Wondering if investing in sales onboarding is worth it? Learn the 9 results of sales onboarding in this episode of the Sales Management Minute and the answer is clear.
There's a lot of buzz today around sales onboarding and sales enablement. You may be wondering if sales onboarding should be on your executive team's priority list of corporate initiatives. Here are nine reasons why it belongs high on your list.
1. Investment protection. When companies hire salespeople, they are making a significant revenue investment. Onboarding, not only protects the investment, but also helps to ensure a high rate of return on it.
2. Reduced ramp-up time. One of the biggest executive complaints about new salespeople is the amount of time it takes for them to produce meaningful revenue for the company. By having a structured onboarding experience, this production timeline is reduced, meaning that the dollars invested before seeing a return are also lessened.
3. Increased revenue performance. Executives also complain that their salespeople cannot sell the value of their products which means they sell at a less than desirable price point. Onboarding provides you with the opportunity to teach salespeople how to properly position its products with prospects.
4. Improved client experience. We've all been on the other side of the desk dealing with inept salespeople. Because of our frustration, we were open to discussions with the competition. Onboarding ensures your salespeople are equipped with the knowledge your clients expect to glean from them while delivering a fantastic experience.
5. Brand protection. When salespeople cannot speak knowledgably about the products, the industry, etc., it creates a negative reflection on the corporate brand. Onboarding protects your brand by teaching your salespeople what the marketplace expects them to know.
6. Turnover reduction. In the first year of employment, the most common reason for turnover on a sales team is that expectations are not met. Either the salespeople quit or you let them go. In both cases, it is bad news for the revenue investment. Onboarding helps to minimize those instances, which impacts both the top and bottom line of the company.
7. Increased candidate pool. How does onboarding increase your candidate pool? Many companies limit their hiring scope to just those salespeople with industry experience. Yet, there are only so many people in your industry and only a small subset you would want on your team or who would want to be on your team. Onboarding empowers you to broaden your candidate scope to include strong sellers from other industries as well.
8. Recruitment tool. As you look across the desk at a candidate during an interview and wonder how this individual will get up to speed selling for your company, guess what? The candidate is wondering the same thing! Onboarding becomes a selling point in the interview as a way to attract top talent. It demonstrates corporate commitment to their success.
9. Hiring mistakes found. Sometimes, you can get bamboozled during the interview process. After all, salespeople know how to sell themselves. Onboarding gives you the opportunity to identify concerns early on with new salespeople and take action. This is true investment protection.
These 9 sales onboarding results hit both the top and bottom line of your company. What other corporate initiative on your list has the potential to make this level of impact in the company?
See you next time on the Sales Management Minute.