{"id":7083,"date":"2019-11-06T16:02:47","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T16:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.walkme.com\/blog\/?p=7083"},"modified":"2023-05-02T15:47:18","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T15:47:18","slug":"sales-enablement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.walkme.com\/blog\/sales-enablement\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Speed up Onboarding & Master Sales Enablement: 5 Expert Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re a sales leader, you know the pressure is always on. Of all departments, sales has the most obvious impact on the success of your organization.<\/span>\n\nYou could have the most sophisticated marketing team in the industry, but without well-trained salespeople to close the deal, your leads could easily drift into the arms of your competitors.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nSales enablement, or the art of continuous performance optimization, represents the difference between new revenue and lost opportunities. But creating a framework that supports long-term training success is easier said than done.<\/span>\n

Succeeding in sales means starting at the beginning<\/h2>\nPlain and simple: it’s impossible to succeed without an effective new hire onboarding model.\n\nI spoke to Avner Baruch<\/a>, Head of International Sales Enablement at WalkMe, to learn how he was able to drastically shorten the onboarding time for new sales representatives and create a sustainable model of sales enablement.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nThe impact of his successful approach is already evident.<\/span>\n\nBefore he joined WalkMe, the average for a new sales rep to close their first deal was 100 days.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nSince revamping their approach to onboarding and implementing new best practices, the department has been able to decrease that time by as much as 75%, with employees successfully closing their first deal in as fast as 25 days.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\n\nHow can you replicate this success in your sales organization? Read on to learn about the biggest training pitfalls to avoid and five tips for sales enablement success.<\/span>\n

A misguided approach to onboarding can set your team up for failure<\/h2>\n\"salesWhen onboarding isn\u2019t designed and executed effectively<\/a>, your sales team becomes exposed to certain risks, such as discontinuity, unpreparedness to talk to prospects, and ultimately lost business.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nWhen training is ineffective, it\u2019s usually due to one of two mistakes, according to Avner. <\/span>\n\nThe first is using a one-size-fits-all approach to training, which will obviously fail to fulfill the individual needs of each team member. The other is being too hands-off. If you throw your new reps into the deep-end, don\u2019t expect them to figure out your processes and strategy themselves.<\/span>\n\n\u201cTo begin with, having reps learn by themselves results in the creation of silos,\u201d says Avner. \u201cIn other words, managers will need to track and resolve gaps that were created because reps are executing based on individual interpretations of the sales playbook, messaging, pitch, and value realization.\u201d<\/span>\n\nThe problem with letting these silos begin to grow is that the walls get harder to tear down over time. When your reps train new salespeople based on an inaccurate or invalid baseline of information, you perpetuate this loop of discongruity and poor standardization.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nEffective training<\/a> and coaching skills are absolutely integral to effective onboarding and making your sales team\u2019s ramp-up time as short as possible.\u00a0<\/span>\n

Sales Management 101: Essential Skills to Master & Mistakes to Avoid<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n

2 surprising employee training<\/a> challenges to prepare for<\/h2>\n\"salesUnlike other disciplines, where employees can begin completing core tasks after basic training, ramping up sales reps does not occur on a binary learning path, according to Avner. In most cases, it takes nearly two quarters for sales best practices to sink in and for performance to improve.<\/span>\n\nThere are many challenging elements of onboarding, but Avner identified a particularly surprising one as a significant bottleneck to productivity<\/a>: prior success.<\/span>\n\n\u201cThe most challenging part of ramping up reps is working with the ones who over-achieved in their previous roles,\u201d he says. \u201cThese reps will try to apply in their new role whatever worked for them before. This may work when reps move horizontally \u2014 in the same space or vertical. However, when reps who wade in new waters rely mainly on self-confidence and \u2018field-proven off-the-shelf\u2019 skills, molding them becomes more challenging.\u201d<\/span>\n\nAnother core challenge originates from a common trait among salespeople: eagerness to sell.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nWe often joke that people who work in sales are a special breed of humans, with massive amounts of drive, enthusiasm, and ambition. These are great employee traits, but they often make it harder to be patient with training.<\/span>\n\n\u201cReps prefer to invest every waking hour in selling rather than sit in class or watch YouTube tutorials, especially when the end of the quarter is around the corner,\u201d says Avner.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nSales enablement leaders<\/a> must find the balance between nailing the fundamentals in training and keeping the fire burning in enthusiastic reps.\u00a0<\/span>\n

The 5 keys to successful onboarding and sales enablement<\/h2>\nBy avoiding those onboarding pitfalls<\/a> and proactively addressing the challenges that commonly accompany training, you can get your new sales reps up to speed fast and provide successful ongoing sales enablement.<\/span>\n

1. Teach reps to \u201ctalk the talk\u201d and \u201cwalk the walk\u201d<\/h3>\n\"sales<\/span>\n\nThere\u2019s always a learning curve when selling for a new company. Your freshly minted reps must cultivate the knowledge and confidence to accurately describe your company\u2019s portfolio offering, associated technologies, and key terminology before speaking to prospects.<\/span>\n\nWhile reps with a solid technical background might bridge this gap easily, others will need more guidance and resources. To resolve this, Avner developed the Three Pillar Enablement methodology, which has been integral to his department\u2019s success.<\/span>\n