SalesForceXP: March/April 2009 Coverstory: Five Quick Tips to Boost Your Business & Pump-Up Your People!

COVERSTORY

SalesForceXP March/April 2009 Cover Five Ways...

Five Quick Tips to Boost Your Business & Pump-Up Your People!

by Paul Nolan

Keeping good salespeople starts with hiring good salespeople - and helping them get off to a confidence-boosting start.

If your new hires seem to take too long to get up to speed, it could be your on-boarding strategy that needs improvement. Sales trainer Dave Anderson (www.learntolead.com) offers these tips for getting new salespeople off to a great start:

Highly structure their first day. The direct supervisor should take a primary role in assuring that a new hire's first day is busy, focused and productive. Don't "hand off" the new salesperson to a subordinate the minute they show up. The first day should be focused on getting the employee acquainted with others, comfortable with their surroundings and familiar with procedures and policies. There will be time for training later.

Set training objectives for the next 30 days. A new employee is more confident if she knows up front what she is expected to learn. Put these expectations in writing and have the employee sign off on them. At the end of 30 days, test the person on the assigned training tasks.

Create product knowledge goals for the first 30 days. Focus on your best products first. Assign a mentor to make presentations on these products with the new employee.

Meet weekly during the first month to gauge progress. Make yourself available for questions and reinforce their sense of belonging on the team.

Look for insights from a fresh perspective. Before the first 30 days is over, conduct a "fresh eyes" meeting in which the employee is asked to share observations on what the organization is doing well and where it can improve.