New Hire Orientation Solution
The program approach blended various
learning methods within a structured framework of
eLibraries, presentations, meetings, real-world tasks,
shadowing, mentoring, and apprenticeships.
The underlying context of the On-boarding
approach is a Sales Cycle Simulation based on the sales
process that was used to acquire one of the company’s
largest clients. Sales Cycle activities, deliverables,
and presentations were blended into the 5-week learning
process and provided realistic “performance tests” at
each phase of the Sales Cycle.
Areas covered within the Sales Cycle
included:
Create a
prospective client account plan
Develop
a pitch and several contextual value propositions
Deliver
the pitch and value propositions to a panel of
experts
Design
an implementation solution with the account service
team
Recommend a pricing scheme for the solution
Craft
and deliver a proposal presentation to the
prospective client (role-played by company
executives)
Participants were also immersed into “on
the job” learning contexts in numerous functional
organizations, such as Marketing, Inside Sales, and
Account Management, to meet their key counterparts and
to learn about the different functions, roles,
responsibilities, challenges, targets, key projects,
etc. Within Account Management, for example, new sales
executives:
-
Worked
with an assigned primary account team
-
Participated in account-specific
training
-
Conducted research and quote
preparation and shadowed reps making those specific
calls
-
Prepared team analytics with a Team
Lead
-
Presented an overview of the account
to the account leadership team
-
Worked with a channel account team
to understand the nuances of the channel business
-
Worked with “support team” members
from across the company to participate in
cross-functional meetings and activities
In the late stages of the On-boarding
program new sales executives were apprenticed to an
experienced Outside Sales executive. They were then
slowly “weaned off” until both the participant and
experienced executive agreed that the new salesperson
was ready to call on clients and lead his/her team.
Participants moved through the
On-boarding process as quickly as they were able to
demonstrate learning objectives by successfully
completing varying types of performance tests. Most
performance tests involved being observed performing a
task or presenting back to a subject matter expert or
group what the participant had learned. In these cases
the primary focus was to give and receive feedback to
aid the learning process.
Performance tests associated with key
steps in the Sales cycle were evaluated more critically
by company executives. In addition to several
client-focused presentations conducted during the Sales
cycle simulation, the program culminates with a full
proposal presentation to the prospective client
executives (role played by senior executives). While the
On-boarding program was not intended to develop sales
skills, the performance test allowed company executives
to assess the sales skills of new hires.
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Client
Case
Study: New Hire Sales Executive Orientation On-Boarding
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