7 Sales Onboarding Errors A Startup Business Consultancy Can Help You Avoid

A successful onboarding strategy for sales reps does not need to be overly complicated, and yet many businesses – particularly in their infancy – struggle to create an effective process that adequately prepares a new employee for their role. Unfortunately, when onboarding isn’t carried out successfully, it can have a negative impact not just on the experience of the employee overall, but on the brand’s reputation and productivity.

That’s why many new businesses seek professional guidance from startup consultancies and platforms such as Close CRM and HubSpot when hiring sales teams; avoiding making any of the 7 common errors outlined below:

1. Being disorganized

Important tasks must be efficiently distributed and assigned clear deadlines before a new employee can be reasonably expected to begin their role.

Schedules should be detailed and new hires given appropriate training; failure to do this, and you may never get the best out of your latest recruit.

2. Creating a poor first impression

Without a well-organized work environment, appropriate tools, equipment,  training, and processes that are followed closely by everyone involved, a new hire might well wonder what they’ve gotten themselves into. They may well carry these negative first impressions with them throughout their employment.

To prevent this from happening, HR, management, and other employees must be fully prepared for the new hire’s onboarding, and focus their efforts on ensuring that everything is in place in advance of their start date.

3. Setting ambiguous goals and expectations

Knowing what their employer expects of them is essential if a new hire is to successfully fulfil their role within an organization, and yet all too often, this isn’t the case.

Working with a startup consultancy can help organizations set goals and expectations for new recruits that are clear, concise, and in line with the company’s goals and overall mission.

4. Failing to be honest about the scope of the role

While a job can certainly evolve over time, it is crucial at the time of hire that the job responsibilities for a new employee should not expand beyond the initial scope and description of the role given to them.

This helps the new hire gain an understanding of what is expected, and enables them to transition effectively into their role and the workplace as a whole.

5. Not putting a formal process in place

Combining relationship building with education and networking, onboarding should be a clearly defined formal process that helps a new employee begin fulfilling their role as quickly and effectively as possible.

Creating formal onboarding procedures will help companies seamlessly tackle recruitment, and ensure that anyone hired is comfortable as they join the organization. That said, it’s important to recognize that while formality is necessary, it shouldn’t be mistaken for rigidity; a certain level of flexibility is almost always required when seeking to accommodate the individual requirements of new recruits.

6. Inundating new hires with information

A new role can be overwhelming enough without the organization bombarding the new hire with lots of information all at once. Try to evenly distribute the sharing of information so that they are better placed to absorb the necessary details, and fulfil their role successfully.

7. Not collecting feedback

Whether you collect information from new hires themselves about the onboarding process, or those who work alongside them, obtaining feedback is the best way to ensure that you’re getting the process right, and that you’re addressing any issues, or potential problems in a timely fashion.

Business startup consultants have on many occasions been there themselves, whether they’ve started their own business or been a part of someone else’s startup experience. This makes them perfectly placed to guide startups with regards to sales team onboarding and the use of CRM and marketing platforms, and seeking their help from the get-go, can set new businesses up for success.