A scary statistic ~ over 60% of new Sales Hires, leave their new company within the 1st 6 months.
Why is this?
The reality is that these people do not get thoroughly onboarded with their new employer.
It takes a combined process of training, coaching, & educating newly hired sales team members into the organization.
This means thoroughly arming new hires with the skills, knowledge, & tools to become an asset to the business.
It also helps them understand the culture of the organization & learn how the sales process works so they can close deals effectively & generate strong Customer relationships.
How should we fully integrate every new sales hire into our business.
The BizGro 6 step new hire process
1. Introduce your business Culture
Before even thinking of training a new hire on your sales process, etc, they first need to experience the people & culture of the business.
It is a vital 1st step to introduce a new hire to the way your business works & why you do things the way that you do.
They should also learn your company’s history, mission & vision.
This helps build a clear understanding of how & why things work as they do ~ it also plants the company’s vision in their minds.
2. offer training on Your Products & Services
No matter how good you perceive the new hire to be, they will need to learn about your products.
Train new hires in how your products & services work; providing them with case studies.
Make them aware of your products benefits & also shortfalls.
This will assist them build their own confidence in your range as well as learn important selling points to be used in garnering sales.
3. Teach your company’s winning Selling Skills
Most often new hire orientation includes only product knowledge training.
We assume that the new hire knows how to sell
WRONG!
It is a vital aspect of onboarding your new hire with specific skills applicable to your Customers, products & style.
A key element of strong leadership is to teach your new salespeople to build trust & rapport & practice active listening before launching into pitching products & services.
Every new hire should also be taught how to overcome common objections, answer relevant questions authoritatively, and close deals effectively.
4. Assign New Hires a Mentor
As well as training of products, services & specific selling skills, assign a new hire a mentor for the first month or two.
Best is to allocate them to an experienced member of your team, so that learning questions can be asked & answers received without the newbie feeling embarrassed.
The mentor should be responsible for showing them the ropes, shadowing their responsibilities, & practicing role-playing in sales scenarios.
Mentors can assist new hires on their first few calls to guide them through your company’s processes, answer questions the Customer may have that may stump the newbie, & provide feedback.
A great way of onboarding & gaining confidence in your new hire.
5. Finally, unpack the sales process
Only once the new hire has been thoroughly orientated & trained on your products & services, & also rehashed basic selling skills, is it the right time for them to become fully them to learn the company’s sales process.
While every sales organization has a general sales cycle, every business does things a little differently and uses different tools and software.
In general, you’ll want to teach them ~
> your sales cycle expectation
> once an account has been opened, following the process to opening the account
> a thorough introduction to your reporting tools ~ CRM etc.
> most companies require reports & deadlines ~ ensure your new hire is fully conversant with what is required & when by.
6. Let them loose!
Only when they are fully up to speed, let them loose………….
We too often are so busy & too keen to release a new hire into the field, they fail, whereas, by following this simple step by step formula, the time you have spent NOW, will be repaid!
You will gain ~
- By not having to train a new replacement in a few months’ time
- By your new hire generating positive sales growth
- By motivating & building confidence in your new hire
- By building a well sorted & motivated Team of Sellers
Need help providing a workable & highly effective sales Personnel onboarding programme.
Talk to BizGro ; our speciality……………………….
