a shame, because it’s a problem that’s very easy to fix.
Thorough tech training is a logistical must and a precursor to every other part of your sales process running smoothly. Every onboarding plan should include dedicated time with a tech specialist and a direct line of contact for ongoing support.
Ensure that new sales reps know how to use the following platforms:
Customer relationship management platform (CRM)
Outreach platform (sales enablement platform)
AI tools
Project management software
Analytics dashboard
Meeting scheduling app
Cold calling platform
Proposal management and e-signature tools
Payment solutions
With the rise of AI, many sales reps are experiencing the benefits of intelligent sales enablement platforms like Artisan. These platforms can automate and optimize large swathes of a traditional sales workflow, from tweaking messaging for initial prospecting right through to booking a meeting.
Even better, Artisan requires an absolute minimum of onboarding time. If you’d like to see how you can integrate Artisan into your workflow and boost your sales revenue, get in touch to book a demo today.
Top Sales Training Methods That Help New Hires Increase Close Deals
Onboarding is a multifaceted process. But what about when it comes to the all-important sales training itself—crafting emails, making sales calls, closing potential customers, and so on.
Let’s dig into how you can make his phase of your onboarding process work as well as it possibly can.
E-Learning and Online Courses
Consider creating an e-learning course with the following features:
On-demand access so reps can learn at their own pace and revisit materials and modules.
Interactive elements like quizzes, simulations, and games for increased engagement.
Progress tracking so reps can monitor how close they are to completion.
Certificates and rewards to incentivize reps to engage with online materials.
One of the main benefits of online courses is that they’re scalable and easy to modify based on feedback from current and past users.
Role Playing and Simulations
Research across a variety of sectors and applications shows that role playing is an effective educational tool. It boasts high levels of engagement while providing opportunities to develop practical skills.
For role playing to be effective as part of the onboarding experience, it should:
Mirror real-world sales scenarios and customer experiences.
Focus on specific areas like introductions or objection handling.
Allow for immediate feedback and positive reinforcement.
Encourage teamwork and collaboration.
Draw on the experience of senior account executives with in-depth product knowledge.
Mentorship and Shadowing
Mentorship is powerful because it makes use of one-on-one training, which is highly effective when compared to self-paced learning and group sessions (both of which have their place).
Mentorship and shadowing allow senior, successful sales professionals to pass on highly targeted and nuanced knowledge. In addition, reps have the opportunity to observe all aspects of the sales cycle, from lead gen to closing.
Along with strengthening bonds in the team, mentorship is one of the surest ways reps can build their confidence.
Gamification
Gamification is all the rage nowadays and a definite buzzword.
However, you don’t need to worry. Gamifying your onboarding process doesn’t mean you need to subscribe all your new reps to a sales-focused version of Duolingo.
Gamification is about taking a small handful of techniques and applying them to your onboarding strategy to increase engagement.
Examples of gamification include:
Rewards for completing learning milestones
Competition leaderboards (with an emphasis on fun)
Progress monitoring
Interactive quizzes and games
Extended reality (XR) where appropriate (such as for visualizing a product)
Feedback and Reflection Sessions
Feedback sessions give new hires a chance to ask questions, highlight areas where they need extra help, and offer suggestions to improve the onboarding process.
Feedback falls into two categories:
Quantitative feedback measures specific metrics, such as satisfaction scores,
Qualitative feedback is usually generated through more open question-and-answer forms and interviews.
Both types of feedback are essential for getting the most out of “reflection sessions” and will allow you to generate a complete and nuanced picture of how new hires are faring and if their activity is aligned with company goals.
Skip the Hassle with AI Sales Assistant
Running a successful onboarding program involves managing lots of moving parts. It’s no easy task, even for the most experienced managers.
However, AI is establishing itself as a powerful tool for streamlining and improving sales processes, and onboarding is no exception.
Using AI tools significantly reduces the time it takes to onboard and train sales reps. They let your team scale their outreach and hone in on what’s most important: meeting with clients and sealing the deal.
Let’s take Artisan as an example. Artisan’s AI virtual assistant, Ava, can automate significant parts of the sales process:
ICP creation and optimization
Lead prospecting, filtering, and qualification from a 300 million-strong database
Email address warmup
Intelligent personalization based on prospect pain points and activity
Ongoing campaign optimization and follow-up
Because Artisan is driven by AI, it has minimal onboarding time, allowing your reps to scale tasks that would otherwise consume large portions of their time.
If you’d like to see how Artisan can increase your sales results, get in touch for a demo today.