Lee Salz is a Featured Columnist for The Business Journals.
Countless books, blogs and articles have been written on the subject of hiring salespeople. Most experts say, “When it comes to hiring salespeople, hire those with a great attitude and are a cultural fit with the organization. Don’t worry about candidate sales knowledge and skills because those can be taught.”
I’m wholeheartedly in the camp with those experts. However, there is a missing piece of the sales success puzzle, in most companies, that dooms this hiring strategy. This missing piece is sales onboarding— the program during which the salesperson acquires knowledge and skills for the role.
On one side of the equation is the potential you see in the sales candidate. On the other side is proficiency in the role. Sales onboarding serves as the bridge between potential success and role mastery.
When it comes to building a sales onboarding experience, there are four phases in the development process.