Rep Onboarding: Here's What a First Week Looks Like
How to create an effective sales onboarding schedule that will help your new reps succeed
When I first started in sales my onboarding at the company left a lot to be desired.
It basically went:
Here’s your login
HR manager intro to the company (including signing the company handbook)
Sit with your “mentor” (who was too busy)
Find a list of people to call
Start dialing….
This happened over 2 days then it was off to the races.
Not surprisingly we had above average turn-over after 90 days.
Onboarding is crucial.
It can have a big impact on setting a new rep up for success.
Doing it well takes planning and preparation, and in my view it’s well worth it because at the end of 90 days (or sooner) you will know whether the rep it on the path of success or in trouble.
For our onboarding: The purpose is to have a clear outline for what a new hire will do so that we can get all of the information to set them up to be productive after the 4th day.
This onboarding schedule has been used and modified over the last 10 years to balance a mix of connecting the rep with people in the organization as well as self study time.
Click here if you want to download a free PDF copy of the schedule below:
Day 1 - Theme - INTRODUCTION
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - check in and get settled (designated welcome “committee”)
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. - Welcome Intro - review onboarding schedule (with hiring manager)
9:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. - IT and Cyber Security (set up hardware and software - dedicated IT person)
9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Company Story (CEO or Ops Leader)
10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. - HR Intro
10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. - Marketing
10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - break
11:00 a.m. - Noon - Company overview (who to go for what)
Noon - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch (with another rep or hiring manager)
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Vision for growth: Team Lead role and Territory Management (w/ sales manager)
2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - Read on-boarding packet (self study)
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. - Review on-boarding packet and Review - who is our customer (self study)
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Work on everything HR related and start required company HR courses (self study)
Day 2 - Theme - SALES TOOLS & PROCESS
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - Tech Tools - Logins (CRM, Marketing, LeadGen, Intranet, Knowledgebase, etc…) (with manager)
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - CRM Basics Live - Shadow a Sr. Rep
11:00 a.m. - Noon - CRM study or catch up from yesterday (self study)
Noon - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch - with Sales Team Members
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Listen to sales calls and observation of CRM Organization/Tasking (sr. sale rep)
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Required HR Online Courses (self study)
3:00p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Sales process outline (with sale manager)
4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Required HR courses and/or review notes from the day (self study)
Day 3 - Theme - SALES ACTIVITIES & PIPELINE
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. - Tools review - from yesterday (with sales manager)
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. - Listen to sales calls - either recorded in knowledgebase or live
10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Organizing your CRM (with sales ops or sales manager)
11:00 a.m. - Noon - Free CRM time (self study)
Noon - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch (solo or with a member of the team)
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Understanding our customers and their buying journey (with sales manager or marketing)
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - mock calls and roll play (with sales manager)
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Start to outline prospecting schedule, review notes from Day 1 & 2 (self study)
Day 4 - Theme - PREPARE TO GOLIVE
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. - refresh and Q&A (with sales manager)
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. - Mock calls with Rep 1
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. - Mock calls with Rep 2
11:30 a.m. - Noon - Review Customers, Sales Process, Notes (self study)
Noon - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Shadow (listen and learn) Rep 3
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Mock calls with Sales Manager
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Outline tomorrows prospecting day
4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Review outline with sales manager
Day 5 - Theme - GAMETIME
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. - warm up with sales manager - set activity goals for the day
9:30 a.m. - Game-time - Execute your 1st full prospecting day
4:00 p.m. - check in, breathe, outline your prospecting days for the next week
Keys to success:
Mix up self study with one on one time with various people in your org to help build connection and confidence
Give space at the end of each day to absorb what was learned - review notes etc…
Don’t have them write a 90 day plan until after week 2 - preferable after 30 days (any plan they write will be based in theory anyway - so give them some experience before you have them write their own 90 day plan)
Have everyone assigned to their times slots in advance so they are prepared
Codify the topics you talk about (i.e. Company Story, HR Intro, Marketing) into easy to digest 15 minute segments which makes it repeatable for your next hire