Effectively onboarding new employees is one of the most important things you can do in order to increase the odds of a successful jumpstart of a new hire.  Yet it is usually low on the priority list.

Most OOH leaders spend a large amount of time, effort, and energy looking for an applicant.  The interview process is typically relatively short and usually consists of the leader being unprepared.  Unprepared to ask pertinent, behavioral based information gathering questions that will allow us to have a greater insight into the individual that we are thinking of investing in by making them a member of our team.  What’s the default for most OOH leaders when they are unprepared for the interview?  Spend 90% of the interview time talking to the candidate about the company, the job, the kind of person we are looking for, the benefits we offer, how they would get paid, etc.

And then the onboarding process is non-existent.  Typically, people are welcomed into the company and then asked to spend time with a seasoned OOH veteran who is supposed to show them the ropes.  Experience has shown that on its own, this is not an effective onboarding process.  Not for salespeople, not for operations people, not for bill posters, not for real estate developers, not for anyone.

How long does it take for a new hire, on average, to be profitable in your OOH company?  Do you know?  Do you track it?  Can you improve on it?  Do you know if an individual new hire is doing better or worse than your company average?  If you don’t track the number, then you can’t improve on it!

I believe you can reduce the time from hire to profitability by 50% if you follow 3 simple steps:

1. Create a list of all of the things that people need to do order to be successful at the job.  Give them a list of activities essential to success at your organization.  As an example, as an OOH salesperson it is essential to have a great elevator pitch, know who the major competitors are in their space, can they articulate an agreed upon agenda for their sales meetings, know the 10 specific questions you are always going to ask when debriefing their initial sales meeting with a prospect, etc.
2. Give your new people good examples of everything you’ve listed. For instance, a new OOH salespersons “welcome onboard packet” should include a sample elevator pitch in both written and audio form.  Do that for everything you’ve given them in the first step.  Give them an overview of the competitive landscape, etc.  Get some of the best examples from your team.  Using examples from other OOH salespeople on the team will dramatically improve adoption of the best practices.
3. Give your new people a date by which all the materials should be known and “owned”. You might say, as an example, that the expectation is that a new salesperson can deliver (without notes) the elevator pitch by the end of the second week.  Do that for everything on the list and get clear, well understood commitments from the new hires they will demonstrate mastery by each date.

Doing those things will drastically reduce the learning curve for ALL of your new hires.  It is as simple as 1.,2., 3.

Need help with sales skills or coaching to take your out of home company to the next level.  Learn more about OOH Sales Mastery at oohmastery.com  or Contact Dan Nausley at  dan.nausley@sandler.com, 423.702.5579.

Lisa & Dan Nausley and Reggie Piercy of Sandler Chattanooga have developed the OOH Sales Mastery Program after more than a decade of training/coaching thousands of OOH Operators across the country in sales, leadership, and executive coaching.