The Ultimate Sales Onboarding Checklist: How to Ramp Your Team Successfully

3 common challenges for sales onboarding

As important as sales onboarding is, you’ll need a robust plan to overcome the following hurdles. 

Internal misalignment

Top of the list is internal communication. When a new sales rep shows up on their first day, they shouldn’t be made to feel as if they’re burdening anyone just by being there. But that can only happen if all the teams in your organisation expect their arrival. Misalignment can occur if, for example, the IT team haven’t been told to provision hardware and grant access privileges to sales tools. 

Any type of misalignment here can lead to delays in every aspect of onboarding. The good news? With a bit of process organisation, it’s an easy fix.

Tool overwhelm

While most new sales team members will likely have some experience using tools, they might not be familiar with the specific software your company is using. And in most companies, there’s a lot of it. A recent Salesforce report found that sales professionals use an average of 10 tools to close a deal. 

Low knowledge retention

Onboarding in any role requires a fast handover of information to the new team member, so they can quickly understand what they’re supposed to be doing. The problem? A psychological condition known as the “forgetting curve” means that people can forget up to 80% of new information within a month unless it’s reinforced.

The solution here isn’t to dump a heap of documentation and training videos on your new sales hire, and then leave them to it. Instead, commit to regular hands-on sales training spaced over a few months, allowing them to build and broaden their knowledge over time, leading to better performance in the long run. 

What should sales onboarding include?

The golden rule of sales onboarding is that it should be customised to the new hire’s role and your overall company. That said, a comprehensive programme will cover the following areas.

Preboarding

Preboarding starts as soon as contracts are signed, but before your new sales rep starts at your company. This is the time to focus on: 

• Alerting relevant people within your company: At a minimum, make sure HR, IT, finance, and the sales team know about the new arrival’s start date and role. You’ll likely want to alert other key teams and employees, such as your marketing and customer success functions. 
• Setting up the workspace: Whether you offer a physical or remote environment, make sure your new hire is equipped with everything they need to work in a clean and professional workspace. For remote workers, this may mean shipping a laptop and other hardware, and providing access to a home office stipend. 
• Ensuring tech and building access: Your sales rep can’t become productive if they’re repeatedly faced with the dreaded “Access denied” message, every time they try to log in. Make sure your IT department provides access to all the necessary tools, email lists, shared drives, and communication channels, so they can hit the ground running. Similarly, if your building requires a security pass, make sure you issue these. 
• Assigning onboarding support: If your programme includes an onboarding buddy, make sure you’ve provided that team member with everything they need to support the new employee, and help them settle in.
• Sending a welcome email: The gap between accepting an offer and the first day in the job can be unsettling for the new hire. Put them at ease by sending an email packed with valuable information, including their induction schedule. Always provide a point of contact for any queries. 

Company overview

You may have used the interview process to discuss how the role you’re hiring for fits into the team and overall company strategy. But onboarding is a great opportunity to cement that understanding. 

Provide your new hire with: 

• Your current org chart: Include names, job titles, and reporting lines so your new hire understands where they fit, who they’ll work with, and how decisions flow across the business. If the company is growing quickly, add some context around how the structure is evolving.
• Company mission and vision: Explain what drives your company, what success looks like, and why it matters, both internally and to your customers. Salespeople need to sell with conviction, and that starts with aligning on purpose.
• Your founding story and business model: Deliver a short summary of the company’s origin and how it makes money. This helps reps understand the “why” behind your product and how to pitch its value.
• Key policies and compliance essentials: Use this time to cover relevant workplace policies, legal and ethical sales practices, data handling protocols, and any industry-specific compliance standards. A clear grasp of the rules builds trust and protects your business.

Cultural integration

This is one of the most important components of your onboarding programme. Social connections are essential in the workplace, with 69.5% of employees admitting they’d be happier if they had deeper connections with their work colleagues. Help your new hire feel like one of the team by: 

• Booking 1:1s with team members: Schedule informal chats with teammates across different levels, including leadership. Give new hires a chance to understand team dynamics and learn how others work.
• Pairing them with a colleague: Introduce your new starter to a peer in a similar role, who’s their go-to person for any questions or support with unwritten rules of the company. They can also provide a tour of the physical office. 
• Encouraging social participation: Invite your new hire to team lunches, Slack/Teams channels, or after-work socials (virtual or in person). 
• Sharing cultural rituals: Explain how your company values show up day to day. What behaviours do you reward? How do you celebrate wins? What does “being a team player” actually look like at your company?

Market and ICP Training

Your reps may already be great at sales, but they still need to learn how to sell to your market. Market and ICP training helps reps prioritise their efforts and personalise their outreach so they can speak directly to your buyers’ needs. Focus on giving your new hire a grounded, practical understanding of your core customer base by covering:

• Your Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs): Break down your primary buyer personas, by job titles, industries, company size, typical buying triggers, and deal cycles. Help new sales people visualise who they’re talking to and what motivates them.
• Customer pain points and goals: Go beyond product features and talk about real-world business challenges. What are your prospects trying to fix, avoid, or improve? How do they currently solve the problem (if at all)?
• Competitive landscape: Give an overview of who you compete with and how your offer stacks up. What alternatives are your customers considering, and what makes your solution stand out?
• Key industry trends: Help your reps sound informed in early conversations by highlighting current trends, including shifts in buying behaviour and any economic pressures relevant to your space.
• Case studies and real examples: Use existing customer stories to illustrate how different segments of your market interact with your solution. What challenges did they face, and what outcomes did they achieve?

Pro tip: Provide extra value here by moving away from stale Powerpoint presentations, and instead encourage your new sales hires to review real recorded calls or shadow more senior salespeople. The more context they get, the more credibility they’ll have in customer conversations.

Product and service offering deep dive

Unlike market training, which focuses on who your customers are and what they care about, product and service training is about how your solution addresses those needs. Focus this part of onboarding on:

• Product overview sessions: Cover the core functionality of your product or service, common use cases, and how it integrates into a customer’s workflow or solves a specific pain point.
• Unique selling propositions (USPs): Clarify what differentiates your solution from competitors. Focus on the outcomes your product delivers and why that matters to your ICP.
• Demo training: If salespeople are responsible for giving demos, make sure they’ve observed several real examples before delivering their own. Offer demo scripts, objection handling tips, and a safe space to practice and get feedback.
• Customer lifecycle context: Explain what happens after a deal is signed. How is the product delivered or implemented? What do customer success or onboarding teams handle? Understanding this improves handoffs and sets more accurate expectations in sales calls.
• Support FAQs and product limitations: No product is perfect. Let your reps know what questions or concerns commonly arise and how to respond with transparency and confidence.

By the end of this section, salespeople should feel confident enough to run through a product overview and pitch your key differentiators without relying on notes. It’s a key milestone in their ramp-up process.

Tool and process onboarding

Many new hires will have used CRMs or engagement platforms before, but every company’s tech stack and workflows are slightly different. This part of onboarding should help reps understand what each tool does and when and why they should use it. Cover: 

• CRM training: Whether you use Salesforce, HubSpot, or another platform, show your new sales hires how to track leads, manage their pipeline, update opportunities, and log activity correctly. Walk through real deal cycles in the system to show how it works in practice.
• Sales engagement tools: If your team uses tools like Outreach, Salesloft, or Apollo, provide training on how to build sequences, track engagement, and personalise outreach effectively. 
• Internal communication and knowledge systems: Make sure new hires know where to find internal resources, templates, call recordings, and best-practice playbooks — whether that’s in Notion, SharePoint, or a custom learning management system. 
• Analytics and reporting: Teach reps how to access and interpret the dashboards they’ll be responsible for. What metrics will they be measured against? What insights can they use to improve performance?
• Sales process walkthrough: Tie the tools back to your broader sales process. What happens at each stage of the funnel? What actions are expected at discovery, proposal, negotiation, and close?

Performance expectations

Without clear targets, reps are left guessing about what “good” looks like. Fill your sales reps with confidence and direction by providing: 

• Clear role expectations: From day one, your new sales hires should understand exactly what their responsibilities are. This includes day-to-day expectations, performance standards, and behavioural expectations, like CRM hygiene and collaboration standards.
• KPIs and 30/60/90-day goals: Break down what success looks like at each stage of their ramp-up. This might include metrics like number of calls made, meetings booked, opportunities created, or revenue closed, depending on the role. 
• Performance review timelines: Let reps know when and how they’ll be evaluated. Will there be weekly check-ins? Monthly progress reviews? Transparency builds trust and gives salespeople a chance to course-correct early
• Ongoing coaching and check-in plans: Onboarding doesn’t stop at week four. Schedule regular 1:1s to discuss progress, challenges, and opportunities for growth. Use call reviews, shadowing, and feedback loops to help reps continuously improve.

Sales onboarding checklist

A comprehensive onboarding programme should cover the following areas:

Preboarding

• Notify HR, IT, finance, sales, and other relevant teams of the new hire’s start date
• Order and set up all hardware (laptop, monitor, headset, cables, etc.)
• Provide tech access: CRM, drives, email, sales tools, and communication platforms
• Provide access passes for the building, as required 
• Notify an onboarding buddy of the new hire’s start date 
• Send a welcome email with induction schedule and point of contact

Company overview

• Share the current org chart with reporting lines and team structure
• Communicate company mission, vision, and key strategic goals
• Provide context on the company’s founding story and business model
• Review key company policies, compliance guidelines, and data protection standards

Cultural integration

• Schedule 1:1s with team members across levels and departments
• Pair the new hire with their onboarding buddy 
• Provide a tour of the premises 
• Invite them to work chats, team lunches, or virtual meetups
• Introduce company rituals, celebrations, and values in practice

Market and ICP training

• Define primary ICPs (industry, persona, company size, buying triggers)
• Explain customer pain points and goals
• Share competitive landscape overview
• Highlight relevant market or industry trends
• Walk through real case studies and recorded customer calls

Product and service deep dive

• Deliver product overview sessions (core functionality and use cases)
• Explain USPs and competitive differentiators
• Provide demo training with scripts, objection handling, and live examples
• Outline the customer lifecycle and key internal handoffs
• Discuss common support FAQs and known product limitations

Tool and process onboarding

• Train on CRM workflows (lead tracking, pipeline management, activity logging)
• Walk through sales engagement tools (email sequences, cadences, tracking)
• Provide access to internal knowledge systems and best-practice content
• Introduce reporting dashboards and explain key metrics
• Map tools to your sales process, from discovery to close

Performance expectations

• Set clear role responsibilities and behavioural expectations
• Define KPIs and create a 30/60/90-day performance plan
• Communicate performance review timelines and criteria
• Schedule ongoing coaching, feedback sessions, and call reviews

Set your sales hires up for success with Furza

Creating a structured, comprehensive onboarding experience is just the start. The best results come when that experience is backed by ongoing training and a long-term investment in your people. That’s exactly where Furza comes in.

Unlike one-and-done induction days or passive LMS modules, Furza delivers hands-on, coach-led programmes, blending classroom learning and roleplay that build sales capability over time. New hires gain the confidence, accountability, and real-world experience they need to succeed. 

Our approach achieved success for the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS.) With Furza’s support, they built and scaled a junior sales team from scratch, halved ramp time, and saved over 300 hours of internal management time, all while boosting team performance from day one. Richard MacLean, Chief Commercial Officer at BCIS, describes: 

“The team joined us after finishing the one-month intensive training understanding what was expected of them and exactly how to execute their role. They had the key skills and frameworks in place to start making an impact, completely exceeding all my expectations. The Furza team continued to support the SDRs whilst they were actively engaging in their role, providing us with transparent feedback. This streamlined the management and continued development of the team, whilst helping us save time and drive quick ROI.”

Ready to level up your onboarding and develop a high-performing salespeople? Contact Furza today to discuss a tailored sales recruitment and training programme.