Use a Virtual Coach to Onboard New Sales Hires

The hot summer is over and now you’re ready to get seriousabout swimming for exercise instead of lying by the pool with a cold drink and calling it swimming.

Initially you just want to be in the pool, but an instructoris droning on and on about stroke techniques and best ways to enter the pool.You are losing interest and your mind is wandering, right?

Push your new hires into the pool!

In sales, the best sellers want to be in the pool already! Capturethat enthusiasm with training techniques and new technologies to give them theinformation they need now. Research shows that limiting the longer onboardingpresentation (sorry trainers!) and getting sellers into the pool (field)faster, simply increases sales.

Traditional onboarding starts with a huge amount of information,which will most likely be forgotten in a matter of days or weeks. Manycompanies still plan weeklong training sessions with new hires, which isgrueling for the salespeople and not as effective as short training bursts.

The challenge is to convey a lot of information quickly andget the salesperson producing right away. We are finding that the best trainingis in the field, and now, with technology, this is more possible than ever. Wecan have prompts at every step—just like a virtual coach.

Imagine it as being paired with an experienced salesperson. Today’stechnology can suggest relevant training modules alongside the reference aidsin the customer relationship management (CRM) program. Learning this way ispowerful because you can immediately apply it, and studies show that you canboost retention by as much as 60 to 90 percent.

Recommendations are built on best practices—such as what topperformers do, as well as what the prospect is most interested in—so guided-sellingapplications truly act as a mentor whispering in your ear.  

Reinforcement like this helps the salesperson to thinkbeyond just pitching products and gets them articulating the value of yoursolution. This ultimately closes more deals faster.

Ten management tips to get your salespeople swimming and closingsales faster

1. Design seamless training. Design youroverall training program with the long term in mind. You’ll want to considerinitial product information that the salesperson needs right away, salestechniques to create great customer relationships, and then effective closing language,which solidifies value and creates urgency.

Although classroom face-to-face time is very valuable, youneed to be aware that time away from the field means less selling time.Therefore, use the classroom time to cover things that really can’t be handledother ways, such as sharing experiences with other salespeople or role-playing.

2. Identify areas of challenge early. Typically you can break this down to three challenges:

• Do salespeople know how to position and explain keypoints of value?
• Are your salespeople asking the right discoveryquestions? Can they qualify quickly and prioritize the high probabilitycustomers? Reinforcing this behavior is part of a good coaching process.
• Consider re-introducing product and processinformation after 60 and 90 days. Keep in mind that almost everything presentedto them in the early days could be lost. It can be a stressful time for newsalespeople starting a new job with a new product.

3. Keep information and modules short. Build trustwith the salesperson that they can invest five minutes or less and likely comeout with a solid nugget to immediately apply and improve the situation.

4. Make informationeasy to get to, searchable, and fast. If information and training is partof their workflow, they will be more likely to access it. If you’re hiding it behinda private network or learning management system, or if it takes multiple clicksto find it—you might as well not even bother. Salespeople can lose hours eachweek finding just the right information.

5. Have your promptsinclude a mix of short training bursts, job aids, and sales content (positioning,messaging, and customer examples). Yoursalespeople need all three in the moment to be most effective.

6. Create interactiveactivities to increase memory. Ratherthan just telling salespeople something, have them think through examples andparticipate in providing an answer. Memory games and exercises can beentertaining and, more importantly, they work in improving recall.

7. Use quick quizzes and proficiency testing toadvance to new levels. Look forproducts with automatic advancement for salespeople who progress and areready for more. If pass rates aren’t adequate, the system can refer them torefresh or revisit previous training to bone up.

8. Add learning modules and prompts to the CRM. Especiallyeffective for inside sales reps, prompts help immensely as salespeople call onaccounts and move a prospect through the buying process.

9. Align training modules and virtual coaching withthe sales managers. Weekly push reports (Figure 1) can give managers asnapshot of training used by salespeople along with their progress andcompetency. When managers can zero in on gaps and provide added examples andreinforcement, the faster the salespeople can get up to speed.  

 

Figure 1: A weekly push report gives the sales manager a snapshotof individual needs

10. Monitor and trackfor continuous improvement. Correlate usage of the training modules andvirtual coaching to time-to-first-opportunity, the time-to-sale, and more. Ifyou can learn what salespeople are using and what is leading to more sales, youwill soon know what they need more of. 

As an example of how to use many of the tips here, here is acase study of a company that has experienced great results with this type oftechnological support.

An example of getting results rolling

KIC, a truck-parts supplier, had a daunting challenge:educating and establishing a top-of-mind position within their network ofresellers, who often sell hundreds of other products from multiple companies.

In the past, KIC provided expensive in-person training andconference events that proved ineffective in producing sales results. Attendeessoon forgot the information, and KIC needed a solution to spark interest withintheir resellers and increase sales across additional product lines.

By using technology and KIC’s new ability to deliver real-timeinformation and push out product updates on the fly, product knowledge andsales competency among dealers increased by 80 percent. Reseller awarenessincreased more than 55 percent, leading to more effective differentiation.

“Our products can have several iterations, which means it’simperative we deliver just-in-time product updates to our dealers so they knowexactly what they’re selling. The knowledge, confidence in, and consistentmessaging of KIC products have improved dramatically, and sales enablementtechnology tools have been instrumental—we can already see the ROI and so canour partners,” said Neil McIrvin, vice president of KIC.

By raising the bar for their salespeople, and arming themwith specific product knowledge and sales skills, KIC gained a reputation as aninnovative supplier who put the success of their dealers and resellers first.The result: increased loyalty and more sales success for their partners—and ultimatelyfor KIC.

There is no question that technology and salesenablement tools can help salespeople get up to speed faster and make more sales.Now—go push some people into the pool!