Top Performing Sales Reps Need Expert Training & Onboarding

Top performing sales reps are exceptionally talented people with a flair for engaging with prospective clients. However, they still require expert onboarding and the best sales training programs you can provide, factors that many companies seem to undervalue.

Given that experienced sales professionals are some of the most important people in your company, getting them match-ready is key to quickly maximising your revenue. Otherwise, they can take up to 3 months or more before they start to hit their quotas. So whilst the recruitment process can be time consuming, frustrating and costly, it’s vital that your support doesn’t end when hiring has been completed.

This means that you need to focus on both onboarding and training processes. However, before we take a look at the relevance of these processes, we need a quick overview of the top performers’ skills. That’s because these skills are fundamental to the success of your sales team and can be honed and refined during both onboarding and training processes.  

Skills of top performing sales reps

Some companies prefer to hire sales reps with minimum experience and provide in-house training. However, when you combine the time and money spent onboarding new employees and then training your newly hired but inexperienced SDRs (sales development representatives), and then compare these estimates with the average time an SDR spends with an employer (18 months), the cost-effectiveness of this approach doesn’t readily compute.

Therefore, and as happens on many occasions, inexperienced SDRs are thrown in the deep end with minimal onboarding and training. In these circumstances, your only safety net is to ensure that you hire people with the required skills, which can be matured over time as they gain more experience. However, if they leave within 18 months, this is the least cost-effective strategy.

To give yourself the best chance of success, the skills you want in a top performing sales professional should be the skills you want in a new hire. These skills include the following:

•       Coachability and teamwork.
•       Relationship building.
•       Adaptability and resilience.
•       Time management and communications.
•       Research and critical thinking.
•       Understanding of relevant software.

When an individual displays all these skills, you know that you’ve found someone who can work well with others in a team environment and communicate well with their peers, colleagues, managers and prospects. They can also adapt easily to changing circumstances, operate under pressure, hit deadlines, problem solve and identify suitable prospects.

Without these skills and without effective onboarding and training systems, it’s unlikely that your new sales reps will reach their full potential (any time soon).

Why is onboarding important for sales professionals?

A strong onboarding process has been shown to increase retention rates by 82%. This is a huge figure that can make a significant difference to your recruitment costs. However, these costs are not the only reason why a well-defined onboarding process is essential for your sales professionals.

That’s because newly hired sales reps require an intimate understanding of your company’s values, products or services, as well as your procedures. This information ensures that your SDRs are set up for success from the first day of their new role. They are able to identify and contact potential prospects immediately after completing the onboarding processes and are ready to deliver their assigned quotas within a set deadline.

A successful employee onboarding process should envelop the following objectives:

•       Acclimatise new employees to the workplace.
•       Build relationships with team members and managers.
•       Discuss the company’s history and values.
•       Provide in-depth knowledge of your products or services.
•       Help develop job-specific skills.
•       Communicate the company’s expectations.
•       Provide information on career pathways and training opportunities.

Another proven strategy that works well once onboarding has been completed is a mentorship program. For employees, mentoring can lead to faster promotions and better salaries, whilst companies benefit from a significantly lower attrition rate. It’s clear that keeping your sales professionals happy at work is a proven way to reduce attrition and as a result, build a strong, unified and highly experienced team of SDRs.

Why is ongoing training important for sales reps?

The best sales training programs result in greater employee engagement and productivity, leading to consistently higher profits and revenue. That’s why developing a strong onboarding process for your sales reps is only part of the equation. You also need to provide ongoing training for your SDRs to keep them competitive and provide them with an established career path.

After all, no market is ever static, so your SDRs need to stay on top of these changes and avoid becoming too comfortable or complacent. Ongoing training helps SDRs keep up-to-date with new sales tactics and reinforces and refreshes prior knowledge. It also ensures that your brand is accurately represented to prospective clients at all times.

Offering clear pathways for promotion within your organisation is also a proven method for reducing attrition rates. With an average tenure of 18 months, establishing a career path for your SDRs is a logical way to retain experienced sales professionals.

It’s when they feel disconnected and unhappy in their work environment that SDRs start to look for better alternatives. Offering the best sales training programs in the industry will help to give your company a competitive edge, not only by increasing revenue, but also by retaining your top performers for much longer than 18 months.

SalesPond provides the best sales training for SDRs

Developing the best sales training programs for your SDRs is not an easy task and can easily be beyond the capabilities of many small to medium sized businesses. That’s why SalesPond’s Catch & Release Program is so popular because we provide the training and mentoring required to develop top performing sales reps. Then, with a quick onboarding process, your new SDRs will rapidly be up to speed and meeting or exceeding your expectations.

Hiring our sales professionals who have graduated from one of best sales training programs within the industry not only produces fast results for your company, but also reduces your recruitment, onboarding and training expenses. Our fully trained SDRs are at the top of their game and ready to operate, as soon as they have been onboarded.

When compared with your standard hiring, onboarding and training processes, SalesPond’s approach provides a simple and cost-effective solution to a time-consuming, frustrating and, often, unsuccessful recruitment process. So if you want top performing sales professionals on your team, you can do no better than source them from a top performing training facility. 

Please contact us for more information on our Catch & Release Program for hiring top performing sales reps.