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Welcome to the GTM Mastery Podcast, hosted by Alexander Kohler. Delve into the dynamic world of Go to Market strategies, tailor-made for Founders and Go to Market Professionals.
Join insightful conversations with industry experts, uncovering successful tactics and navigating common challenges. Stay ahead of market trends, refine customer engagement, and chart your path to triumph.
Tune in to amplify your strategic prowess and become a Go-to-Market Master 👑
Alexander (00:00.866)
Hello Harris!
Haris (00:03.42)
Hi Alexander!
Alexander (00:05.546)
Hey, nice to meet you. Um, we had a fun pre podcast chat because we both drank milk today. So I'm drinking currently milk and, um, yeah, what a coincidence. Who drinks milk in 2024? Write it to me or to Haris on LinkedIn. Yeah. But today it's not about milk. Luckily it's about having a successful onboarding, having a good onboarding because we have, I think somebody who has done already.
some onboardings and is currently also in an onboarding phase. Yeah, Harris Halkic. Really, really cool that you're here. And yeah, as always, I would like to start with an introduction round. Harris, would you like to start by introducing yourself and tell us how you ended up in a go-to-market function?
Haris (00:51.78)
That's all.
Haris (00:59.813)
Sorry there was a break right now.
There were two breaks, not sure. Okay. So thanks. Thanks for having me. Thanks for inviting me to your podcast. And yes, milk is good for you. Drink milk. Just to confirm that. And yeah, just to give you a short introduction to who I am. I'm yeah, Harris living in South Germany in Stuttgart. And basically I've been an AE of the last five years.
Different companies like TeamViewer, Coursera, and smaller companies, startups, are currently at PowerUs. This is a startup from Berlin that's addressing the problem of missing skilled blue workers on the German market. So many companies have the problem to find electricians, heating installers. It's really hard to find these people. And yeah.
we are solving that problem by having built a LinkedIn, you could say for these people, where they can find jobs and we bring them together with the right companies. And yeah, really excited to join your podcast and explore more on the topic of onboarding, especially.
Alexander (02:21.49)
Yeah, definitely. And you're also posting a lot of LinkedIn. And yeah, definitely to the audience, check out Harry's LinkedIn profile. He's really posting cool stuff. Also, a lot of summaries of, for example, best podcasters, best content about onboarding, whatever. So really cool. But Harry, what I want to know before we start, why do you work in sales?
Haris (02:50.444)
I work in sales because I'm employed, but I'm also at the same time self-employed, I would say, because you have a lot of freedom. You have flexibility. I mean, you can work from wherever you want, especially in software sales, being in a remote role. But you're also responsible. I mean, you're for ownership and you're really responsible for
the targets you're responsible for making the sales and kind of motivating yourself and everything. So it's really I like the fact that your results are tied to your success. So if you're good, you make a lot of money successful if you're not. So you have to kind of move on. It's not for everyone, I would say, but I really enjoy it because
It can be a roller coaster sometimes. There can be a lot of stress, but also a lot of fulfillment and a lot of, uh, personal growth and personal development. So yeah, many things to love about sales in my opinion, but these are the main factors.
Alexander (03:55.87)
Yeah, definitely. Thanks for that. Thanks for the introduction today. We're talking about like mentioned in the introduction already on boardings. So on boardings, I think very, very difficult topic, I would say. And it varies in so, so much in companies. I think like if you do three different onboardings, it's so complete different. It also depends on company size on like what industry you're in, of course, the role.
But what would you say, especially when considering sales, what is the role of sales onboarding and why is it driving revenue and why is it especially in sales so crucial for success?
Haris (04:43.901)
Sorry there was a break there, I didn't get the full question.
Alexander (04:47.746)
So the question was, why is especially sales onboarding so important in driving revenue?
Haris (04:57.26)
It's important because you want to enable your salespeople to sell as soon as possible. And I think also the new joiners, the salespeople, they want to sell as soon as possible because they join a new company. They have ambition. They want to make money. They want to earn those commissions. So for both sides, it's very important that you have a good onboarding process that's addressing the needs of both sides and that it's just
efficient so that you don't waste time with things that are not necessary. And of course, this is something that also develops that grows. I mean, you cannot just have a consultant come in and then give you a perfect onboarding plan for your company. This is something also that develops over time and also something tied to company culture, but I think you can do a lot to make it easier for both sides.
Alexander (05:52.95)
Yeah, so really, really cool. Thanks. So you already participated in a few onboardings without mentioning what was good or which company had a good one, which company had a bad one. Obviously. What did you say are the best onboardings? What did they have that you were in before we started to the topic and what had the worst onboardings that you were in or some onboardings where you'd say, wow, okay, I didn't get an...
Haris (06:16.228)
I'm going to go to bed.
Alexander (06:21.954)
lot of things. So could you maybe just high level before we start share a few things of what a good onboarding looks like, what a bad onboarding looks like.
Haris (06:32.384)
Yes, yes. Well, I would say a bad onboarding is where they give you a sales buddy. Someone who has been performing well and is just one of the top three performers on the team and ideally someone who was kind of wants to progress his career, want to become a team leader, something and yeah, their job is basically to teach you what they know in seven days. So 14 days, and then you can replicate the results.
which often doesn't work because either you're a different type of person, you're introvert, extrovert or something like that. You're just a different personality. And I think often this fails. It's almost like having no onboarding plan in my opinion, because if you just give somebody another salesperson, sales body, and yeah, just kind of figure it out that that's not really a system, a plan.
I think the better ones that I've seen during the last years are the ones that, where multiple kind of departments are involved, where it's not just the expectation is like, like this weekend workshops where you visit the workshop and then you expect to know everything on Monday. That's not how we learn. That's not how we progress. I think so where they have some patience also, and where they understand that you won't know everything even after six months.
where they understand it's a process and they have to kind of create this process around your journey as a new joiner in the company. So I think the better ones are really where it's not too much information, not too much product knowledge, but still leaving some flexibility for you to find your way as well. So yeah, maybe we can go into the details in the following part.
Alexander (08:29.854)
Yeah, absolutely. It was I think helpful because yeah, obviously, I think a lot of companies just like say, okay, top of rank A buddy and yeah, he needs to close deal and basically onboard you on the side. So that obviously doesn't always work. I know it. And also you have been in so many or in a few different roles already. So and also seen a few onboardings as mentioned before. So what do you say? How do you tailor onboardings?
onboardings for different sales roles. So for example, for an enterprise account executive, for a mid-market account executive, and for maybe an SDR. So what did you say? How should onboardings vary? And what is important for each role?
Haris (09:13.748)
always depends on the role of course if you're an AE that has to do a lot of prospecting and basically build his own pipeline then you would include more things that typically an SDR would have in his or her onboarding so like more cold training role plays and things like that.
Kind of cold calling is not a topic. I don't think it is for anybody. I mean, it is a huge topic right now for every AE, but if you're lucky, the lucky one who has just inbound leads coming, then you might not need it. Uh, so it depends really on the role and how much, how much of prospecting you have to do, what kind of industry it is. I mean, for some, some solutions, some products, you would just need around two months, just understanding that their complete portfolio of solutions in companies, what they offer.
And for others, it's just really a weekend because it's so simple. But then you might still invest more time into really understanding the problem, the pain points, the ICP, different personas. So, um, it's, it's really a variation of many things, but I would think, I would say product knowledge, definitely, uh, invest more in product knowledge. That's what I've experienced that, uh, that sales managers are.
pushing too early for just sell, just call them. And without maybe the salesperson being really ready and you don't want to practice on prospects or existing customers, you'd rather practice in a role play with colleagues or external trainers, whatever, or with your manager. And definitely product knowledge, definitely knowledge of
the CRM because this is your main tool. I mean, if you know how to use it as like a craftsman, having his machines and having his tools, and if he knows everything about them, he will just do a better job and be more efficient. So definitely kind of more into the CRM and how the company is using the CRM because you have HubSpot, Pipe Drive and Salesforce, but every team, every company is kind of has different parts of it that are important and they're really...
Haris (11:27.092)
I haven't seen a unique approach yet that like that's how to use Salesforce because everyone's kind of using a different thing. So making really sure that the salesperson is aligned on that. And also I would say sales efficiency because if you, yeah, this is also tied to the CRM, but not only the CRM. I mean, how to just what sequences for outbound work best in this environment.
What have others done to book meetings and close deals, analyzing some deals that have been won. So really going more into the practical doing, but not just kind of saying, yeah, this is our product. These are the main features, how we differentiate. Here are some leads. So yeah.
Alexander (12:18.902)
Yeah, definitely, definitely. So maybe you mentioned now a lot of things, maybe to put it in a structure. So for you now, what are the essential parts that every onboarding needs to have in sales?
Haris (12:34.758)
Um.
Well, the first is kind of the whole perspective. It should be like a good, when you do an online course or something, it should have a clear outline and clear expectation of you, what is expected of you after two weeks, after four weeks, after 60 days. And not only in terms of book meetings, but also what kind of knowledge should you have? What...
which people should you have spoken to internally and not just within the sales team, but also kind of account management, who could tell you this, who could tell you that. I mean, really this guidance also, of course, having a sales body I think is really important. And also I've seen, I've been lucky to have some examples of really the team lead or VP sales being involved in the onboarding directly and being very supportive and kind of offering guidance there.
Um, it's, uh, yeah, I would say, uh, also, uh, another thing that I've, I've seen that, uh, it still puzzles me because you might have a company that's selling a meeting solution, right? Or this is just one side product and then you have internal meetings and they're not doing it with their product. They're doing it with zoom. And I've seen many cases of that. And you asked them why not? And they say, well, it's just because of this reason. We never tried it. And I think really having.
New joiners use the product and use the solution in any way that's possible. If you have a remote connectivity solution, just set up one hour and say, hey, connect to your home PC and see what this can do, just kind of that you can imagine the use cases of it. So just have new joiners use your solution if possible and just become familiar with it. So I would say really many, many parts.
Haris (14:36.249)
what's been missing sometimes in my experience is having a clear outline like understanding the learning journey of someone joining the company and how they can develop, how they should develop during this time. And yeah, clear expectations, not expecting maybe too much and also from a new joiner perspective not putting yourself under too much pressure.
One great line that I've heard from managers, yeah, it's not a sign of, it's a sign of strength actually to ask for help. So if you don't know, if you're stuck, just ask for help. As a new joiner, you have all the kind of, the right to ask the stupid questions, to approach anybody for a session, to learn more. So use that as a new joiner, really. I mean, be curious, ask a lot of questions and yeah.
make sure that you have a great experience there.
Alexander (15:32.798)
Yeah, absolutely. So I think that's very, very interesting. You said talking to people, of course, is one part. I think having like the first week of onboarding and then being just like into meetings, I think that's not that efficient because often people then are doing other things on the side. You know, they're not fully focused or maybe it's a remote onboarding or maybe the person doing the onboarding is just somebody on the team. So I'm a big fan of.
Yeah, having it recorded on video and doing it like an academy, as you said. So do you think this is something that is absolutely something that you should do? And if yes, how should such a video course be designed?
Haris (16:19.788)
Yes. I really think you should use this in LMS, so learning management system, and create some kind of courses where you have week one, week two, week three, and have this, and also from sales enablement, having to think about this structure, because not just sending people, hey, here's a NotionLink, it's another NotionLink. And as someone just joining the company, you are completely overwhelmed. You don't know what is.
top priority, what's important, what you can just say for later. And you don't have this understanding of what the priorities are. You don't have yet the understanding of who is best to ask for certain topics, who is the right person to go to. And yes, it definitely makes sense to have like a core structure, I would say, on many things. But also from the body perspective, and someone in the team.
having not only someone you can ask, because often you don't know what's missing, what you should ask, but also having someone just guiding you on certain best practices and saving basically time for both sides. But yes, I would say definitely, yeah. Having this discourse outline makes a lot of sense for not only for product knowledge, but also for sales processes and just...
Alexander (17:29.642)
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
Haris (17:39.736)
how to create a quote. I mean, make a short video of five minutes and yeah, no one will ask because it's on the video.
Alexander (17:46.794)
Yeah. And do you think that the internal team should be contributing in making the video? Or do you think that sales enablement or the team leader should be the DRI for making the video?
Haris (17:58.476)
It should be sales, but someone should look over it.
Alexander (18:01.694)
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think sales enablement is a good call and obviously in the early stages, I think, yeah, it depends. Of course. Cool. And another thing that I would like to touch on just on a side before we go deeper into the onboarding. So I often work with companies in recruitment in onboarding and they, as of course, almost every sales job have a commission based salary model.
Haris (18:08.044)
Yeah, it depends on the resources you have.
Alexander (18:31.098)
And in some cases in the onboarding, they don't get 100% OTE or they just get it in the first month. So what do you think is the ideal structure here from an employee perspective? And then I will tell you mine.
Haris (18:51.765)
So just to clarify, you mean if during the ramp up phase the AESD should get the full kind of full commission or not? Is that the question?
Alexander (19:02.566)
Exactly, exactly.
Haris (19:05.256)
Um, I think, um, well, I'm an AE so I would say yes, definitely. I guess kind of, um, I don't think I'm neutral here, but, um, and, and the reason for that is because, um, you're just not in the position to, to make that, to earn that commission because you just join, you have your first week with mission and values and just getting to know the founders, your, your boss, whatever, and especially if you're in remote setting.
Um, so you cannot really make, make that commission. I, I think it's, it's kind of fair to, to give it to the, to the new joiner. I have a clear ramp up and communicate that also I have a commission plan and just, just present it or even present it during onboarding. I think that would be the best case or asking, uh, from a, from a, uh, um, perspective of a new joiner.
But yes, I think it's good. And it's also something that I've seen in most cases. So it's kind of, I would say, yeah, it's rather an exception if you don't get it, my experience, but yeah, you should ask, I guess, and you should make sure that expectations are just, yeah.
Alexander (20:20.914)
Yeah, because like, for example, I think, so my opinion is you should definitely give them three months of full commission, full OT. So the probation period basically, because in my opinion, it's very, very difficult also in hiring. Or if in hiring, maybe the recruiter doesn't mention it, the person is really unsatisfied, even at the start.
And I think what is like really, really crucial is to really give them this or to communicate it because for example, some companies have like a 50-50 split or a 60-40 split, whatever, and then it's really not a lot of money and probably they have a family or like fixed costs and then they're struggling, you know, and who wants to hire sales reps who should be hungry and then let you...
basically give them a struggle for like three months or two months or do you put them under pressure immediately? And I think like this is really something that is like a mistake. And in my opinion, it really shouldn't happen and it hinders companies in hiring cop talent. So yeah, that is just my experience. So what would you say, product, you mentioned it before, how do you integrate?
Haris (21:34.98)
Yes, I agree.
Alexander (21:45.686)
product training into sales onboarding processes effectively? And for example, would you say, okay, people should talk to clients also about the product immediately? And who do you think are the most important peers they should talk to in the company?
Haris (22:04.352)
Yes, it's always, I find it always great if you have like someone who's been in the company for ages and who's kind of maybe even a developer who can really tell you about the history of certain features, certain developments of the product, the solution and why they haven't done it the other way.
So having someone really for this deep knowledge about the product is great. And having maybe a few sessions on that where you can really ask anything and you know, you will get an answer, which you don't often in sale because it's, it's kind of, of course, superficial. We don't have to know everything about the product, how it's developed, what, what kind of programming language or whatever it is. So it's great to have someone like that. I think someone from either.
sales enablement, if this person is really for a long time in the company or even develop a, yeah, really software engineer also would be very interesting. But of course the main information you'll get from your sales team. So because of course they have a different kind of knowledge. They have this knowledge of that's really applicable. I would say that customers want to know and how this works and what doesn't work.
And so it's best to have multiple perspectives, but I always found it great if you have this one, often it's one person, that you can ask anything about the history of the product and the development and why things have been done that way. So yes, it's great to be connected and to know who that person is at the beginning during your on-board.
Alexander (23:45.982)
Yeah, definitely. And so now I would like to really go into a more company specific side. So, in your ideal world, first as an AE, what part does your sales leader play in the onboarding? And how would you then from an company perspective? Yeah. You've probably never done this, but you can try.
design and onboarding if you're in a hyper growth phase, you need to onboard a lot of AEs and your sales leader obviously needs to deliver from the daily business and he needs to onboard five sales reps. So how would you solve this? And in first AE world, what does a sales leader play in the onboarding in an ideal world?
Haris (24:35.748)
So, two questions because I'm really sorry, there was again an interruption. So, what role should the cell play to play? And yeah.
Alexander (24:40.19)
Yeah, so first, in an ideal world, that's the first question. Let's start with this.
Haris (24:48.661)
In an ideal world, the sales leader should be kind of your, in a way, your first point of contact when you're stuck, I would say. Who can kind of direct you to the right people? He or she doesn't have to know everything.
And often the sales manager has just joined the company. So they sometimes don't know a lot about the product or yeah, still figuring out things for themselves. But it's great if they can kind of build those bridges and just say, hey,
just set up a meeting with this person and talk to this person about that. So I think it's not necessary for the sales manager to be very involved in the onboarding. They should have more kind of setting the expectations, regular check-ins to see what progress you're making, where your roadblocks are, how they can support, if they can support.
Yeah, I have right now even a sales leader who's very involved, a VP of sales who's kind of very involved in onboarding and in everything. But that's not always the case. And often the most you learn is from the team directly, so from your sales peers. And if you just, sometimes it's also helpful if the sales leader can just give you this perspective of...
This person on the team is great at cold calling. Another colleague is great at discovery. And so you just have this, this kind of information that you normally wouldn't have, and you can just approach this person and say, Hey, do you have half an hour to talk about discovery and just get best practices from them? So that's, that's the role of a sales leader I see during onboarding that has worked well and yeah.
Alexander (26:31.455)
Yeah.
Haris (26:40.128)
depends on how long they've been with the company. If they've been there five years or more, then of course they can give you more guidance and they can even maybe come into calls. And if they're from the industry, have seen a lot of calls with CHROs, with VP sales, similar, of course they can add a lot. But if not, it's more kind of this guidance and definitely setting the expectations and communicating clearly with you from day one.
what is expected of you, what you have to achieve, and yeah, also talking about things that don't work.
Alexander (27:17.278)
Yeah, definitely. And so the second question was in terms of hyper growth phases. So of course, some companies need to hire a lot of AEs quickly, or maybe also sales reps who are doing more volume-ish sales. So in your opinion, how would you then flip the role of the sales leader in this volume onboardings and maybe in general?
what is important to consider in those hyper growth onboardings where you need to onboard a lot of reps to obviously not fail at your daily business, but on the other side also onboard those reps because in the hyper growth phases I would say most onboardings fail or there are no onboardings.
Haris (28:06.46)
Yes, yes, I think that's a fair statement because they just have so much going on that onboarding is just not a top priority, I would say. And it's just not doable. I mean, they have to delegate at this phase and they have to trust their team. They have to, I think it's good if they have a few people on the sales team who are seniors or who are just...
good also, not everybody's good at coaching or just telling what works for them. Because sometimes AEs, salespeople are just kind of keeping their secrets or they're not just good at sharing best practices. So you need first culture of really transparency and just sharing best practices, collaboration. And it's really different. I've seen companies or I've been in companies where
Haris (29:01.804)
letting you join the calls and I've been in companies where everybody's just, yeah, I invited you just tomorrow at nine. So it's very different. And I would say, especially during this hyper growth phase, it's, it's culture is much more important, much more, and should all ideally be already in place before this, this hyper growth phase. Because if you have this culture of transparency and the leader says, see, there also sets the expectations.
I expect everybody to support each other, to share everything. Here's the kind of document where you should share your recorded calls, whatever it sets another kind of, I would say, yeah, expectation, but also the culture changes. And so everybody supports each other. And ideally, I mean, I've worked in retail and at this company, the kind of motto was
We're best if we don't need our manager. If everything runs smoothly without the store manager and if he can take off one week and nothing happens, we just kind of function the way we should. And everything, because yeah, in retail, everything needs to be systemized and then just running smoothly. So I think also this great sales leader is the one who can also, yeah, be in another city and everything.
works well. So especially during this hyper growth phase, I think, yeah, trusting your team and building the systems kind of that support the team and lets you delegate. Because in order to delegate, you first need kind of to do these things, you need the conditions to, yeah.
Alexander (30:49.934)
Absolutely. And do you think that an onboarding should also have a physical part? So that means like that everyone should meet one week or two weeks in a physical location. And what would you say is the ideal design there if you're a remote company and you do onboardings? Or a hybrid company?
Haris (31:13.196)
Yes, of course that's the challenge because often you'll have colleagues in the office and some others are just, yeah. For example, I'm in South Germany right now. I'm one of the first remote hires of ours and most of the team is in Berlin. So of course this is the challenge. And from a...
AE perspective, I think it's good to just new joiner at the company. I think it's good to have these phases of on-site onboarding, especially during the first weeks, the first months. It's really important to get to know the team, get to know the culture, feel the culture at the company. I mean, see how people are just running around when they're drinking coffee, what they're talking about, just get this kind of this small talk that you would not.
get during just yeah staying at home basically and then getting this integration into the team So I think it's definitely more important during the first six to twelve months And in general, I mean it should happen at least once per quarter. You should bring together the team Not just for fun events, but also for work. So just for an office week or something where they can
cold, cold together where they can just share experiences, work or talk about customer cases. And yeah, it's different because you cannot just replicate everything in a remote setting. And I know there are companies who are just strictly remote. They don't have an office at all. It can also work out, but especially for the companies that grow and have this hyper growth. And usually they start with an office.
and with one city and then see, okay, we need to hire a multi to grow. And then I think it becomes even more important to get both worlds together, kind of the remote people and the office people.
Alexander (33:13.642)
Yeah, absolutely. And what do you say, how do we track then, if an onboarding is successful or not? And what would be metrics that you would say, okay, these metrics are good?
Haris (33:25.408)
Yes. Well, of course, the time of being ready, I mean, when is a person, salesperson reaching full productivity in terms of activity, goals, in terms of, of course, revenue and sales quota. As a salesperson, of course, and working with salespeople, you can track that easily. But
Still also, I think you should track how many people stay during onboarding, how many leave, especially for large organizations. There are often these surveys also during onboarding. I think they're useless because I mean, especially when you're starting out, everything's cool and you don't even know what's not cool, what's not good. And everything is just fine. You give always five stars.
Even if not, I mean, often you're just not in the position to criticize. You're just joining, you're kind of finding your way. Um, but also, uh, if you set the expectation at the beginning and had regular check-ins with your manager, um, and kind of also reflecting, looking back, I think it's, it's always good to say, okay, was it like you expected it to be the first 60 days? Uh, what did you expect to be differently? What are you kind of wishes for?
the next 60 days, definitely having this feedback culture, I think, and regular check-ins. And yeah, it's never going to be like, I guess, for both sides like they imagined, because yeah, we're just people. And interview process, in my opinion, is rather short to get to know really someone, either a manager or a candidate, because it's just a couple of conversations. And yeah, you have to kind of build this relationship.
And so of course the more data you have better so you can compare to other Newgerland's other salespeople How quickly they ramped up how quickly they saw the first deal What I think is always difficult is if you take these metrics from one market Directly to another market. So you might have a US company and then they're entering the German market and then
Haris (35:47.776)
Yeah, just taking these numbers often won't work out. Sales cycles might be longer because of different reasons. Or if you have an SMB team that's successful and now you're building mid-market and you're just taking these numbers to mid-market, it's not going to work out. So you really have to do a lot of, I think, learning also on the way and experimenting and yeah, listening also to the people that join the company because often they bring in new experiences.
from former employers and just optimizing the whole process.
Alexander (36:20.958)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And maybe now when we come to the end, I would have another question. And for this question, I would like you to exclude for the answer your current employer, because otherwise you would be biased. So other than maybe Powerhouse, because you're still on onboarding, what was the best onboarding you ever had and why?
Haris (36:32.164)
Thanks for watching!
Haris (36:44.804)
Um...
Haris (36:49.876)
Well, the one very great, great onboarding was definitely at Coursera. I mean, it was still, I would say there was still a few things that could be optimized, but Coursera I think is very good at that because they are a company from EdTech, they're a company that's very much about learning, about development. And so they incorporated this into their onboarding process as well. So there were a lot of kind of
There was a lot of team collaboration, deal reviews, recordings, things like that. So especially sales enablement was very active there. There was the Challenger, uh, sale, uh, methodology and a lot of training on that. So, um, I've, that was definitely one of the better ones. And, um, this is also, I think, uh, not, um, about being good or bad, it's just at which stage your company is often when you're a company of 100 people, even 200 people.
You're just not ready. You're just starting to hire and you have to develop these onboarding systems. But also, I mean, I had onboarding, especially, I can tell you about the worst onboarding also. It was a team year and I love the company. I spent there three years and we get along very well now, but it was not a good onboarding because there was no onboarding basically. It was very much, I mean, I did it. I got to show it to you. This is how it's done. And...
It didn't work out with me. I think with other persons as well. So you have to see also the different personalities that you get on your team and then kind of think about who would be the best person to assist. And also this team dynamics as well. And you have to really do some thinking. You have to get the right people on board who have some experience.
with onboarding process, with sales enablement, but it's something that's growing and if the people are good, if the people are right, you can always figure it out, even if there's no onboarding, if it's not perfect. Uh, so, uh, the more I would say that the, the worst onboarding is the more you would have to do on your own. As a new joiner, you would have to learn more, put in more hours and just, yeah, I guess, listen to podcasts and read the books. Yeah. Like this one.
Alexander (39:13.178)
Like this one and give five star ratings. What? No. Yeah. Thank you so much. I think that that's very valuable. Maybe last question. What would you say are final thoughts, final tips for companies of designing onboardings just that you have, that you want to address to all the founders and go-to-market leaders listening out there currently designing their onboarding?
Haris (39:17.54)
Exactly.
Haris (39:43.448)
Yes. Well, definitely I would say put a focus on product on really making sure they understand fully what problem you're solving, what pains you're addressing for the prospects, for the customers. And...
I would also say not, don't rush the first sale. I mean, it's great to celebrate it, but make the people really ready so they can excel and if it takes one month longer. So, so it is, but, um, just make sure you invest the time that's necessary, depending on, on your product, on, on the resource that you have and, um, bring in some patients, I would also say not everyone is a self starter and then just immediately.
works like you would like in your Excel sheet. So yeah, people are people. Sometimes you have to invest in your salespeople and get the best reps in the end. And create your systems by time. Yeah, just, I mean, if you can get some consulting, but if not, just listen to also listen to new
Haris (41:07.616)
start to collect like you mentioned, I mean, start to record something, start to create a small library of the most important parts and so you don't have to set up a certain time and meeting for the basic stuff. So use the technology that's at your hand, gather the metrics so you can compare and yeah, also.
pair the right salespeople during onboarding.
Alexander (41:40.094)
Yeah, thank you so much, Harris. Yeah, that was it for the episode. Thank you so much to everyone for listening. Thank you so much to Harris for being my guest and for delivering amazing insights. If you have any questions to either me or Harris, just check out the show notes. Our LinkedIn is both linked there. Hit us up any time. Follow Harris, follow me. Give us a rating and yeah, see you at the next episode.