Webinar Sales Onboarding: Solving The Devastating Delay From Sales Hiring To Consistent Production

WebinarSales Onboarding:Solving The Devastating Delay From Sales Hiring To Consistent Production Mark Lindwall, Senior Analyst January 30, 2014. Call in at 10:55 a.m. Eastern time • @MarkLindwall

Agenda • Why is current onboarding obsolete? • What must change? • A 21st century reference model for developing salespeople

Current state sales development WHEN DOES ONBOARDING STOP AND DEVELOPMENT BEGIN? Frayed connections Lack of clear handoffs puts salespeople in no man’s land. No clear linkages across hiring, onboarding, training, ongoing management, and coaching and development Lack of clarity on who owns salesperson development No clear development plan Focused on products and not on understanding buyer roles and challenges

It all starts with current state recruiting LOTS OF VARIABILITY IN NEW REP COMPETENCIES • Massive variability of hiring practices from different geographies and regions • Multiplied by different beliefs by hiring managers about what makes a good seller • Compounded by varied backgrounds, experiences, and demographics • And varied expectations and portrayal of the role and company “Account rep”40 different versions of the job description

Current state onboarding — prestart A LOT OF MISSED OPPORTUNITY • Welcome letter • Offer letter • Policy information • Non-compete agreement • Benefits information and forms • Payroll information and forms Idle Many reps can wait as long as one month in their job before going through any kind of training.

Current state onboarding • Ranges from a day to months • No defined standard outcome • Policy and benefits review • Culture training • Systems training • Product (versus buyer) training • Sales methodology training • Tests (maybe) • Meet and greets • Measured by number of attendees or Net Promoter Scores MORE LIKE WATERBOARDING Audit By overall minutes, less than 5% is about customers.

Current state assignment to role YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN KID • Often precedes training • Lack of a clarity and guidelines on handoff from onboarding to manager • Little or no basic performance guidelines for new reps • No clear first year sales rep development plan • Navigating and accessing resources is difficult. • Working remotely is isolating. Self-service? Imagine navigating 40 million pieces of content.

Current state development and coaching YOU SO, UM . . . WHY DON’T YOU DO . . . THIS? • Lack of a clear handoff between onboarding and development by managers • No management guidelines or plan for developing reps • Sales managers are not trained in developing salespeople. • Little consistency of coaching among sales managers • Frontline sales managers often lack understanding of how and where to apply their time. Inconsistency Some sales managers focus on developing, others on administration, others on selling.

Why sales development must change All salespeople have the same four objectives. Different types of buyers have different communication needs. Salespeople are not meeting buyer expectations. What “onboarded” means is not clearly defined or beneficial.

All salespeople have the same objectives Image source: Forrester Research

But all buyers are not the same The aggregator — This buyer archetype is focused on driving reductions in near-term cost across departments by consolidating vendors and budgets. The driver — This buyer archetype is looking to create ongoing, long-term, transformative outcomes across business functions that affect many stakeholders. The negotiator — This buyer archetype is focused on the task of completing transactions quickly at the best price and has a near-term focus. The decider — This buyer archetype is looking to solve a departmental business problem that requires knowledge transfer in order to be successful.

Agreement networks are now the norm Image source: Forrester Research

Different buyers have different expectations Image source: Forrester Research

Sellers aren’t meeting buyers’ needs Image source: Forrester Research

Sellers are focused on product “pitching”

The end of homogenous onboarding One size does not fit all! Messenger Message Audience + Image source: Forrester Research

21st century sales force development (cont.) HIRING, TRAINING, COACHING, AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT The aggregator The driver Recruiting, hiring, role assignment, development all informed by buyer archetype: The decider The negotiator All development focused on four sales objectives:

21st century recruiting, hiring, and company orientation CENTRALIZING TALENT ACQUSITION FOR CONSISTENCY AND QUALITY • Sales talent acquisition team of centralized sales and HR specialists • Social recruitment • Use of structured interviewing and video interviewing (i.e., HireVue) to standardize questions and broaden review for response scoring • eLearning orientation content used during hiring process Ongoing recruitment Hiring based on sales archetype criteria and buyer alignment

21st century orientation (versus onboarding) PUSHING “JUST-IN-TIME” COMPANY TRAINING TO ONLINE COURSEWARE • Orientation begins during recruitment and hiring process. • Company-orientation content and training pushed via on-demand content • Focused on administrative and company orientation • Lightweight content and use of multimedia • NO sales-specific content • Prepares for handoff to role-specific training Just in time Modular, testable courseware prior to orientation event

21st century buyer readiness certification • Role-specific, criteria-driven training provides reps with empathy and messages to align with specific buyer roles. • Training duration tuned to seller and buyer archetype • All training focused on executing on the four common sales objectives. • eLearning, role-play, and group discussion • Little or no product training for conductors or specialists • Learning reinforcement via gamification (i.e., Qstream) • Rigorous and demanding certification testing • Buyer criteria: • Goals • Wallet owners • Initiative types • Value perceptions • Agreement networks • Value horizons http://www.istockphoto.com “Specialist” The decider Decider • Seller criteria: • Experience • Rapport • Knowledge • Acumen • Navigation • Cadence

21st century assignment to territory • Assignment to territory ONLY upon role-specific buyer readiness certification • Sales managers receive reps with role-specific empathy and messages to align with their buyers’ roles in the four common sales objectives. • Ongoing development of sales rep is now owned by the sales manager with support from learning and development. Engagement New reps are prepared for success before deployment.

21st century sales development — mastery ONGOING TRAINING, ROLE-PLAYING, REINFORCEMENT, COACHING, AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING • Mastery tracks (201-401) deepen ability in the four sales objectives and deepen buyer empathy. • Introduce how and when to discuss product solutions. • Reinforce learning via role-play, gamification, and coaching. • Rigorous and demanding certification testing required at each mastery level • Compensation and promotion is linked to mastery certification level. Modular Packaged programs and modules that are prescribed by archetype Image source: Forrester Research

21st century sales development — coaching REINFORCE LEARNING ON AN ONGOING BASIS • Coaching certification required for managers (101-401 mastery) • Lightweight coaching framework and processes reinforced by systems and tools • Coaching focused on reinforcing skills and behavioral objectives • Clear and specific non-overlapping responsibilities of community coach and manager coach • Learning analytics (i.e., Amacus, Qstream, LevelEleven, HireVue) • Automated role-based sales coaching tools (i.e., planning, situational coaching, etc.) Learning community coaches Manager coach Clarity Purpose-driven roles and responsibilities

21st century sales development — communities FIND WAYS TO KEEP CLASSES TOGETHER — SHARING INFORMATION • Learning communities are grouped by seller archetypes. • Gamified social learning (i.e., point systems, badging, leader boards, success stories, and incentives for online forum contributions, meetings, training, etc.) • Appointed learning community coaches (other than managers) • Moderated sessions: chats, webinars, discussion threads Community Birds of a feather flock together.

21st century sales force development HIRING, TRAINING, COACHING, AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Recruiting, hiring, role assignment, development all informed by buyer archetype: The aggregator The driver The negotiator The decider All development focused on four sales objectives: Image source: Forrester Research

What to do next • Define clear goals and objectives for sales team development. • Baseline the current state using the reference model. • Determine executive sponsor and establish core definitions and governing principles. • Interview attendees and sales managers to identify perceptions — use four sales objectives to structure feedback. • Select “low-hanging fruit” options to address immediately — then move on to more complex tasks.

Mark Lindwall +1 617.613.8886 mlindwall@forrester.com

Webinar Sales Onboarding: Solving The Devastating Delay From Sales Hiring To Consistent Production