ENGAGING NEW SALES TEAM MEMBERS

Today’s conversation is going to cover three areas to increase engagement with your sales team:

1. Telling the truth in the recruitment and selection process
2. Onboarding and training – especially in the first 30 days of employment
3. Managing performance

As always, the goal is to be able to serve you, the reader, and provide value added resources and reinforce the current practices.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Through the years, we have penned a number of articles on implementing a comprehensive selection process. With the new PEO Insider website, you can easily find those articles. We can implement a lot of best practices in the process, but to ensure engagement, it is important that we be honest and transparent with candidates applying for a sales position. We should set realistic expectations about the PEO sale and we should communicate to every candidate:

• Selling PEO is very complex
• The learning curve is long
• Getting to real decision makers is incredibly difficult
• Achieving consistent sales results does not happen in the short term

Failure to communicate these truths will result in increased turnover, wasted time and money.

ONBOARDING AND TRAINING – ESPECIALLY THE FIRST 30 DAYS
As with mastering anything; a golf swing, a musical instrument…any worthy endeavor…training should be continuous and repetitive. The following is an outline of a 30 – day training plan – the operative word here is outline. You will need to make it your own, in content and timeframe – the goal is to help you with the heavy lifting of designing your own plan to increase engagement.

Day 1: Execute all employment documents and onboarding processes. Communicate training expectations (sales expectations should already have been discussed). Make introductions to as many people in the organization as possible. Coordinate meetings with each department for training. Begin trainings on internal communications technology and communications

Day 2: Other technology training. History of the company. Overview of company service offering. The PEO value proposition. Understanding co-employment. Role play explaining the PEO value proposition and co-employment. Company target market. Understanding the sales process and decision makers.

Day 3: HR services offering. Role play explaining the PEO value proposition and co-employment. Important Point: Focus on how the HR team wants the service offering communicated. Role play explaining the HR services offering.

Day 4: Workers’ compensation and risk management services offering. Workers’ compensation rates, modifiers, pricing. Important Point: Focus on how the workers’. compensation and risk management team wants the service offering communicated. Role play explaining workers’ compensation and risk management services offering.

Day 5: Employee benefits offering and benefits administration service offering. Important Point: Focus on how the employee benefits team wants the service offering communicated. Joint appointment with another sales team member. Prepare/review a list of business contacts

Day 6: Payroll and technology service offering. Important Point: Focus on how the technology team wants the service offering communicated. Debrief with sales leadership.

Day 7: Sales process. prospecting and cvercoming objections. Role Play: prospecting and overcoming objections. Joint appointment with another sales team member

Day 8: Sales process. Proposal review. Prospecting and overcoming objections. Role Play: prospecting and overcoming objections. Joint appointment with another sales team member

Day 9: Sales Process. Proposal review. Role Play: prospecting and overcoming objections
Make 20 prospecting calls. Joint appointment with another sales team member.

Day 10: Underwriting and pricing procedures. Role Play: sales process. Joint appointment with another sales team member. Weekly review.

Day 11: Role Play: sales process. Joint appointment with another sales team member. Proposal review.

Day 12: Role Play: sales process. Review the client service agreement. Joint appointment with another sales team member

Day 13: Role Play: sales process. Joint appointment with another sales team member. Review the client service agreement.

Day 14: Role Play: sales process. Joint appointments with another sales team member. Debrief with sales leadership.

Day 15: Role Play: prospecting and overcoming objections. Make 30 prospecting calls. Weekly review.

Day 16: Shadow HR team. Shadow implementation team. Review a safety plan created for a client. New client onboarding.

Day 17: Proposal review. Role play presenting an appointment. Make 30 prospecting calls.

Day 18: Shadow payroll team. Focus payroll reporting. Make 30 prospecting calls.

Day 19: Technology demo. Make 30 prospecting calls.

Day 20: Joint appointment with sales team member. Technology demo. Weekly review.

Day 21: Sales Process. Joint appointment with sales team member. Role Play: technology demo.

Day 22: Role Play: Prospecting and overcoming objections
Make 30 prospecting calls. Joint appointment with another sales team member.

Day 23: Role Play: sales appointment. Joint appointments with sales team members.

Day 24: Joint appointments with sales team member.

Day 25: Role Play: prospecting and overcoming objections. Make 30 prospecting calls. Joint appointment with another sales team member.

Day 26: Role Play: prospecting and overcoming objections. Make 30 prospecting calls. Joint appointment with another sales team member.

Day 27: Joint appointments with sales team members.

Day 28: Proposal review. Role play presenting an appointment. Make 20 prospecting calls

Day 29: Role Play: sales appointment. Make prospecting 20 prospecting calls. Joint appointments with sales team member.

Day 30: Q & A sessions with HR, risk, benefits, and payroll teams. 30 day Review.

MANAGING PERFORMANCE
Performance measurements should be communicated during the recruitment and selection process. Training reviews should be conducted each week to ensure sales team members stay on track with their development. Set dates for performance reviews each month in the first six months and then quarterly from there. When performance reviews dates are set well in advance, everyone understands the expectations, and in the event there needs to be “tough” conversations, there are no surprises.

Wishing you the very best of engagement!