76 Filling your Talent Bank and hiring strong candidates are only the beginning. As a manager, your role needs to be dynamic in order to push your team to be the very best, close more business, increase market share, and drive company growth. Under- standing the perspective of the salespeople you’ve hired can help you get the most out of your sales team. That’s why we’ve surveyed a selection of top sales talent. We wanted their insight and experience about the whole process, from recruitment and hiring to development and retention. The results of this research are the basis for our four-part series of articles. With recruitment and selection down, it’s time to turn attention to the penultimate topic – de- velopment. Onboarding Talent Onboarding is incredibly important, and this is best revealed when listening to top sell- ers who have been in the industry for a long time. Their perspective on what it was like to be a new salesperson when there was no on- boarding versus what companies are capable of providing today is incredibly enlightening. THE SELLER’S PERSPECTIVE ON DEVELOPMENT How Top Performers View Their Integration and Growth in Their New Company "When I was hired almost 26 years ago, there was no onboarding. You learned on your own. I have to say that Townsquare Media has the best onboarding. They have new hires go through Townsquare University which jump starts their knowledge on the company and all the products." Gone are the days of handing a new seller a phone book and wishing them good luck. To compete as a top employer today, it is critical to have a well-thought-out onboarding plan ready to go, before that new hire even walks in the door. Studies show that a strong onboarding pro- gram can increase employee productivity by 60% and the salespeople we spoke with agreed that it can make the difference be- tween success and failure. Many also shared that the best onboarding programs are cus- tomized to their unique level of knowledge, skills, and experience.