What a Sales Onboarding Manager at Salesforce Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Sales Industry
Transitioning from sales to sales onboarding training, Ryan learned that training budgets are often the first to be cut during economic downturns, impacting job security—a contrast to the clear revenue generation metrics of a sales role. The most valuable lesson learned was to "always starting with the end result in mind" when designing training programs, focusing on desired skills and outcomes rather than simply activities.
Sales Training, Onboarding, Revenue Generation, Program Development, Job Security
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Ryan Avolese
Sales Onboarding Trainer - Manager
Salesforce
University of Colorado
n/a
Business Management & Admin
Technology
Sales and Client Management
Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Training roles can be vulnerable to budget cuts during economic downturns.
2. The stability of a training role may be preferred over the stress of sales quotas.
3. When designing training programs, it is crucial to start with the desired end result and work backward to determine the necessary components.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone had told you before entering this industry?
I came from a sales role into a training role. When you're a sales rep, it's easy to show that you're generating revenue and how much money you're bringing into the company; you're profitable.
That's a bit harder to do on the training side. When times are tough, training is one of the first things that gets cut, especially around onboarding. So when we aren't hiring as many account executives, my job security can be lower.
That being said, I would rather have that than the stress of a monthly or quarterly quota as a sales rep. I think it's just something that would have been nice to think about ahead of time.
The second thing, more on the training side, is starting with the end result when you're building out new training programs. Just working backward from that, thinking about what skills and takeaways you want the account executives to have when they finish the program. Then build the program out from there, versus starting to think about what you're going to have them do. Always start with the end result in mind.