When it comes to empowering new hires, sales onboarding is the most reliable solution ever because it helps organizations equip sales reps with the information, professional skills, tools, and resources they require to tackle challenges cones in the way of interacting with prospects and leads generation.
However, opting between manual practices and digital sales onboarding solutions is a bit tricky and complicated because both methods have unique features and offer a myriad of benefits. In this article, we will explore both the pros and cons of both options to make an informed decision.
Manual Sales Onboarding
The traditional methods or manual sales onboarding practices typically involve a hands-on approach, where new hires are guided and trained by experienced team members or trainers and professional business coaches. From shadowing seasoned sales representatives to attending classroom-style training sessions and studying printed manuals to writing notes, it involves various complicated tasks.
Here are the major pros and cons that you can consider to make an informed decision;
The Pros
Personalized Attention
Manual sales onboarding practices ensure personalized coaching and mentoring, which results in providing one-on-one guidance from experienced team members or trainers to new hires. It can help address individual learning needs and accelerate skill development.
Interpersonal Skills Development
During manual sales onboarding, sales reps directly interact and communicate with professional mentors and other team members which results in the development of interpersonal skills such as communication and confidence.
Immediate Feedback
In the case of manual training, you can get immediate feedback from new hires, detect loopholes, and evaluate your teaching strategies to ensure the effectiveness of the learning process or training sessions.
Cultural Integration
It also provides new hires with opportunities to immerse themselves in the company culture, values, and ethos through direct interaction with colleagues, managers, and leaders. This cultural integration fosters a sense of belonging, loyalty, and commitment among employees.
The Cons
- Manual sales onboarding involves the careful handling of various tasks which makes it a time-consuming approach.
- Manual creation of selling strategies and content carries the risk of errors and skipping important things which can be fatal.
- Manual sales onboarding strategies are less effective and cause stress among new hires which can lead to the loss of potential employees.
Digital Sales Onboarding Solutions
In today’s ever-evolving business world, digital sales onboarding solutions have emerged as an alternative or complementary approach to traditional methods. It is used to deliver training materials, resources, and interactive experiences to new hires through online platforms, learning management systems (LMS), and mobile applications.
You can explore its major benefits and side effects here;
The Pros
Streamline sales Onboarding Process
Digital sales onboarding solutions are equipped with tools that can automatically handle repetitive administration tasks and simplify the complex process. It results in reducing the overall learning process and enhances its impact on employees and the organization’s growth.
Scalability
Unlike manual strategies, digital sales onboarding solutions are capable of scaling with your growing business needs and can easily handle more complex and large workforces without consuming a lot of time and money.
Integration
Sales onboarding software allows seamless integration with other systems and provides easy access to crucial data. Therefore, it improves communication and contribution among various teams and systems which results in fostering a healthy work environment.
Real-Time Data Analytics
Unlike the traditional sales onboarding process, digital tools provide real-time and deep data insights that enable you to detect errors and fix them immediately. You can also use these analytics to evaluate and make informed decisions.
The Cons
- The installation of sales onboarding tools demands pre-investment which makes them an expensive solution and everyone can’t afford to buy them. However, this one-time investment will pay you back in terms of consistent growth for the long term.
- The use of digital sales onboarding tools or any other software involves a learning curve which is considered as a side effect.
The Final Verdict
After going through this guide, we reach the conclusion that, though manual practices may seem simple and cost-effective they are less effective and carry the risk of expensive errors, while the digital sales onboarding solutions may require a pre-investment, they bring accuracy, transparency, and consistency among both the sales reps and the entire organization.
Therefore, investing in a reliable sales enablement platform is mandatory to simplify the sales onboarding complexities, fully unlock employees’ potential, and reach new heights of growth and success in the massively competitive sales and marketing landscape.
