Working with numerous sales organizations in Real Estate, Insurance, Mortgage, Recruiting and other small to mid-sized companies, we are often asked to provide best practices for a successful automated on-boarding process.

We find that successful on-boarding of sales professionals includes focus on 5 key areas.  All of these areas can be automated and streamlined using our Producer Focus platform for sales organizations or through your existing HR or Project Management software.

Company Culture - What is the "cool factor" of your organization?  What makes working for you better than for your competitors?  Your company has a unique culture and identifying ways to communicate that culture to your new hires will help remind them of why they chose to work with you in the first place.  Culture can be easily conveyed in a number of ways.  A warm welcome video from the CEO or division manager, photos from the team building event or scheduling a lunch or happy hour with peers can play a huge role in communicating the culture of your organization.  Setup your on-boarding action plan to include these important culture building tools.

Training Programs - An obvious part of the on-boarding process includes offering proper training.  What’s less clear is identifying what exactly needs to be included in a comprehensive training program that empowers your new hire and keeps them engaged and excited.  A comprehensive training program includes: an introduction to the company, product definitions, a detailed explanation of the ideal sales process, defining each step of the sales cycle, profiling typical customers and target markets, case studies, and training on existing software and systems.  These training programs should be engaging and informative.  Remember that you don't want to overwhelm your new hire with unnecessary details but equally want to avoid glossing over important steps that are critical for success that may be overlooked by a less seasoned professional.

Resource Libraries - Once training is complete, it is important to provide your sales professional with access to a library of existing best practices, case studies, proposals, price sheets, marketing, e-mail templates and other tools that will help them move  prospects through the sales cycle.  Having these items available in an easy to use resource library will make their lives easier and encourage them to self-manage their day-to-day activities.

Technology and Systems - On-boarding technology plans include everything from basic network and security setup to providing email, phone extensions,  laptops, mobile devices and software licenses.  The more you do to pre-define what technology a new hire needs, the better and more professional your organization will look to your new team member as you seamlessly bring them into the organization from a technical and systems perspective.  Forcing your new hire to wait unnecessarily for predictable technology and security setup makes you look disorganized.  Including all appropriate IT team resources in this automated IT plan will help your sales professional hit the ground running.

Coaching and Mentoring - One of the most overlooked yet valuable parts of the on-boarding process is providing immediate access to a coaching program and to peers and mentors.  Unlike traditional sales management which is often more analytical and focused primarily on the numbers, coaching empowers the new hire to set goals, create action plans and take ownership of their own success.  A properly executed coaching program creates a culture of discipline and accountability by automatically prompting the new hire to discuss wins and challenges each week which leads to productive coaching sessions with their manager that focus on progress, activity and accountability.  

Remember that focusing on all five key elements of a successful on-boarding program will help ensure the highest level of success for your new hire.  Building a powerful automated on-boarding system will ensure a higher rate of adoption and higher level of efficiency for your new hire and supporting teams as well. 

How about a Coaching and Accountability Platform that automates much of the on-boarding process?  Try ProducerFocus.com, powered by CoachSimple today!