Let’s be brutally honest: sales onboarding, as it stands in most organisations, is a well-meaning failure. Is it time to rethink onboarding?
A new hire arrives, and gets a few days of product training. They sit through some generic sales process workshops, then handed a quota. Expected to build pipeline, engage prospects, and close deals within a few months follows. Often with no real integration between sales, marketing, and customer success.
What happens next?
- Pipeline data is patchy at best because the new rep doesn’t fully understand ICP or how to qualify.
- Marketing campaigns miss the mark because sales isn’t providing real feedback from the field.
- Deals stall because the handoff between sales and customer success is an afterthought, not a process.
The result? Sales leaders look at the numbers try to figure out why reps aren’t converting at expected rates. Meanwhile, marketing wonders why leads aren’t closing, and customer success braces for another round of misaligned expectations.
Onboarding Isn’t a Checklist. It’s Your GTM Execution in Microcosm
Joe Mullings, on The Inquisitor Podcast, put it bluntly: it takes a village to properly onboard someone into a revenue team. Not just a hiring manager, not just a sales trainer, not just a buddy system.
It takes 8 to 10 people acting as Sherpas, guiding the new hire not just through the mechanics of the job, but through the unwritten rules, the cross-functional relationships, and the critical decision-making frameworks that drive real revenue.
If you want a predictable, high-performing sales team, onboarding must be a direct reflection of your GTM strategy.
The Problem: Sales & Marketing Integration Routinely Scores Poorly
We surveyed over 250 salespeople across 11 critical areas, and the same issue surfaced repeatedly:
❌ Sales & Marketing Integration is a consistent weak point.
Why? Because onboarding sets the wrong precedent?
New hires trained in isolation. Sales learns the pitch. Marketing reviews messaging. Customer success refines onboarding workflows. But nowhere in that process do these functions learn to operate as an interconnected revenue engine.
The Fix: The Sherpa Model for Revenue Team Onboarding
A high-functioning sales team isn’t just trained, it’s embedded into the broader revenue ecosystem from day one. That means structuring onboarding around cross-functional relationships, not just skill acquisition.
Here’s what that could look like:
1. ICP Development from Day 1
Instead of handing a new rep a generic ICP slide deck, they get a deep-dive session with not only Marketing and Customer Success, but all business functions. They work through:
✅ Who are the most profitable, highest-retention customers?
✅ What messaging actually resonates in sales conversations?
✅ Where does misalignment happen between sales promises and customer reality?
This builds a shared understanding of the customer, ensuring reps don’t just chase leads, they qualify pipeline with precision.
2. Pipeline Triage Training with a Revenue Leader
New salespeople shouldn’t be left to “figure it out” when it comes to pipeline quality. A senior sales leader should walk them through live deal reviews, showing:
✅ Deals sticking points. Where and why.
✅ How to spot red flags early and the amber and green.
✅ What real decision-makers sound like in conversations.
This turns pipeline review into an ongoing learning process, not just an end-of-quarter panic session.
3. Marketing & Sales Feedback Loops as Standard
Every new hire should have a dedicated Marketing Liaison responsible for gathering and acting on sales insights. That means:
✅ Regular “what’s working, what’s not” sessions.
✅ Reps giving live feedback on real marketing-qualified leads (MQLs).
✅ A culture where sales isn’t just closing deals—it’s shaping the GTM strategy.
When sales and marketing co-own the ICP and messaging, lead quality improves, conversion rates increase, and friction disappears.
4. Sales-Ready Onboarding vs. Sales Training
Most onboarding is information overload, followed by trial by fire. Instead, design sales onboarding for active execution.
✅ Week 1: Customer deep dives, live pipeline reviews, and peer-led objection handling sessions.
✅ Week 2-4: Shadowing calls, practice pitches, and early-stage deal qualification.
✅ Month 2: First solo deals, but with structured coaching and feedback loops.
✅ Month 3: Clear KPIs around pipeline contribution, lead conversion, and messaging effectiveness.
This ensures new hires aren’t just busy, they’re producing revenue momentum early, with the right habits baked in.
The Business Impact of Getting This Right
Designed onboarding as a revenue accelerator, and the entire sales engine benefits:
📈 Faster Ramp Time – Because reps aren’t learning in isolation, they’re integrating into the GTM motion from day one.
🔥 Higher Sales Productivity – pipeline is triaged early, so reps aren’t wasting time on bad-fit leads.
🤝 Stronger Sales & Marketing Collaboration – Because ICP development and messaging alignment happen before a rep starts selling.
🚀 Better Win Rates – Because customer expectations are set correctly from the start, reducing churn and buyer remorse.
What’s Your Next Step?
If you’re responsible for sales training, pipeline health, or revenue growth, here’s the real question:
Would you rather keep firefighting—endlessly fixing misalignment, retraining reps, and salvaging deals?
Or would you rather design an onboarding experience that builds high-performing revenue teams from day one?
