The 6 pillars for effective onboarding ┃ Part 1
This week Mike Leather and Sam Musiyarira explore the 6 pillars of effective onboarding, a framework designed to set new hires up for success and maximise their early impact within the company. With 35% of companies admitting to having no formal onboarding process , it's time to ensure you have a process in place that not only prepares new hires for their new role but also ensures they are fully productive and stay with the business long term.
This episode is split into two parts!
In Part 1, you'll learn why pre-start engagement is crucial, including providing new hires with essential information about products, company values, and team expectations. You'll also discover the importance of setting clear goals and milestones from the beginning. These strategies help maintain morale, build confidence, and boost motivation, all of which are key to avoiding no-shows and ensuring your new hires become fully productive as quickly as possible.
Pillar 1: Prepare your new employees before Day 1
Mindset Shift
Onboarding begins as soon as a candidate signs the contract. It's crucial to keep the excitement and positivity alive between the offer acceptance and Day 1.
One of the biggest onboarding challenges is preventing no-shows. Keeping in touch with your new hire will make sure they feel welcomed. A quick message from a current employee or a LinkedIn connection can help build excitement and commitment to the role.
Pre-start meetings
Why not invite new hires to participate in meetings before they officially start? This can help them feel connected and integrated into the team.
What can sales leader’s do to help?
Sales leaders should help new hires prepare by sharing important information such as product knowledge, unique selling points (USPs), insights into the ideal customer, and any other relevant resources. This helps them hit the ground running and shows they’re eager and ready to contribute.
Make sure you read our blog about How to make your sales starters first day successful!
Pillar 2: The importance of providing a comprehensive training plan
Companies with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent . Here's some steps you can take to provide the best onboarding training experience:
Customised training
Tailor the training experience to each individual’s learning style - visual, listening, reading/writing, or hands-on.
A balanced approach between theory and practical application ensures the new hire absorbs and retains information effectively.
Product knowledge
Often overlooked, product knowledge is key to onboarding success. Structured shadowing and role-play activities can help, even if they push people out of their comfort zones.
What can sales leaders do to help?
Sales leaders should ensure that training is well-rounded and considers various learning styles. They should actively participate in training to guide and support new hires while making sure they get the right balance of structure and flexibility.
Hiring a new sales manager? Read our blog about how to successfully onboard a new sales manager.
Pillar 3: Set clear goals and milestones for your new hires from the beginning
Your hire has impressed you enough for you to give them the job, now it’s time for you to return on the promises and impress them during the onboarding.
Defined expectations
Did you know 60% of businesses don’t set any goals or milestones for their new hires . It's important that from day 1, new hires have clear, measurable goals and milestones. Theis will help them understand what success looks like and keep them on track.
Encouraging resilience
A great way to boost morale and keep motivation high is to encourage new hires to reflect on their progress. Have them identify three strengths and three areas for improvement each week - this helps them stay focused and committed.
What can sales leaders do to help?
Sales leaders should establish standards and regularly check in to provide feedback on progress. Identifying early wins and areas for improvement can help build confidence and momentum.
Interview question for resilience
As always we end our podcast episodes with a sales interview question or a sales tip. This week Mike shared an interview question.
A great interview question to ask candidates is "What experiences have shaped your resilience the most?"
This provides insight into how a candidate handles challenges, and what personal or professional experiences have shaped their ability to overcome adversity.
Tune in to next weeks podcast episode for part 2
'The Recruitment Roundup' by BMS Performance is a weekly Podcast discussing hiring and sales strategy tips for sales professionals. Tune in every Wednesday at 5 pm on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , or YouTube .
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