OK, now it’s your turn.
I’m trying to identify some current practices around the on-boarding process for initial sales training. There are a number of variations, as you might expect, among different companies. Here are two specific questions I have for my readers – feel free to give a response in the comment section, or shoot me an e-mail ( stevew(at)impactiviti.com ). Of course, your responses will be treated as confidential.
1. Do you have a separate “orientation” session for new hires, during which such things as corporate policies, administrative stuff, computer training, etc. occur – or is all that rolled into the first in-house initial sales training phase (or, alternatively, does it happen via regional training sessions?). In other words, does your company separate out the Administrative stuff from the Sales/Product training, or are they munged together?
2. Does your company require certification, via scored assessments, of home study materials before someone can come into Initial Sales Training? I don’t mean passing open-book self-assessments – I mean real tests that measure some level of mastery! (typically, on-line exams).
Thanks for any input you can give!
No to the separate administrative training. That is up to the Division Sales Managers or anyone that they designate within their division to cover that information.
Yes to the on-line scored assessments…at least for the oncology therapuetic area.
1. Corporate policies, computer training, administrative duties, etc. are covered either by the DBM and/or regional trainer prior to the rep’s initial sales training class.
2. Reps must pass multiple on-line assessments prior to attending initial sales training.
2 Weeks home study. Then pass an exam for entry into initial corporate based training.
Cultural immersion, administrative aspects, compliance, computers, corporate ethics are interwoven throughout the home office based training.
While our reps read and review “admin and compliance” info during their “in-field” training, we provide a day long overview on the first day of our Initial Training deadicated to covering a variety of items including compliance, legal, regulatory, National accounts, expense, sales ops, fleet, benefits, etc.
Yes — we have several on-line assessments new hires must take prior to attending their Initial Training class.
Q1 Yes, two separate orientations, corporate policies and compliance, and sales training; 14 days to complete corporate CBT modules.
Q2 No initial testing prior to first phase of training; then serial closed-book testing (min grade 80%) through all phases of sales training.