Last week I presented to a group of CEOs, and they were keen to discuss the trials and tribulations around finding and keeping good salespeople.
We had a really good conversation, with me highlighting that the average cost of a bad hire is $120,000. All nodded in agreement, with a couple suggesting a higher figure.
Since then, I have been thinking about the “keeping” good salespeople bit, and wanted to share my thoughts with you.
According to The Aberdeen Group, “organisations with a standardised onboarding process see 50% better new hire retention”. It’s also vital to have the process ready to go from day one, as data from The Centre for Generational Kinetics shows that “33% of employees know whether they want to stay long-term at a company within 1 week on the job”.
HR will be able to implement any refinements to what you already have in place and run with this. Also, they might want to adapt the process for other, non-selling roles.
These are some of my recommendations for what should be included for new sales hires.
Start by establishing which staff member is going carry out what topic with the new employee, when it’s scheduled to happen, and ensure that you get the confirmation that it has been done.
Example topics might include “Organisation Structure” – HR manager on 23rd August, “Product Training” – Sales Manager on 24th August, “Our Pricing Structure”, “Our Value Proposition”, “Our Competition”, “Goal 1st Week”, “Accountable – To Whom” etc. etc.
We advise our clients that this should happen over the first 90 days. However, when reading up on this subject, others recommend that the onboarding process run throughout the first year. I think this is sound advice and would suggest all essential topics be covered off in the first 3 months, supported by follow up monthly sessions, to give new information and check in with the person.
This check in time allows your managers to answer any problems the new staff member may have, and importantly, is also a great opportunity for them to evaluate the person’s level of enthusiasm, if they’re resisting the chance to develop, whether they make excuses and complain unduly. If they’re not engaged they’ll perform poorly, so look out for signs and nip any problems in the bud.
Finally, I am updating the “Onboarding” form we share with our clients when hiring on their behalf, and I thought, if you’d like a copy, which you may want to adapt and brand to your business, let me know by replying to this email and I will send it to you.
I am committed to writing regular “Food for Thought” articles, so I may share with you my ideas on how you can build a strong sales organisation and grow revenue. If you have any challenges or successes you would like to share with me, I would love to hear from you.
You can contact me directly on 0416 115266 or email me at
