Employee Induction Program: Building An Effective Sales Team

Mark Bradman, 10 April 2012

My best ever introduction into a company was when I worked part time for a telemarketing company after being made redundant from a more celebrated position. Even though we all worked from our own homes, the owner of the business insisted I visit her office especially to show me around and present me with their induction document.

I’ve never felt more welcomed and part of any company.

How different is that to the “your desk is here, shake hands with everyone around you, now go out and sell” attitude of too many companies I’ve encountered in my career?

 

Wikipedia defines an induction program as a process used to welcome new employees to the company and prepare them for their new role.

The benefits of a well-structured Induction program can include:

• Improved Staff Retention
• Employees become productive sooner
• Improved Motivation and Morale
• Greater engagement of staff into the needs of the company
• Employee ambitions stoked for higher performance and achievement.

If a small telemarketing company can do it, it never ceases to amaze me why all companies can’t do something equally impressive.

The Induction Program is where all the pieces of your organisation’s Sales Methodology comes together:

Sales Process/Road Map to a Sale

We’ve already spoken of the importance of having a clearly defined Sales Process in previous blogs. The Induction Program is where you introduce it to new staff to clearly illustrate the importance that your organisation places on it. The goal here is to have staff hit the ground running the next day with a clear picture of what they need to do to be successful in their new role.

Company Core Values

Here, the new employees discover the caliber of company they’ve just joined. Hopefully, they will readily buy into this culture. Either way, there will be no ambiguity or surprises down the line when you sit down to evaluate their individual performances.

KPIs/Metrics

Sales is a profession renown for posting performances on scoreboards. Here you make clear what metrics will be included on your organisation’s scoreboard. Unless you are prepared to wait for months to gauge how well your new sales team members are going, then you better have broken down your sales process into some clearly defined and measurable processes other than straight sales.

CRM Software

The whole purpose of having a CRM System is to have every interaction with a customer visible throughout your organisation. Hence, if having a 360^o view of your customers is important to you, then making sure your new staff know how to enter information into this system is critical – you better give them thorough ‘how to’ instruction in this.

Other Important Aspects

Other important matters to be incorporated into your Induction program include:

• Who Does What? - Introduction to the function of Key Staff & Departments
• Where Everything Is? - Tour of the Building
• Health & Safety – What to do, where to go, who to see, etc.
• Governmental Considerations – Fair Trading Act, Privacy Act, Consumers Guarantees Act, etc.
• Use of office equipment – Phone (and Voice Mail set-up), fax, printers, etc.

Every employer’s wish is for new staff members to start paying their way (and more) as soon as possible. A well-thought out Induction Program is an important tool in achieving such a goal. Unless you want to encourage your staff to take shortcuts with your business processes (i.e. unnecessary risks with your money), then you better not take any short cuts with their development either.