Motorola Sales onboarding program

Motorola

SaleS onboarding

program

Strategy to revenue

Marketing Case study

buSineSS ConditionS & buSineSS needS

Motorola solutions, a communications industry leader, faced three business needs:

1. Strategy transformation – from product-focused to solution-focused: To continue to grow its business,

Motorola Solutions had to deepen its relationship with customers by understanding their business needs, and provide holistic communications solutions that answer such needs.

2. Sales force transformation – from product-focused experts to solution-focused consultants in support of the company’s strategy transformation: This was

a complex initiative – from educating sales employees on the company’s rich portfolio of offerings; to training them on new sales methodologies, processes and tools; to creating a new sales culture. Add to that the company’s size and global footprint with sales employees in different regions in different sales functions – that made accelerating the speed of transformation even more challenging.

3. Wave of new hires: With new hires coming into

Motorola Solutions, there was an urgent need to quickly ramp up their proficiency in order to achieve the company’s aggressive sales goals. But as the company was actively going through the strategy and sales methodology transformation, on-boarding new employees in this time of change became even more challenging. Different regions and sales teams had their

own on-boarding activities without any standard or guidance on content, engagement methods, support, or measurement metrics. The new hires and their managers had to manage the on-boarding process on their own and had no benchmark on how effective their on-boarding experience had been.

In summary, in order to accelerate the sales force’s

transformation in support of the company’s overall strategy transformation, Motorola Solutions needed an efficient and effective way to on-board new hires and shorten their time to proficiency.

program overvieW

The Learning organization, as the company’s business enabler, wanted to close the gap and create a global on-boarding program. Because of the complexity and scale of the program and the short lead time, the team issued a RFQ to search for a program development partner. Strategy to Revenue (STR) was selected for its strength in delivering strategic consultation and sales execution programs, in-house expertise in Sales and Sales Management best practices, instructional and creative design expertise, and technology and broadcast media. With STR’s support, the Learning organization of Motorola Solutions developed an unconventional, business-focused on-boarding program.

the goals of the on-boarding program were as follows and were all achieved:

1. goal: Immerse sales new hires in the Motorola

Solutions brand and culture from the first moment they signed up to join the company.

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achievement: The Learning organization engaged

the Marketing organization to co-develop the on-boarding program name. With the company’s purpose being We help people be the best in the

moments that matter, the on-boarding program was

named: First moments learning roadmap. What’s more, for consistent visual branding, the on-boarding materials used iconography and typography from the company’s brand collateral library. The materials were

written in a direct and personal tone of voice, also following the Motorola Solutions brand guidelines.

2. goal: Develop a comprehensive on-boarding program

in the sales organization – a learning roadmap that can be used for all new hires with content customization and path variations for different go-to-market routes (direct sales vs. channel sales in different regions and specific roles).

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achievement: The content of the program covered

the necessary knowledge, skills, sales methodologies/ processes/tools, critical sales collateral materials and productivity resources to enable the new hires to be successful in their role. Both global and region-specific content was provided.

3. goal: Through instructional design to ensure the

learning activities drive towards targeted sales results, provide a common baseline of performance expectations for all sales new hires worldwide.

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achievement: Specific learning activities and

performance expectations were specified in the program – by the first 30, 60, and 90 days. Both the new hires and their managers had clear goals against which they could measure their participation and sales results.

On the next page is an example of proficiency expectations at the 30-day milestone:

learn

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Understand our go to market strategy and partner

framework

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Learn the roles, responsibilities and names of key

contacts in support organizations

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Understand employee support systems and tools

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Create your unique training plan with your manager

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Become familiar with the company’s sales methodology

and terminology

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Become familiar with our products, use cases ROI and

sales enablement tools

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Review each opportunity in your pipeline and

understand its Sales Way stage (Motorola Sales Methodology)

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Obtain [relevant] Motorola Solutions Associate level

certifications

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Be able to identify competitive differentiators

perForm

at this point in your journey have you:

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Prioritized your training plan?

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Accessed various sales productivity and collaboration

tools?

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Validated the current sales stage of the accounts in your

pipeline?

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Joined or conducted a customer/partner visit?

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Confirmed completion with your manager prior to

continuing the journey?

Managers were also provided a First moments Sales

leader guide to help their new hires stay on track. In the

guide were the Manager’s supporting tasks and activities to ensure the new hires were successful. Through such engagement, a strong employee-manager relationship could be quickly developed and the potential for success could be maximized in the shortest period possible.

Performance expectations at the 30-day milestone

4. goal: Provide easy access of the on-boarding program

materials to sales new hires since they would be out in the field most of the time.

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achievement: the complex program information

was built into an easy-to-use, interactive PDF guide that could be accessed from new hires’ laptop or other mobile devices, with links to various learning programs, sales and marketing collateral materials, various rich-media content (videos), sales tools and resources, online knowledge communities, etc. Many of these assets were hosted in cloud-based environments and employees could access them anytime, anywhere via secure single sign-on. New hires would not need to wait for any scheduled classes and could jump right into learning, eliminating time wastage.

As the program got implemented, the target outcome was that sales new hires would be able to identify opportunities, develop long-term relationships (internal and external) and close business more effectively.

deSign and delivery oF the program

desIGN – dIsCOVeRy

In order to achieve the desired goals and outcomes, the Motorola Solutions Learning organization and STR decided to execute a Discovery Phase as the first step of the Design process. The team wanted to gain valuable insights from stakeholders across sales functions and regions across a comprehensive range of topics. STR’s scope:

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business Focus & Strategy – Review and

understanding of the key focus areas for the business and other strategic initiatives – beyond their training needs. This would provide the context and alignment.

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metrics – Review and understanding of the metrics

including key performance indicators (KPIs) and management dashboards in place for sales to manage the business.

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Job role definitions – Review and understanding

of the various job roles within the sales organization including required tasks/activities and knowledge/skills to perform those roles.

training & onboarding

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Content – Review of existing content available and

assessment on its ‘fitness for purpose’ against the job role definitions. Highlight content overlaps, redundancy and, very importantly, reusability.

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delivery approach – Review of the current

learning delivery methods (classroom, eLearning, mobile, playbooks, tools etc.) to address the need for a learner-centric approach and to ensure it addresses the change in learning styles in the current information and social network age.

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access & reporting – Review of the existing learning

platforms (learning management system, intranets, etc.) in place to manage the curriculum content and reporting.

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Coaching – Review and understanding of any coaching

frameworks rolled out and adopted in the organization. Coaching is a critical component to the increasing the productivity and effectiveness of individuals and teams.

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performance management – Review and

understanding of the performance management process and its link to training and development.

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internal learning/training Skills & resources –

Understanding of the internal skills and resources available for both content development and delivery within the Motorola Learning Solutions organization. This will help to ensure STR make recommendations that take advantage of internal resources available to create a sustainable learning model.

STR conducted in-depth qualitative telephone interviews with 50 stakeholders including three quasi-new

hires in Sales, senior executives/sponsors of the sales transformation and the new sales methodologies, sales leaders from North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Motorola Solutions products and solutions owners and Human Resources. The discovery effort covered all regions, vertical industries, Motorola Solutions products and solutions, and routes to market.

The diverse challenges and recommendations expressed by interviewees were captured in summary tag clouds as part of the Discovery Presentation. An example of one of the tag clouds shown below:

an executive Summary was also produced for senior management.

Sample excerpts from the summary:

“First and foremost, new hires need a welcoming introduction to the organization and its ecosystem. That includes a history of MSI, its values, its culture, but most importantly who does what in Sales, Pre- Sales, Post Sales Support, customer service or operations, HR, IT, Legal and Finance in relation to: 1) the new employee; 2) their immediate team; 3) their accounts or territory 4) the technology – in that order.”

“Proficiency is not being measured, so gaps in learning are identified ad hoc and there could be hidden sales productivity costs.”

“A dashboard for the new employee and hiring manager where both could create and track a tailored curriculum was felt to be necessary.”

Specific recommendations were made, many of which were incorporated into the design of the program including:

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Program support from senior management

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Dedicated online destination for new hires to access

on-boarding information and training

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Annual face-to-face meetings with top accounts,

involving the entire Motorola Solutions team serving on the account – sales, engineers, customer service and support teams. Objective: create closer account collaboration among Motorola Solutions employees and achieve higher sales.

deSign – inStruCtional deSign

With the completion of the discovery phase, the team continued with instructional design to ensure the right learning activities were designated at the right on-boarding intervals (30, 60, 90 days) to meet the performance expectations.

That involved reviewing hundreds of existing documents, web pages, job aids, tools, and training programs across

regions and sales functions. Then duplicated content had to be rationalized, while older content had to be updated and even new content had to reflect the company’s transformation. The team had multiple iterations with the stakeholder team and interviewed SMEs to validate the activities and time intervals. The final selection of information and resources was comprehensive but not overwhelming, and worked towards developing eight specific proficiencies that drove performance:

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Use of sales tools

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Product knowledge

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Vertical industry knowledge

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Opportunity management

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Quote process

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Account management

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Territory management

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Internal network (support functions)

deSign – Creative development

Once instructional design is completed, creative development began.

Motorola Solutions’ Learning organization, Marketing organization, and STR collaborated and co-developed the on-boarding program name: First Moments Learning Roadmap, as an extension of the company’s brand promise – We help people be the best in the moments that matter. For the visual presentation theme, the STR design team and the Motorola Solutions Learning organization held multiple brainstorming sessions and selected the “journey” concept, utilizing various “road” and “cityscape” icons from the Motorola Solutions brand collateral library.

Along the road in the design, a set of icons was

developed to represent various types of activities, tasks and interventions (video, self-study, read, portal, course, discussion with manager, discussion with mentor, and practice, etc.). These sign posts directed new hires to the relevant information, resources or training courses via embedded links.

deSign – Final output

With instructional design content, creative concept and layout templates in place, the final step was to create the Learning Roadmap.

STR organized the information into the design templates and created embedded links to the various online

destinations where the information, resources and training were hosted. STR produced the end product using a common design tool, making it easy for updates in the future. Motorola Solutions could also easily repurpose the Sales Learning Roadmap content – from copy to artwork – for other functions and roll-out the program to the rest of the company.

delivery

The First Moments Sales Learning Roadmaps were delivered to new hires and their managers via various touch points and channels:

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Motorola Solutions Talent Acquisition Team sent the

First Moments Sales Learning Roadmap to the hiring manager upon candidate acceptance. As soon as the new hire received their employee credentials needed to log onto different intranets, the manager would give them the Learning Roadmap. The manager also received the accompanying coaching guide.

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In addition, the Learning Roadmap was posted in the

Sales intranet site and the new hires intranet site

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managers to encourage utilization and provide support to make the most out of the Learning roadmap.

engagement & implementation

The biggest challenge with engagement was around change management: the First Moments program was about a new set of expectations, aligning everyone on a new on-boarding tool and process, educating a significant size of workforce on how to use it and why it’s better. It’s been a collaborative approach that has multiple touch points and embedded support resources. From senior executive sponsorship to “white glove” support from the learning organization, we took a multi-pronged engagement strategy to ensure success.

executive sponsorship

The First Moments Sales Learning Roadmap began with a message from the president of the sales organization, in which he highlighted the importance of an accelerated ramp to proficiency. He made it clear that this on-boarding program was designed to enable the new hires to succeed quickly and he defined what success meant:

“Within the next six months, I expect you to become well-versed in our markets, our value propositions and our competitive differentiators. By then, you should be able to stand alone in front of a new partner or customer and speak with authority about how Motorola Solutions can help them be their best in the moments that matter.”

New hires understood from their first moments with

Design templates were created in various specifications and dimensions for deployment in various mediums – from web to mobile devices.

motivated to participate with full commitment in the on-boarding program because they knew they needed the information and training to succeed.

White Glove Follow-up support for Managers

In addition to following a self-direct learning path laid out in the Learning Roadmap, new hires also needed support and coaching from their managers. The Learning organization developed a “white glove” program,

proactively reaching out to the managers and providing them with a turn-key tool kit, so they could invest minimum amount of time in preparation work and make the biggest impact with the guidance they provide to their new hires.

The Learning organization designed a closed-loop communications cadence: every week HR would send a new hires/managers list to the Learning organization’s on-boarding program champion. This champion then coordinated with the regional Learning teams who would personally reach out to the managers with recent new hires confirmation to set up white glove sessions: (1) review with them the coaching guide; (2) ensure they understand the supporting activities and tasks they owned as managers; (3) confirm their commitment to delivering.

In the white glove sessions, the Learning team would review with the managers the Learning Roadmap as well as the accompanying coaching guide, making sure they understood the 30-, 60-, and 90-days performance indicators stated. Measuring their new hires’ behaviors

for managers to assess their progress. Coaching tips were provided for each of the proficiency areas, so managers could help the new hires improve immediately, focused on the areas they needed coaching specifically. Managers were also reminded of the supporting activities and tasks they owned as manager at each time interval. Completing the activities would set their new hires up for success as they embarked on the next set of learning and integration activities designated for the next interval milestone. With these complementary engagement strategies, the Learning organization was able to motivate the new hires to commit to the program and ensure their managers invested in enabling them to succeed throughout their first 90 days with the company – and beyond.

meaSureable beneFitS

The First Moments program was created to provide Motorola Solutions with a global, consistent method to set our sales new hires up for success according to the sales transformation efforts. Tracking new hires’ performance is our top priority:

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Comparing new hires going through the First Moments

on-boarding program to those who have joined the company prior to the launch of the program, we expect the former to generate revenue quicker, maintain higher pipeline velocity, and increase quota attainment.

As new hires are set up to succeed, turnover rate should be reduced.

As for tracking, we are employing a multi-pronged approach:

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We have embedded an evaluation survey link in

the First Moments Sales Learning Roadmap. We will compare our survey results against industry benchmarks of informal learning to look for enhancement opportunities.

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We are working with Sales, Finance, and HR

organizations to identify, collect and analyze the business data.

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In addition, we have selected a few employees and their

managers to participate in deep-dive evaluation using the success case methodology.

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We also have regular meetings with Sales leaders

and HR personnel to review the general progress of the program and measure that against the sales organization’s key performance indicators.

As the program was only introduced in late 2013, we are still in the data collection stage. But even in this initial stage, we have already received overwhelmingly positive

feedback from sales managers and new hires. On the next

page are some verbatim quotes.

From new hires:

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“Very helpful in terms of getting started and finding out

‘who’s who’ in terms of support teams.”

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“Provides a lot of help particularly in the early stages

when [salespeople are] not sure of what questions to ask.”

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“This is the best effort I’ve seen towards providing a

complete learning package in one place.”

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“A learning tool like this is what is needed in order

to help new reps avoid feeling as if they are left completely on their own in the learning process.”

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“New Sales reps need a sequential guide that offers

direction around what to do first, next and so on.”

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“I know that this approach will help shorten the time it

takes for salespeople to develop the skills needed to be successful.”

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“Being able to find everything that’s needed [in terms of

learning] in one place is probably the biggest win/”

From managers:

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“Giving managers a tool to track and evaluate new sales

team member’s progress will bring more consistency to the entire learning process.”

“We are constantly looking for ways to reduce the time it takes for a new reps to become productive. This learning plan will help a great deal in that regard”

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“The timing and expense of participating in boot camps

is not always feasible, the Sales Learning Guide offers a perfect alternative/”

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“Well done. Consistent deployment of this approach

will help new recruits become prepared in most aspects of what is required of salespeople.”

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“Building an Internal Network Support Team is the most

critical requirement in the sales learning curve. This method addresses that need.”

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“Our salespeople need to start learning on the day that

they start, not wait until a boot camp is scheduled. A learning plan that is immediately available is a much better method.”

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“I think [the tool] drives self learning which is great

but equally focuses on the important element of networking with the right people and finding out the how/what and who as far as how to get things done in the company. This will help enormously with first impressions for new employees.”

Our biggest pointer of success comes from the many requests the Learning organization has received from various Motorola Solutions leaders in functions other than sales to create a similar program for their teams!

Summary & the Future

In closing, the First Moments sales on-boarding program has proved to be a huge success even in such early stage:

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The starting point of an on-boarding program should

be the company’s priorities, with alignment and sponsorship from senior leaders. In the case of Motorola Solutions, as the company and the sales organization are going through strategy transformations, it’s even MORE critical for new hires to understand the new direction and sales methodologies from their very first days.

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The standardized global approach with

regional-specific and role-regional-specific learning paths allows regions and teams to have healthy debates, share best practices and raise the overall on-boarding standards.

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An effective on-boarding program must be

comprehensive in scope: from company and product knowledge to tools, processes, and people connections. Learning activities come in different formats: from formal courseware to informal learning resources, job aids, field activities, mentoring, and networking.

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Sales employees and managers are pressed for time.

They want on-boarding information and resources

to be streamlined and compiled in one destination, accessible anytime, anywhere, in any device.

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From the design of the program to results tracking, the

focus must be field performance and business impact.

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Ensure the program is scalable – use technologies

and creative designs tools that allow for easy content management and updates.

The team is also building out online communities for new hires utilizing the company’s internal collaboration platform. This will provide even wider networking opportunities for new hires and they can get coaching from even more employees.

The Motorola Solutions Learning organization has been working on the roll-out plan of the First Moments on-boarding program to more internal organizations. Finally, as we continue to roll-out the program, we will ensure we stay with our strategy – that the Learning Roadmap must allow for personalization. We hire many industry experts who may or may not need certain vertical or product learning. The First Moments Learning Roadmap enables them to flex their path and ensure they are getting the pieces that will ramp them the fastest. With their expertise accounted for, the program will not mandate duplication of knowledge the new hire already has.