How Quickly Can a Salesperson Become Productive?

Peady’s Selling Engagement

 
Quick quiz: How long does it take for the average new salesperson to ‘ramp-up’ or be really effective??

Three months, six months, nine months, longer? 

If you have been in sales management for a while, you’ll have gone through the expensive, time consuming and sometimes frustrating process of employing sales talent. Once that’s done, you want them to be productive and hitting target as soon as possible.

But things get in the way, don’t they?

Welcome to this week’s post on sales and selling success. 

The answer to the quick quiz is six to nine months CSO Insights 2018-2019 Sales Performance Study.

So, with high rep attrition rates, and 71% of companies taking over 6 months to induct their sales reps, how do you ensure that you on-board them with the highest chance of success?

Five vital induction steps

1.Explain the role, clearly define the expectations and the timeline. Show your new team member what success looks like and how you will assist them to achieve it. 

2. Begin the training process. Not just product and process training! Sales skill training too. Involve internal peers and external trainers.

 

3. Get them into the field quickly. An essential step is to immerse your new hire into their customer base and territory. They get an immediate risk-free feel for the role.

 

4. Reinforce the learnings. It’s crucial that the training is repeatedly reinforced and applied otherwise it is quickly lost. 

 

5. Coach them in-field and on the phone. As a coach ensure you sit down with them and ask: “What’s been working? What hasn’t been working? How are you feeling?”
 

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Summary

It’s important to activate your new hire from day one. Give them loads of practical application, internal and external sales training, real world scenarios and good authentic coaching to ensure maximum impact. 

Always remember to quickly understand and develop their natural style, so they can go out and sell in the most authentic way possible.

A great sales induction process takes time, commitment and financial investment, but the payoff is a salesperson who understands your business, your customer, and your sales methodology – a powerful combination that leads to bigger returns, faster.

​Until next week, good selling!
 

About the author 

Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.

He can be contacted at [email protected]

 

 

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