Employee onboarding helps drive sales results. It boosts revenue by equipping your team with the information they need to sell better. It also lets them understand what makes your product valuable so they can sell more of it.
What is Onboarding?
Onboarding is the process of integrating employees or users into an organization. It is often synonymous with familiarizing them with your product and your business.
Employee onboarding aims to equip new members with comprehensive knowledge and skills. It's essential that the onboarding experience is hands-on, immersing newcomers in the organization's culture and ensuring proficiency with the product.
Why is Onboarding Important?
Onboarding serves as the foundation for future success. A well-orchestrated onboarding process:
Improves Retention: Ensures new hires stick around longer by providing clarity and a sense of belonging.
Increases Productivity: Reduces the learning curve, allowing individuals to contribute faster.
Enhances Engagement: A smooth onboarding experience can foster satisfaction and commitment.
The Role of Onboarding in Revenue Operations
Onboarding is intertwined with revenue operations (RevOps). When employees better understand a product or their role, they can drive more value, increasing revenue. And since nobody drives more revenue than revenue teams, onboarding is key for the function.
This happens in a few ways. First, quality employee onboarding shortens sales lifecycles. It helps sales reps understand a product’s value to customers better and sell faster.
Second, onboarding improves CLV (Customer Lifetime Value). It helps sales reps educate prospects better, increasing the value they get from your product. This, in turn, gets them to stay longer or buy more - which drives up CLV.
Last but not least, employee onboarding creates new opportunities. Educated salespeople are likely to sell to customers they wouldn’t have converted otherwise. They’re also more likely to find better cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.
Key Elements of Successful Onboarding
A successful onboarding process is multi-faceted and should include:
- Clear Objectives: Define what success looks like for the onboarding process.
- Structured Timeline: A phased approach ensures manageable information.
- Feedback Mechanisms: Regular check-ins help address concerns and refine the process.
- Use of Technology: using technology can help create successful onboarding. For example, asynchronous video messaging tools like Sendspark help record personalized walk-throughs or demonstrations, helping employees process information better.
- Continuous Improvement: Always be open to refining the onboarding process. It should be continually refined based on feedback and evolving needs.
Who Should Handle Onboarding?
Typically, the Human Resources department oversees the initial stages of employee onboarding, covering company culture, policies, and basic training. Later phases could involve direct supervisors or team leads who offer role-specific training.
