6 Elements for Sales Onboarding with Podcasting

Hiring the right people and developing the skills needed is key to any business's success. Your company performs to the level of the people you've hired to do the job, so bad hires can cost you dearly.

How people come into a company can be a strong indication of how long they will stay and how well they might perform in a position. That's why creating an onboarding program could help to avoid costly hiring mistakes. Let's take a look at 6 ways podcasting can be used for onboarding.

1. Pre-hire Welcome Program:

It's your time to shine, as a company that is! Use the recruiting process when applicants are eager to learn about the company culture.

Let them know what's coming in the next few days of the process and what to expect in regard to timelines when to follow up, and the best resources to use in preparing for their upcoming interviews. Consider sharing positive feedback from recent hires on this podcast, which can really help new candidates feel welcome.

2. Define How Success is Measured:

New salespeople want to do one thing after being hired, make their numbers! However, so many managers I've spoken with miss the opportunity to help their new people define what the first couple of months looks like in regards to success.

Using the podcast to define what the expectations are can play a key role in helping the salesperson feel they have a workable goal that's both achievable and obtainable. Crushing the sales goal for the month my note be as important as getting to know the top customers in the account, but they won't know unless you tell them.

3. Teach Sales Techniques:

Provide sales instruction on some of the best methods for selling and the strategies behind those techniques. Consider teaching your salesforce about active listening, or becoming a resource for the client.

Help your team to become trusted advisors before their first day so they're not only focused on sales quotas, but really serving the customer. Ongoing learning has been shown to encourage new hires and motivates existing team members to improve their current skills and learn new ones.

4. Review Sales Enablement Technology:

It's important to use the best tools for the job, but going for all the shiny new CRM's and Automation tools can create an environment where salespeople are spending more time entering customer data vs reaching out to potential or existing clients.

Within the podcast focus on what tools to use in the first 60 days and when to lean into the more advanced tools. Consider adding tips from mentors in the company on the most efficient ways to use the tools you have.

5. Introduce Your Coaching and Mentor Program

Coaching and mentoring can fast-track a candidate for success. Inform new hires that coaching is an important aspect of career development by including an example of a short coaching session in one of the podcast episodes.

Include a feedback form that can be completed to cover questions that may come up and address those concerns before their first day. A well defined mentor/coaching program builds on itself month after month. Creating a very successful start for the candidate and growth opportunities for the mentor for leadership.

6. Create Calls to Action 

Creating a solid call to action near the end of the podcast can motivate the listener to take action while the content is fresh in their minds. It's why you hear advertisements at the end of popular podcasts. A specific call to action could be followed up on by the sales persons mentor as a check-in that they listened to the podcast, which creates accountability and it provides an opportunity to lean in more with coaching as previously mentioned.

Onboarding Equals Success

SHRM has a very well done study from 2015 that goes in-depth on the Four C's of Onboarding The report covers all the aspects of creating a successful program that I'm sure you can use if you haven't established a formal program at your company. It's a great foundation to refer to as you're building your podcast offering.

Enterprise Podcaster, Is an industry leader in corporate podcast training and implementation. We train companies on the most effective ways to educate, motivate and communicate with a distributed workforce. Book a call and learn how we can help your team to define success in your onboarding process.