Sales training is broken. All too often, businesses rush this crucial phase and stick their new sales hires in one-day workshops or e-learning courses that only scratch the surface of what they need to thrive in their roles. Fast-tracking the ramp-up period feels efficient. But it rarely translates to efficacy.
The truth is that great salespeople need time to acquire and hone the multiple different skills that shape them into consistent sales performers. But, sales recruiter Kara Ellison explains that acquiring the perfect blend is easier said than done:
“There's no point in having loads of drive but being a terrible 'closer' or building a massive pipeline but lacking the ability to foster long-term relationships that means you end up winning that business. It is a hard mix to find.”
Building the right level of confidence, technical skill, commercial judgment, and emotional intelligence takes time. Specifically, it takes 90 days of hands-on, coach-led development, which we'll explore in more detail in this article.
However tempting it is to slot new sales hires into place and let them loose on your potential customer base, this approach leads to dangerous repercussions for the business. At Furza, we believe that success in sales roles takes at least three months of training. Here’s what you can expect if you try to fast-track this process with self-led learning off the bat.
Like a striker who never scores, a salesperson who’s never been taught to close will quickly become a liability. Your business depends on revenue, and every week it takes for a new hire to start contributing meaningfully affects your pipeline health and ROI.
According to industry benchmarks, account executives reach full productivity within 5.3 months on average. Sales development representatives (SDRs) ramp slightly faster, averaging 3.6 months. But without structured support, even this shorter window can stretch painfully longer, resulting in a blocked pipeline and tying up manager time in rework
When reps feel underprepared or unsupported in their first 90 days, they disengage and often leave. The result? You're back to square one, burning recruitment budget, time, and morale.
The cost of replacing a sales hire is steep: typically 30% of their annual salary, but that figure can rise to 200% for top-performing roles. The quality of your onboarding programme is heavily intertwined with these figures. When new hires don’t receive the structure, coaching, and clarity they need early on, you’ll notice it in your turnover rates. Specifically, research shows that attrition rates are 16% higher in organisations with weak onboarding. In target-driven environments, those early cracks can widen into real commercial losses.
One of the biggest consequences of skipped training is pipeline quality. When inexperienced reps don’t know how to qualify properly or position value early, they fill the funnel with the wrong stuff. It’s like watching someone pump air into a tyre with a hidden puncture. They’re working hard, but the pressure never builds.
Example: A new SDR is unclear on your ideal customer profile. Instead of focusing on high-fit accounts, they spend weeks chasing small fish and clogging the calendar with demos that won’t convert. This pipeline full of fluff gives them a false sense of momentum until the quarter ends and targets are missed.
When a prospect first comes across your brand or decides to interact with it, the first human they come across is typically a sales rep. Whether in person, on the phone, or online, their calibre of communication can elevate your brand or completely destroy it, depending on the sales experience you offer.
The challenge for new hires is learning how to represent your brand appropriately. And that doesn't happen overnight. It takes time for your sales team members to learn the ins and outs of the product, your brand voice, and, crucially, what not to say.
Without that foundation of judgment, reps default to what they do know: generic messaging, aggressive tactics, or clumsy pitches.
No one sets out with poor intentions, but the impact on your brand is real. Inconsistent sales interactions make your company seem unreliable, while pushy ones damage trust. And when messaging varies from one rep to the next, your value proposition also gets lost in translation.
We've learned that training new sales talent is integral to sales success. But it's how you train that makes the difference. In recent years, microlearning has become a go-to solution, offering short videos, quick tips, or Slack nudges designed to fit around a busy day. Naturally, this approach is popular with time-poor teams that aren't able to plunge resources into in-depth training.
But while microlearning has its place, it’s not enough to build true sales competence. Learning how to qualify, negotiate, handle objections, and represent your brand under pressure takes more than a five-minute read or a Monday morning prompt. Here’s why immersive training is the better bet.
One of the most effective drivers of successful onboarding is consistent, hands-on coaching. It's not enough to give new hires the tools and expect them to figure it out. They need someone beside them to model best practices and push them out of their comfort zone with purpose.
A 2022 study published in the Journal of Marketing by Wiseman et al. offers compelling evidence for this approach. The researchers compared two real-world onboarding methods: a centralised programme where new hires were trained off-site in a cohort and a decentralised model where reps were coached directly by their local sales managers.
The outcome? Salespeople who received coach-led, localised onboarding outperformed their peers by 23.5%. In cases where managers had smaller teams and could offer more hands-on attention, the performance boost climbed to nearly 30%. The study also found that this type of onboarding encouraged adaptive and innovative thinking, which is essential in high-stakes, modern sales environments.
Furza’s own model mirrors this coach-led approach. Instead of front-loading new hires with generic knowledge, our programme embeds them into a live environment, pairing them with experienced sales mentors from day one. The result is a faster, more confident ramp-up and reps who are both trained and trusted to represent your brand effectively.
Digging further into the science of our approach, a longer, more deliberate training programme also enables spaced repetition. This learning concept was coined by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus and works by reintroducing key information at increasing intervals, helping learners transfer knowledge from short-term memory to long-term understanding. It directly combats the "forgetting curve," a well-documented phenomenon where people forget up to 80% of new information within a month unless it's reinforced.
In sales training, this means your new hires shouldn’t just receive key information once. Rather than rushing through a firehose of content in week one, spaced repetition ensures knowledge sticks, behaviours build gradually, and real confidence develops over time.
Sales isn't a solo sport, and many successful reps have learned their tricks of the trade by watching others do it well. When new hires engage in peer learning and observation training, they absorb tone, timing, and objection handling and learn how to respond under pressure. Most importantly? They learn how to actively listen to their audience. Because you can't effectively sell a solution to someone if you don't know what their problem is in the first place. Swathi R., Sales Training and Quality Training Manager, agrees:
“Everyone thinks product knowledge is the toughest part of sales training. But in my experience, the real challenge? Helping salespeople genuinely understand the customer’s pain point - not just pitch a solution. Sales isn’t about talking. It’s about listening, connecting, and communicating with purpose.”
This kind of insight comes from being in the room (or on the call) with people who’ve done it before. When new hires hear how top performers phrase a tough question or calmly manage a pushback, it accelerates their learning far beyond what traditional training methods can offer.
Immediate feedback creates a two-way dialogue between trainers and trainees from the start. Regular feedback reinforces the right behaviours in the moment and corrects any minor missteps before they become embedded habits. When reps try out new techniques or messaging, they don’t have to wait for a quarterly review to find out if it landed. They learn through real-time coaching, reflection, and adjustment, all while the moment is still fresh.
Example: A new hire delivers a call introduction during a mock pitch. It’s flat. They list product features but miss the hook that would capture the prospect’s attention. A coach steps in immediately to say: “Let’s try that again - but this time, open with the pain point they care about.” The rep rephrases, practices again, and feels the improvement. That single loop shifts their approach to every call that follows.
| Model | Format | Pros | Cons | Outcome Risk |
| E-Learning Modules | Asynchronous | Scalable, cheap | No feedback, low engagement | High |
| 1-day-a-week training | Part-time cohort | Structured, social | Slow progress | Medium |
| Bootcamps | 1-2 weeks | Intense, focused | Less chance for spaced repetition. Should be paired with bespoke training for best result. | Medium - low |
| Coach-led 90-day immersion | Daily, real-world coaching | High retention, fast skills development | Requires resources, but the return on investment is fast and considerable | Very low |
Immediate feedback creates a two-way dialogue between trainers and trainees from the start. Regular feedback reinforces the right behaviours in the moment and corrects any minor missteps before they become embedded habits. When reps try out new techniques or messaging, they don’t have to wait for a quarterly review to find out if it landed. They learn through real-time coaching, reflection, and adjustment, all while the moment is still fresh.
By now, you know that not all sales training is created equal. Head of Consulting, Jesus Llamazares, sums it up:
"A lot of sales leaders believe they're investing in training. But when you take a closer look, much of it is just:
What’s often missing? Training that helps salespeople think like sales professionals. Instead of developing their mindset, reflection skills, or consultative approach, many companies stay focused on software, tools and processes. People are left to sink or swim. If they don’t succeed, the quick assumption is: “maybe they’re not cut out for sales.”
What these salespeople need is Furza’s structured, coach-led onboarding model: a 90-day programme designed to recruit, train and deliver.
First, we recruit commercially-minded graduates who show the potential to thrive in competitive sales environments. We partner with clients to assess fit, not just for the role, but for the team and business model.
Next, we immerse those graduates in the Furza Academy, a three-month programme built by experienced sales specialists to offer an array of practical, real-world training applications. Our model is tailored to each client’s solutions, market, and customers.
Finally, we deliver ready-to-perform sales professionals. Our grads hit the ground running, building relationships, spotting opportunities, and driving consistent revenue for the team and the overall business.
This is the model that helped Furza-trained graduates generate £835,584 in ARR for OpenECX in its first year. It’s also how our clients reduce attrition, protect brand reputation, and see meaningful contributions from new hires far faster than traditional methods allow.
Ready to build a scalable, resilient sales function with reps who are equipped, confident, and commercially effective from day one? Contact Furza today to discuss a tailored sales recruitment and training programme.
Contact our team today to find out more.