Sales Training Manual & Template for New Hires

Theaverage ramp-up time for salespeopleis between six and nine months. That’s a lot of lost revenue for your company. So how do you maximize the investment you’re making in sales new hires?

Below is a guide to accelerated ramp-up time for your salespeople (along with some examples of how HubSpot trains its salespeople).

It takes time. It might feel like you’re over-communicating, but the payoff is salespeople who understand your business, your customer, and your sales methodology — a wicked combination that leads to bigger returns, faster.

When you're creating a new-hire training plan, remember a few things:

1. Keep your training plan personalized, because no two reps are the same.
2. Continue coaching far beyond their first day.
3. Authenticity is key to building trust. Don't think you have to be the stereotypical "loud" salesperson to earn respect.

Sales Training Manual

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Onboarding is one of the most critical stages of new hire training for salespeople. The more effective the onboarding, the faster your new hires begin making an impact on the organization.

Here is a checklist for how to do it right.

Onboarding Checklist for Sales New Hires

Before They Start

The start of a new job is exciting and can also lead to nervousness from uncertainty. As they prepare for their first day, a little context can go a long way.

Pre-Week Training

If you want them to come in confident and prepared to maximize their first day, you may even consider pre-week training. This gives your sales reps more information on their roles and what they’ll learn during training.

New sales hires at HubSpot experience “a day in the life” of a HubSpot sales rep before their official first day. From technical setup to call observation and activity shadowing, new reps get an up-close look at the end goal of their training period.

Day One

72%of employees say one-on-one time with their direct manager is the most important part of the beginning onboarding process. It’s crucial that your new hires’ first day sets the right tone for their career in your company. To make sure they feel like they’re being formally introduced to their role, provide them with a direct manager on day one so they don’t feel led astray.

Email and Administrative Preparation

To combat this, make sure your new rep’s email account is accessible before the first day. This allows you to send them new hire and HR information ahead of time, as well as an agenda for day one. That way, even if your day is packed, your new hire will know where to go and who to meet.

Orientation

Use the first day to teach new hires the broad strokes of the company. Take care of HR documentation, set them up with a computer, and introduce them to the company at a high level.

At HubSpot, these are just a few of the things our new hires experience on their first day. They also have lunch with a veteran HubSpotter to learn more about the company and can ask questions to someone who’s been around for a while.

You'll also want to introduce them to their 30-60-90 day plan that outlines expectations as they ramp up. Let’s dive into what this plan might look like.

First 30 Days

Your sales reps' first month is all about learning: your company, your customers, your solutions, your internal organization and processes, and their role within it all. Getting them acquainted with these things may include:

Product or Service Training

What will your rep be selling? Whether it’s pool supplies or software, it’s important to train them on how to administer, use, and see the value of your product or service.

HubSpot’s new hires go through extensive product and Inbound Marketing training. They learn how to use HubSpot’sCRM,Marketing, andSales工具。实习培训他们构建局域网ding pages, setting up contacts, and presenting “final projects” at the end of their training cycle. The project serves as a benchmark for new hires. Reps get to show off their understanding of HubSpot tools, and managers can gauge new hire progress.

Gaining Understanding of the Market

A successful sale often comes down to BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing. While determining budget and handling general price objections can be pretty straight-forward for an experienced rep, the other three components require familiarity (and perhaps intimacy) with both the buyer and the market:

• Authority - To establish authority with the prospect, the rep must understand your position in the market: your strengths and weaknesses as well as those of your competitors.
• Need - The rep must also develop competency in mapping those strengths and weaknesses to prospect pain points to qualify for (and prove) fit.
• Timing - Gauging the prospect's timing, knowing customer and sales lifecycles, and developing a nurturing and follow-up process that works with those lifecycles are crucial for getting the timing just right.

All of these take experience and training.

First 60 Days

Once the sales rep has completed their "information gathering" period, it's time to give them hands-on experience to improve their comfort level and get them into process development and routine.

Job Shadowing

An effective way to get their feet wet is by pairing the rep with one of your seasoned team members so they can gain insight in live time. Have the new employee listen to calls, ask questions about workflow, and get a sense of the team’s strategy.

Prospecting and Introductions

The rep should also be given a chance to introduce themselves to points of contact for accounts they’re inheriting and/or do some initial prospecting and outreach to begin filling their pipeline.

Performance Reviews

Be sure to meet with the reps early and often to provide feedback, encourage good habits, and reinforce performance milestones and goals.

First 90 Days

After 60 days, the rep should be comfortable and autonomous enough to apply their training and start making an impact as their pipeline opens up. Managers should ensure that new reps have everything they need to:

• Establish a schedule that's aggressive but works for them
• Meet with prospects and develop relationships
• Navigate the process, hit KPIs, and crush goals

1. Train them on how to use your CRM.

Teach your reps how to use your CRM, and include hands-on, project-based training (like how to enter new contacts, set reminders, and log communication). When appropriate, have them take a CRM certification exam. Most CRMs offer them, and it’s a great way to ensure that new reps understand how to use this important software.

You can findHubSpot’s free certification courses here.

2. Conduct call reviews.

Sign up new hires for call reviews — and lots of ‘em. It’s good for them to listen to reviews from your top reps and a few from reps who haven’t been part of the team that long. This allows new hires to learn from a variety of experience levels and gives them access to different types of critique.

3. Provide a sales process overview.

Cover the main stages of the sales process and conversion rate benchmarks (on average, 10% of emails convert to connect calls, 20% of connect calls convert to discover calls, etc.) This tells your new reps where to prioritize efforts and what kind of numbers they’ll be held to.

4.火车代表贵公司如何处理的前景bob全站apping.

How does your company prospect?Share common channels, number of touchpoints, and best practices. Outline how much research reps should conduct and which details they should look for.

5. Walk through your buyer personas.

In this section of training, describe your ideal customer. If you’re a B2B company, teach your salespeople what a best-fit company looks like and which contacts they should be trying to make at that company. If you’re B2C, describe the types of consumers reps should be targeting. You should also lay out the foundation for how your organization assesses and communicates with decision-makers.

6. Provide a competitive analysis.

Provide an overview of your main competitors. Then share a competitive analysis that highlights exactly what makes you different. Be honest about where your product/service falls short of the competition and where it outperforms the rest of the market.

7. Have strong reps provide demo training.

Incorporate good and bad examples into demo training and have everyone participate in role-play. Conduct reviews of new hire demos, connect calls, and close conversations. Include common objections that arise during your sales process and let new hires respond to those objections before supplying them with ready-made scripts.

A good rule of thumb: provide positive feedback first, then move to areas for improvement. Foster this rule in your sales organization to create a team that embraces constructive criticism instead of being afraid or resentful of it.

8. Hold technical training.

Learning to use team or company technology (i.e., phones, video platforms, etc.) can be a tough and undocumented process. Train new hires on how to use your technological resources, and have them showcase their skills during a demo with you. When they can troubleshoot basic issues — like asking prospects to mute their microphones if an echo arises during a presentation — they’re one step closer to being ready for a live call.

9. Practice negotiating and common object handling.

Even experienced reps need to know how your company approaches the negotiation phase. What are your parameters for discounts and sales? What kind of judgment calls can your reps make regarding discounts? And, what is the etiquette for discussing these topics with prospects?

10. Offer onboarding training when applicable.

Will your reps be in charge of onboarding new clients? Share best practices and responsibilities that accompany this role. If there’s a hand-off to a renewal manager or customer experience rep, make sure both parties understand what that process is as well.

11. Encourage necessary certifications.

At the end of theirsales training,认证考试。你的代表role-play an exploratory call, demo, negotiation, and closing call. This allows you to gauge whether a rep is ready to start representing your company in front of prospective clients.

By the end of training, HubSpot reps are bothinbound salesandinbound marketingcertified. They’re also certified in giving HubSpot Demos. Certain passing scores must be met and managers are notified if further training is necessary.

12. Create vertical-, role- or territory-specific trainings.

Make sure each new hire receives relevant supplementary training for role-specific duties. If you’re onboarding aBDR, provide further training on how to qualify prospects by asking the right questions. And, train your reps on specific verticals or territories they’ll be targeting (i.e., when prospecting in the pacific northwest, phone calls convert at a higher rate than emails).

13. Offer leadership/management training.

Everyone should move through basicsales trainingto understand the goals, values, and customers your sales organization prioritizes. But if you’re bringing in a manager or executive, further training may be required to set them up for success.

Post-Training

Set clear expectations & goals.

Set 30-, 60-, and 90-day goals. Calculate ramp rate based on the average number of months it takes a new salesperson to hit 100% (or close to) of quota. To make this more accurate, segment an average ramp period by experience — for example, it might take the typical veteran salesperson four months to ramp, while a freshly-minted college grad requires nine months.

Establish a new-hire mentor.

A Microsoft study found that employees who are paired with a mentor or “buddy” are more productive in97% of the cases.

Assign every new salesperson a mentor who’s senior to them. Mentees can bounce questions, comments, and new hire growing pains of their mentors. Mentorship provides new hires with perspective, guidance, and advice from someone outside their management team.

At HubSpot, every new hire is paired with a mentor. Beyond the first few weeks, mentors can offer career advice, make important networking connections, and save salespeople from burnout. Pair new hires with mentors, and you’ll set them up for a longer, happier career with your company.

Make Your Sales Training Worthwhile

提高销售人员是艰难的。但是如果你这样做right, you’ll see a huge ROI on the time and efforts you invest in new hires early on. Don’t skimp here, and you’ll enjoy the benefits of talent retention, high morale, and high-quality sales strategy.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.