A Simple Sales Readiness Checklist for New Sales Reps
Bringing new sales reps into the mix is always an exciting time. Fresh talent can reinvigorate your sales approach and create more channels for revenue generation. But new representatives come with their own set of skills and competencies. Before they're ready to speak with potential customers and boost your bottom line, they need coaching and preparation.
Even seasoned sales professionals need to get up to speed on your organization's products and sales strategies. Ramp-up time can take several months, but your readiness practices can get your new agents up to speed quickly and efficiently. So how do you know new hires are ready for the challenge?
Cue the sales readiness checklist.
What Is a Sales Readiness Checklist?
Think of a sales readiness checklist as an assessment of your reps' knowledge, skills, and capabilities. The sales game is fiercely competitive, and customer needs are ever-changing. Furthermore, every sales environment is different, requiring specific knowledge to conquer.
When you bring new people in, you're investing in their training. You'll coach them to succeed at your company, equipping them with all the enablement resources and tools to succeed. A sales readiness checklist helps both you and your new hires understand whether they've prepared enough to get on the quota track and start smashing sales goals.
Checklists ensure you only drop them in the action after they're ready. It can also help you understand your onboarding processes, giving you the insight to accelerate ramp-up time and improve efficiency across the board.
How Is It Used?
There are many ways to use readiness checklists. The most straightforward method is to test your reps' competencies after onboarding and training. The list gives you more insight into how your new hires will perform throughout the entire sales process. Do they understand best practices? Are they fully prepared to use the resources available to handle every sales situation?
Comparing their competencies with your readiness checklist can help you decide whether they have enough training or could use additional coaching in crucial areas. But that's not all.
A well-defined checklist can also guide your onboarding processes from day one. Those clearly defined parameters can create a road map for ramping up. Over time, your list may evolve to address common shortcomings, helping you optimize your training efforts and get new hires on the sales floor as much as possible.
Knowledge and preparation make all the difference, and the quicker your new agents get up to speed, the more revenue your company can generate.
8 Core Skills for Sales Readiness
Sales are more complex than most realize. It isn't as easy as getting on the phone and giving a sales pitch. Superstar sellers need a specific skill set to smash goals and turn prospects into happy customers.
Here is a list of core skills you should have on your sales readiness checklist to empower new reps and sales managers alike.
1. Product and Pricing Knowledge
<p>You can only expect your new hires to sell if they know your product inside and out! Imagine how a sales conversation would go if your reps couldn't answer basic questions about what they're selling. Customers expect knowledgeable salespeople. Without it, their trust wanes, and the quality of customer service plummets.
Training should always cover product and pricing information, turning reps into product experts. But that knowledge needs to go beyond basics. A successful sales representative will know how customers use your goods and what benefits they can provide.
Because products and services often evolve, don't stop at simple training sessions. Offer regular refreshers to ensure your salesforce stays up to date on all the latest features.
2. Sales Process and Team Roles
Sales are usually more than just a one-off process. There are many steps involved, and prospects often speak with multiple people between initial outreach and closing. Do your reps understand the entire sales process and their role in it?
It takes a village to close deals and retain customers. New reps must understand the various team roles, their part in the process, and how to hand conversations over to the appropriate colleague. Otherwise, the customer experience can come off as unprofessional, costing you sales.
As part of onboarding, consider providing a detailed sales process document and reviewing it regularly. Sales managers can work with new reps to coach them through standard procedures and clarify any confusion.
3. Use Cases and Ideal Outcomes
It isn't enough to understand what a product can do. Your sales team needs to approach the sales process from a customer's perspective. It's about understanding precisely what prospects need and how your offering provides the solution.
Before a new rep is ready for the sales floor, they should be well-versed in product use cases and understand the outcomes potential customers want. That deep understanding from a customer's viewpoint opens up the floodgates for effective outcome-based sales strategies.
4. Conversation and Objection Handling Skills
There's a real art to mastering sales conversations. Prospects are wiser than ever, and the old hardball sales strategies of the past no longer work. Your reps must appeal to modern customers and learn how to navigate a successful conversation. That means more than just being charismatic and personable.
Every conversation is different, and prospects will have many objections keeping them from making a deal. Successful reps will use objection handling to ease those worries, navigate complex sales situations, and guide potential customers further into the sales funnel. Those conversation skills are crucial.
Having this point on your readiness checklist will ensure that every new hire is ready for the challenge ahead. Coaching and call analysis through your sales readiness platform can make all the difference.
5. Familiarity with Sales Enablement Content
Your team shouldn't have to go into sales situations alone. The most successful companies offer a treasure trove of sales enablement content. Your content can include everything from written scripts to compelling value propositions prospects can't ignore. Whatever the case, your new hires should be comfortable accessing that enablement content whenever needed.
Some enablement tools will benefit the sales process before it even starts. Others will improve strategies in real-time. Your company invests a lot in empowering the salesforce. New reps aren't ready to hit the floor until they can take full advantage of every piece of enablement content you have available.
6. Understand How to Facilitate Buyer Enablement
While sales enablement equips your reps with support to get through the sales process, buyer enablement empowers customers to make fast, confident purchasing decisions. It's about providing prospects with the tools and resources to move deals forward, making it as easy as possible for them to buy from your company.
Whether it's the first time they're working with your organization or they're returning customers looking to renew deals, buyer enablement is a must for customer retention and ongoing satisfaction. Reps need to understand how to facilitate buyer enablement. Otherwise, they're leaving a valuable benefit off the table and potentially souring the customer experience.
7. Effective Product Demo Skills
Most prospects won't purchase a product or service until they see it in action! Product demos are a great way to show off what you're offering while easing those initial objections. But demonstrations can quickly become a nightmare if your reps don't know how to use what they're selling.
Avoid that faux pas by ensuring reps know how to perform demos confidently. They should know how to show off the product's best features while keeping those customer goals and outcomes in mind. Role-playing and hands-on coaching are great ways to improve demo skills as your new hires ramp up.
8. Engagement in Onboarding, Training, and Coaching
Finally, your reps should know how to stay engaged in training. Learning is an ongoing process. It doesn't matter how experienced an agent is or how long they remain in your company. Regular coaching and engaging with training materials can keep skills sharp and current.
Ensure that new hires know how to take advantage of your learning resources. Sales readiness platforms can improve accessibility, identify areas that need improvement, and give your team easy access to all the coaching they could ever need.
Strengthen Sales Readiness for Your Team
A solid sales readiness checklist can turn new hires into superstar sellers who experience win after win. Accelerate ramp-up times and prepare your new sales representatives to hit the floor running with Flockjay. Flockjay is an all-in-one readiness platform that makes education and training a breeze. Give your team easy access to a wealth of enablement content, create a friction-free onboarding process, and empower everyone to learn every chance they get. Explore what Flockjay has to offer and see for yourself how it can strengthen your sales readiness efforts!
