ONBOARDING


To Enable Great Virtual Selling, Do Great Virtual Onboarding


BY MIKE KUNKLE, VICE PRESIDENT, SALES EFFECTIVENESS SERVICES, SPARXIQ


Onboarding done right gets your sellers on the fast track. Has the pandemic made you second guess your approach? It might be time to rethink your tactics. I created a virtual onboarding curriculum that got great results. The program was video based, supported by some reading and paper-based workbooks, and reinforced and coached by sales managers. When did I do this? It was 1995. What?


In 2003, I did it again. This virtual onboarding curriculum reduced ramp times, increased new- hire production, and contributed to a radical reduction in first-year turnover. For this curriculum we used e-learning, reading, videos, knowledge assessments, daily conference calls, and the best video conferencing solution of the time for virtual meetings/training/prep and practice sessions. In fairness and full disclosure, this 2003 curriculum was not entirely virtual – it culminated in a four-day, flipped-classroom instructor-led training (ILT) event where learners practiced their skills and completed certifications. What’s my point? First, with the technology available today, there


is no reason we can’t create best-in-class sales onboarding programs that are entirely virtual (and by choice – not because we’re forced into it by a global pandemic). Secondly, I contend there are several reasons


it’s imperative we do it: 1. Virtual Onboarding Is Efficient and Effective When done virtually, it’s far easier, less costly, and more effective to create an extended curriculum that is structured around performance milestones and uses bite-sized content that is chunked, sequenced, and layered appropriately to teach just the need-to-know content to reach each milestone. This both shortens ramp times and increases production in the reduced timeframe. 2. Virtual Onboarding Is Engaging Using the technology and sales enablement tools available today, we can maximize both formal and informal/social learning elements to increase engagement during onboarding and produce the best possible outcomes. This agile onboarding approach supports virtual selling success by supplementing the more-structured formal learning with bite-sized, peer-created, just-in-time content.


8 | SPECIAL EDITION 2022 SELLING POWER | MASTERINGVIRTUALSELLING.COM © 2022 SELLING POWER.


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