Most companies have the 30-60-90 day plan in order but I think there is a lot of magic from the time the candidates sign an offer to the first day they report. The focus should be preparing your new hire and drumming up some excitement as their first day approaches. If you wait until day one to engage a new hire, you’ve already fallen behind: 65% of employers reported hiring people who do not show up on their first day.
With the right pre-boarding, they start from day one knowing information such as the people with whom they’ll work, the company’s history, their schedule for the first few weeks.
Receiving an offer is one of the most exciting things a salesperson will be about their job. As a result, it’s important that leaders take advantage of this enthusiasm and use it to begin engaging the new hire. This enthusiasm comes with the willingness to dig in and do some pre-work, which can relate to their role either directly or indirectly.
Your pre-boarding program should include the following to start with:
Set the stage with the offer letter:
a) Have the offer accepted on the phone then schedule a zoom party and or meeting to celebrate with the team and the new sales rep can also bring his friends and family.
b) Have immediate team members reach out to the new hire and congratulate them while introducing themselves.
c) You could also take this one step further by sharing the new hire’s LinkedIn profile and prompting the current employees to connect with their new teammates.
2. Get to know them: Include a “get to know you” survey in your pre-boarding process where you ask about the new hire’s preferences and impressions—anything from tee-shirt size and dietary restrictions to their preferred mix of in-office/work from home to their impressions of the hiring process and why they chose to accept your offer. This signals interest in the hire as a person.
3. Get HR Paperwork done. This is a non-revenue-related exercise that can get done early on so you can also answer any questions they may have and if they are graduates, they can apply for any statutory documents they may not have needed before this.
4. Help them build their social capital:
a) Introduce them to their buddy and have them schedule time before the new hire joins. Introducing a buddy early on lessens the anxiety of the new joiner and also saves the manager a lot of time as general office-related questions are directed towards the buddy and manager-employee time is saved for more important matters.
b) Is your office particularly social? Do you occasionally go out for an after-work drink? Or do you host other social events? If so, invite the new hire to come along.
5. Set-Up CRM: While CRM training is a part of the onboarding process, later, set up their accounts on CRM. It can be difficult for a new hire to navigate this in addition to the training program you have set up, so make it easy for them. Set up the accounts in advance, working along with your tech team.
6. Schedule a Check-In Call: Ideally, you want to have at least 2 check-ins before their first day. One to help them get a start on all their pre-boarding materials and one a few days before they start to make sure they are set and answer any last-minute logistical questions.
7. Send calendar invites for onboarding sessions, meetings, and any planned lunches. Share details around office parking, what to wear, what to bring, how to check-in, what time to arrive, etc. so your new employee knows exactly what to expect and how to prepare.
8. Align them on your internal communications network - Set them up on Slack, Click-Up, Asana or any other in-house communication channels you may use. They can start getting introduced to their new team and colleagues.
9. Share a training plan: Share a training plan with them before joining. It will clarify the plan for their first day and what they will be learning over the next few weeks. A good idea is to share your sales playbook with them to start familiarizing themselves with key information. If your company doesn’t have a sales playbook that the team uses consistently to drive revenue, we have found that https://kiite.ai/ helps you build one up pretty quickly.
10. Share company materials: Get your new reps introduced to your company. Share company materials, website, team introductions or any videos you may have including client videos.
11. Share books that lay the foundation for your sales frameworks. We have seen great success when especially entry-level reps are given the book The Ultimate Sales Machine and Fanatical Prospecting as they have a firm grip on the basics. Also, if your sales methodology is open-sourced in a book format such as SPIN Selling or Triangle Selling, have the new hires read these prior to starting their job to get the lexicon down before day one.
Do’s for pre-boarding
Position activities as helpful, not mandatory as you probably aren’t paying new employees for the time they spend on pre-first-day activities, so it’s important to frame them properly and keep company expectations low. It’s not homework; it’s an opportunity for the new hire to jumpstart their onboarding.
Allow the new hire to still be able to proceed at work even if they show up on the first day without having done any preboarding.
Keep tasks simple. Be careful of the amount of time you’re asking new hires to spend on preboarding. They may still be working elsewhere or have minimal time to devote to pre-employment tasks.
Make it fun… There is already so much boring paperwork at this stage, add some trivia about the person and or company employees and a few welcome videos.
Don'ts
Don’t ask them to do actual work, start projects, or complete writing assignments. Keep tasks quick and straightforward: signing up for accounts, filling out short surveys, and other straightforward tasks.
Giving your employees an excellent pre-boarding experience strengthens your position as a great employer and your employees are more likely to stay with you longer. Needless to say, how you welcome recruits hinges on your company’s culture, budget, and creativity…but the important thing is having some sort of pre-boarding plan in place.
Here is a downloadable sheet to help you prepare for pre-boarding.