4 Onboarding Pitfalls to Avoid
In a world where exceptional sales talent is essential and we’ve found the person with the right skill set and fit for the company (a Challenger Rep, SEC research would suggest), we still have to provide a supportive, seamless and robust onboarding period. This is important for both the organization and the new sales professional.
While most would agree with these statements about the importance of onboarding, there often tends to be some common challenges sales organizations face in their onboarding programs. Here are some of the most common onboarding pitfalls we’ve heard at the SEC:
Lack of standardization and confusion, both region to region and manager to manager
Information overload: new sales hires feel as if they are “drinking from the fire hose”
Content is dominated by policies and procedures: it’s important content to be sure, but dwarfs other content in a program
Increased productivity: the organization demands new reps need to be at “full” speed sooner than ever before
Now we can’t fix it all at once (and some of these may be more easily fixed than others), but we’ve seen member companies come up with some innovative ways to combat these onboarding challenges.
Let’s take number two on the above list, “information overload”. First, stick to the first 90 days of a new hire’s time – most companies agree that this is a good timeframe to focus attention on. With the timeframe established, you then need to determine WHAT new hires NEED to know by the end of that period. This is where we see information overload most often occur. Why? Too often, when asked what’s essential for new hires to know, the answer is “everything”. Well, that’s simply not realistic. You don’t want to set a new hire up for failure by giving them goals that aren’t actually achievable…are they going to want to stick around if that’s the case?
In order to determine the critical components that should (and should not) be covered in their onboarding program, Dimension Data put together a roundtable panel comprised of high performing sales reps, first line sales managers and sales training and development staff. The panel vets onboarding content and curriculum to ensure topics are relevant – this filtering process not only helps to prevent information overload but it also ensures program buy-in exists in the manager ranks.
Dimension Data then leverages this information to do something that addresses the other common onboarding issues in our list above; they created an “Onboarding Passport”. The “passport” is a collection of information and checklists that teach new hires how to navigate the organization for future success, and they are specific to roles and regions. To drive accountability for onboarding activities, the passport includes dates of completion that are set and tracked by the new hire’s direct manager.
By leveraging processes and tools similar to Dimension Data’s in the first 90 days, organizations can successfully manage the common new hire onboarding challenges. What other strategies have you used when creating onboarding processes and content?
SEC Members, for more onboarding resources, check out our Onboarding Topic Center. You can also see a recap of the Q&A session we had with the creator of Dimension Data’s onboarding program.
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