In most cases in large corporations and companies, hiring sales reps is not the problem; the problem lies in coaching and onboarding them. Hiring them is one of the least worries for the HR department; the main problem is their training, coaching, and onboarding. This process that comes after hiring is an important deciding factor of how well or bad the sales rep would perform in the company. It could be fatal to the company if the sales rep performs badly. Then, what is this process, or how should companies coach and onboard a new sales rep?
1. Training
The first step after hiring a sales rep is their training. Some companies push their employees right into work after hiring them without training them, which can be fatal to the company’s growth. Sales reps are like the first direct contact of the company to the customers, and so, they have to be at ease with all the details of the company and the products for good productivity and delivery. They are required to be familiar with the history, values, mission, and competitors. Send them documents containing information about the company and all the related knowledge via a file transfer so they can read and learn about it while they are outside of work as well.
2. Handing them the Proper Knowledge of the Company
For the best performance of your company’s sales representatives, there must be the proper teaching of ways of the company and make sure they have all the features of the products and services of the company at their fingertips. Since the growth or decline of sales depends on these individuals, companies ensure that the full and proper knowledge of the companies is passed to these new sales reps during their training.
3. Target and Expectations
While the companies are teaching these people the ways, features, and details of the companies, their targets and expectations are also revealed. Thus, a new sales rep is certain of what they are supposed to do and attain. After the training, whenever they resume their duties properly, they know what is expected of them and how they go about it. This is why some companies engage and pay for the services of an employer of record for hiring qualified sales reps who already have a good knowledge of how to meet or execute expectations and targets.
An employer of record is a third-party organization that takes on the responsibility for all formal employment tasks. This allows companies to legally and efficiently engage with overseas workers, either in a new country or state without having set up a local entity there which would violate their work permit laws.
On the other hand, there are also professional employer organizations (PEOs) with whom you can partner up when it comes to employment task but to be sure which one your business needs you will have to learn what distinguishes an EOR from a PEO.
When it comes to your employees meeting their target, it is important to know how big of a factor time is. You must make sure that your employees are good with time management and that they will be able to meet the deadlines and the targets you set for them. You can use tools that can help you keep better track, such as employee time clock software which allows you to track the hours of their employees electronically.
4. Building a Team
This is another way of coaching new sales reps. Sales teams are built, and the new sales reps are put in the same team as the old ones. The old ones after the training and on the process of the job duty of the new sales reps guide and direct the new ones. Therefore, the new ones are constantly under the training of the old ones until they are very knowledgeable about the process and features of the company and how to meet and execute expectations and targets.
5. Evaluation of First Set of Performance
This is the last process or way of coaching a new sales rep. Shortly after they had begun working, after a while–a month, two months, six months, perhaps–, their results were brought out and evaluated. Questions are raised. How did they execute their duties? What results were they able to achieve at that time? Are they beneficial to the growth of the company? It must be noted that the results would determine the next step to be taken by the companies. Companies react differently to these results; while some choose to keep or hire the sales reps, others may retrain them if they don’t deliver or move them to other departments in the company.
Conclusion
A sales rep is an important person and role in a company. They are major deciders in turn out of the revenue of the company. Due to this, companies must ensure they are careful with the process of hiring and training sales reps. The training aspect is more important than the hiring process, and companies must ensure their new sales reps are duly trained and monitored for better productivity and delivery. Right from the point of training to building a team to evaluate performance, the company must ensure that the process is duly followed. When sales reps do not turn out right or negatively affect the company instead of positive, the results will be deadly for the company in terms of sales and revenue.
