Hit the Ground Running Modernizing Your Sales New Hire Onboarding January 28, 2015
Your Presenter: Brian Lambert, PhD Oxygen Learning Consulting Practice Leader Training outsourcing and services Variety of industries Sales Enablement analyst (Forrester Research) Started Sales Enablement Community of Practice at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Author of 4 books on professional selling and training PhD in organizational design and management Quota carrying sales rep and sales manager experience Air Force Officer background (training, assurance, quality) 2
Strategy Results Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing. -Warren Bennis 3
What we ll cover Helping help new hires achieve more immediate sales results Orchestrating a new hire onboarding process that decreases ramp up time for new hires Understanding how learning and sales leaders are working together to take a top-down and bottom-up approach Defining the often overlooked critical links within the process, and how companies are looking to manage friction points in the process Getting in front of the likely onboarding mandates from above, from product groups, or from business units 4
Increasing power of suppliers Technology disruptions New/Evolving trends Competitors Expanding role of purchasing Evolving buying patterns Increased buyer options Commoditization Adjust Go-To-Market strategy Create new capabilities Improve customer relationship Increase efficiency/ cut cost 5
From: INDUSTRIAL AGE To: INFORMATION AGE Type of Work From: SILOED EFFORTS To: CROSS-FUNCTIONAL ENDEAVORS How Work Gets Done 6
Your Company Your Customers /Clients How Do New Hires Become Successful? 7
Many Factors: Helping New Hires Be Successful New corporate initiatives Sales leader initiatives Learning styles Existing knowledge Skill set Content/tools Motivations 8
Coaching programs Assessment programs Hiring practices X,000 hours of training content Wellness programs Sales skills Talent audits LMS roll out Performance improvement initiatives Collaboration portal Comp and rewards Executive Presentations HR systems Buyer/customer conversations Competency modeling Career paths Benefits Online courses Annual compliance On-campus recruiting Soft skills Online courses Field enablement LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Succession planning Mobile technologies Field ready tools Product certification Sales focus groups Product Training Performance audits Human capital strategy Annual meetings/kickoffs Job role analysis 9
How is All That Stuff Working For You? What We Often Hear From Sales Leaders And Sales Reps New hires wasting selling time with inefficient process & content New hire sales conversations aren t the explicit design point for new hire success Inconsistent New Hire Training = Wasted Investment 10
Blending Strategy and Execution is Hard Tops Down (Do the right things) New Hire Training Success FIGURE STUFF OUT/GET STUFF DONE What the execs say? What the survey says? What you have done before? Bottoms Up (Do things right) 11
Picking The Wrong Approach To New Hire Training Can Be Career Limiting Look how many days we cut out of our new hire process. Look how many salespeople we trained last year. Look at cool technology we used for the program. Look at how many downloads we had. Look how well the new hires liked it. 12
Executives Say: Salespeople Aren t Adding Value GAP: How are you preparing new hires to add value to executives? Source: Forrester Research & CEB 13
Salespeople Aren t Getting the Help They Need Sellers are often overwhelmed by the complexity of their job. In a 2015 CEB survey of over 1,000 sellers, 70% classified their jobs as moderately to highly complex. Question: How much of that complexity is caused by your own company? 14
What Is The Path To Success For Improving New Hire Training? Agree on what it is Not just on how to measure it Or how to execute it. Average sales performance? Number of refreshed content assets? Improved ramp up time? Released (and happy) from a course? New HR handoffs? Sales leader handoffs? Trained on processes and products / services? 15
New Hire Training: Is it the first step? Or is it the last step? Application Interview Offer Acceptance NEW APPLICANT Pre-Hire Testing DECREASING RAMP UP TIME NEW EMPLOYEE New Employee Orientation Employment Eligibility Paperwork New Hire Training (Role) Transition to Role SELLER Ongoing Reinforcement 16
Employment Human Resources Hiring Process HR Onboarding Measure: Orientation New Hire Training & Enablement Sales Onboarding Elevated Skills Sales Leadership & Training Measure: Ramp Up Time Reinforce Coaching Basic Advanced Mastery Development Measure: Time to Full Productivity 17
Thinking it Through: New Hire Training Business Process INVESTORS Executive Team FROM HERE Expectations Role definitions HR content Interview/selection results Manager approach Recruiting collateral We need to onboard salespeople of the future Measure: accelerate time to productivity Identify objectives/goals that support business strategy Optimize the new hire experience Regional and corporate governance [Integrate with HR/selection processes] TO HERE Increase engagement Increase employee satisfaction Gain traction in role Improve time to productivity Decrease turnover rates RESOURCES Capabilities (Training) Partners (Internal and External Vendors) Technology (LMS, Other) 18
Key Roles Deliverables/Actions Example: Top Down, Programmatic Approach Executive Alignment & Preparation Executive sponsorship Identify stakeholders Agree on objectives Determine requirements Understand sales force(s) Develop end-state vision(s) Scoping with the Business Determine current state Identify processes Compare to benchmarks Identify quick-wins Review existing content Create baseline Developing Journey Roadmap Identify and prioritize Develop solutions Finalize business case Create roadmap (from-to) Create work-streams Deploy governance Managing Execution Plan Validate against reality Comm. up, down, across Obtain approvals Determine create or curate Acquire necessary funding 1. Build 2. Test 3. Launch 4. Learn 5. Refine Iterative Collaborative Relevant Measured Engagement Leaders and Architects Program Management / Business Process Owners Business/Sales Expertise Measurement Project Management Development 19
Blend Strategy and Execution EXECUTIVE INVESTORS (Names Here) BUSINESS STRATEGY We ll deliver X course We re EXECUTION going to teach. We re Decrease going ramp-up to time roll it out We re going to do mobile. Drive revenue through new salesperson performance EXPECTATION Decrease complexity, ensure consistency, improve productivity more quickly, enable sales conversations FROM HERE NEW HIRE PRODUCTIVITY New Hire Training Program 1 2 3 TO HERE Orientation to Sales / AD Role Immersion in Buyer Reality Reinforcement of Critical Behaviors 4 Measurement 20
21 st Century New Hire Training Components NEW HIRE PRODUCTIVITY New Hire Training Program 1 2 3 Orientation to Sales / AD Role Immersion in Reality Reinforcement of Critical Behaviors 4 Measurement BUYER ARCHITECTURE COMPONENT CONTENT COMPONENT ROLE EXCELLENCE COMPONENT ADOPTION COMPONENT MEASUREMENT COMPONENT TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY COMPONENT 21
What About The End-User/Learner Experience? ENGAGEMENT Push lecture type or one way content to online. Maximize on site time for active dialog, role playing, and customer-centric Look experiences how many days we cut out of our new hire process Agree on specific activities required in the field what will reps be able to do when they re released back to their managers? Look at how many sales people we trained last year Identify and agree on realistic sales Look objectives at the to new be achieved. deliverables in the program Get laser focused on achieving those behavioral objectives. Look at how many downloads we had Look how well the new hires liked it 22
EXAMPLE: LEARNER EXPERIENCE MAP 1 2 3 ORIENT STAGE IMMERSE STAGE REINFORCE STAGE UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT Initial ASSESSMENT Week 1 Success Definition ASSESSMENT Value ASSESSMENT Performance ASSESSMENT Role ASSESSMENT Getting Help ASSESSMENT Buyer Connect ASSESSMENT Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 1 Week 2 Week 5 & 7 Successful Meeting ASSESSMENT KEY Reference Content elearning Tailored Point of View ASSESSMENT Week 6-8 Activity Workshop Sanitized version: This output will look different for your program Weeks 3-5 Assessment 23
New Hire Training Baseline Getting Started Define clear goals and objectives for new hire training Determine executive sponsor and establish core definitions and governing principles Baseline the current state using a reference process model Interview attendees and sales managers to identify problem areas provide structured read out and feedback Determine low hanging fruit options to address immediately then move on to more complex tasks. 24
To Get There: Focus on DESIGN Do the right things Think like an Architect STAGE Thinking through how to do the right things well General Contractor TRANSLATING STRATEGY INTO EXECUTION SCALE Do things right Skilled Laborers MAINTAIN Keep things running Technician 25
QUESTIONS? 26
You re Invited! Join Our Next Webinar Date: Thursday, April 7, 2016 Time: 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM PST Title: You re Hiring A Lot of New Sales Reps. Now What? Who should attend: HR leaders and teams Training leaders and teams Sales enablement leaders and teams You re Hiring A Lot of New Sales Reps. Now What? Find out more at: www.oxygenlearning.com/webinar Details will also be sent via email
For additional information: Brian Lambert, PhD t 703-447-5865 brian@oxygenlearning.com CONNECT WITH ME: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlambert/ @DrBrianLambert View my blog: http://oxygenlearning.com/author/blambert/ 28
THANK YOU!