Inside Sales Onboarding (part1)

Sales Onboarding Introduction Hiring is one of the most critical factors in the success of any sales organization. Companies recognize this as fact and are willing to invest significant time, effort, energy & money in hiring the best Sales Reps. Everyone wants “A-players” and everyone is competing for that small and limited talent pool. So let’s say you are one of the lucky few and you actually do hire a great candidate. What happens next? In our research we found that it takes, on average, 4.5 months for an Inside Sales Rep to be fully productive. That’s nearly 82 selling days! Why so long? www.bridgegroupinc.com < 2 >

Sales Onboarding The investment in onboarding Here’s my hypothesis: Sales & Marketing leaders are making a strategic investment in their hiring process and then undermining it with a tactical onboarding process. The result is that our Reps aren’t being properly prepared to take the selling field. So, specifically, where are we going wrong and how can we address the issue? As I see it, there are 5 key areas, gaps really, between where we are today and where we need to be. www.bridgegroupinc.com < 3 >

Sales Onboarding The 5 onboarding gaps 1. Context 2. Orientation 3. Planning 4. Investment 5. Coaching These gaps are holding us back. These gaps lead to long ramp times. They expose us to the risk of new hire failure. And they leave us with great Reps who just aren’t performing up to their full potential. www.bridgegroupinc.com < 4 >

1. CONTEXT

THE CONTEXT GAP Buying & selling has changed But our onboarding process hasn’t. SiriusDecisions shares that buyers are 70% through their buying process before they ever speak to a Sales Rep. So how do Reps engage with these extremely knowledgeable buyers, when all they can talk about is their products? Reps need to be speak to the buyer’s challenges, what they care about, how they are measured, etc. www.bridgegroupinc.com < 6 >

THE CONTEXT GAP The context gap Here’s a useful quote from Tom Peters: “ If you went to a play, and someone appeared on stage and proceeded to read the play - with no acting - youd say they missed the point of theater. ” That is what typically happens when we hire reps and then connect them to the fire hose of our products, our value proposition, our message, our features, our benefits, etc. The buyer is conspicuously absent in all of this. www.bridgegroupinc.com < 7 >

THE CONTEXT GAP Them before us Onboarding has to evolve to meet this new selling reality. Help your Reps really understand your Buyer Personas. Put it in context for them. Help them develop a language that will resonate with your buyers. This is an investment you simply can’t ignore. What follows is a rough sketch of how to address this context gap. www.bridgegroupinc.com < 8 >

What if ?You let your customers do the talking?Video interview them, asking: • “How would you describe their role?” • “What was your life like before our solution?” • “How would you tell the story of what we delivered?”Record once and share many.There is no better way to armyour Reps than with these stories. www.bridgegroupinc.com < 9 >

THE CONTEXT GAP Addressing the gap Traditional Approach Additional Context - A day in the life of our buyers - Their top 3 challenges & how they address them today - How they’re measured/comp’d Our value proposition What’s in it for them Our products With us/without us vision Our sales process How our buyers buy Our messaging Messaging by buyer persona Our CRM Leveraging CRM Our selling tools Selling tools by persona www.bridgegroupinc.com < 10 >

Formatted to fit your screenThis is just a small excerpt of a much larger ebook on InsideSales Onboarding.You can get the full ebook here:http://www.bridgegroupinc.com/inside_sales_onboarding.htmlRegards,- Trish Bertuzzi President & Chief Strategist | The Bridge Group, Inc. @bridgegroupinc www.bridgegroupinc.com < 11 >

CLOSING THOUGHTS About The Bridge Group, Inc. Were an Inside Sales Consulting & Implementation firm. We’ve helped Sales & Marketing leaders from over 180 B2B technology companies make the big decisions: on implementation strategy, productivity & performance, process, technology and tools. More information Phone: (978) 562-2623 Email: info@bridgegroupinc.com Web: http://www.bridgegroupinc.com www.bridgegroupinc.com < 12 >

PHOTO CREDITS Buyers journey map (p.7) - http://laurenondemand.com/tag/b2b-lead-generation/ Tom Peters (p.8) - http://www.tompeters.com/toms_world/a_day_in_the_life.php Road sign (p.9) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/reflexer/5293808298/ Client video (9.10) - http://www.nasuni.com/news/nasuni-blog/law-office-utilizes-cloud-storage- to-mitigate-growth/ www.bridgegroupinc.com < 13 >

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Inside Sales Onboarding (part1)

by The Bridge Group, Inc. on Nov 01, 2011

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Inside Sales Onboarding (part1) — Presentation Transcript