This post was mentioned on Twitter by markslatin: Generic onboarding – why it doesn’t work. Dave Stein talks about why 3 of 4 hires don’t meet targets http://bit.ly/84Db8Q...

Thanks for your thoughtful comment.

I’m not suggesting at all that there isn’t a core set of new sales hire topics. The intent of my post was to highlight the opportunity of beefing a candidate up on the skills they need improvement in coming in the door.

And yes, the development of the job-specific profile is something that has to be done up front. There is a process for that as well. If you don’t get the profile right, the rest is a waste of time.

First

Not performing background checks and income verification, having a formalized hiring process or training interviewers, is just plan poor business practice regardless of whether we’re talking about the sales department or not, so I’m wont even go there.

Having profiles, structured interview questions, simulations and assessment tools are another issue all together. Before any of these things can be generated there has to be a deliberate effort to define the knowledge, skills and traits needed to achieve objectives in the context of the current strategies, methodologies and processes. Without performing a preliminary analysis there’s no way to construct assessments, structured interview questions or simulations that are company specific.

The question is… why? Why don’t companies invest time, money and talents to determine what are the knowledge, skills and traits that sales teams (VP/Director, Manager, Salesperson) need – knowing full well that people are mission critical to achieving objectives?

Many companies set budgets and quota, but lack organizational development objectives beyond head count. As a result, there’s an absence/misalignment of metrics, compensation, rewards and recognition that would drive the development/acquisition of the tools, processes, methods and expertise to recruit and select the right individuals.

Second

Are you suggesting there isn’t a core set of topics that are common to all new hires that should be part of a standard New Hire Training or on-boarding program?

On-boarding has always meant something different to me. On boarding in my mind is more like orientation…here is your desk, the location of the restrooms, policy and procedure manuals, the tools you’ll be using, the location of resources and most importantly where to get coffee.

From my perspective we’re talking about New Hire Initial Training and Development in the context of the selection criterion used for recruiting. The initial training program must match the selection criterion. Whatever knowledge and skills that’s not going to be covered in the training and development programs must be hired into the company.

The New Hire Initial Training program should be a logical sequential training program that moves the new recruit across the sales process from demand creation to close and beyond if necessary. New hires that don’t have a background in sales should go through the full program (Part 1 – knowledge about concepts, processes and methodologies. Part 2 – practice demand creation and selling skills).

Experienced new hires should go through a fast-track new hire program specifically designed to cover the company’s processes, methodologies, and common language to level-set new recruits and get everyone on the same page.

Once the initial training is complete an individualized developmental agenda should be developed based on the results from the simulation and initial and ongoing assessments.