This document provides 22 tips for improving sales readiness. It discusses the importance of formalizing sales onboarding programs, using blended learning approaches that combine in-person and online training, making training content mobile accessible, gamifying training to increase engagement, focusing training on understanding the buyer's perspective and needs, prioritizing selling skills training, providing continuous reinforcement of skills through ongoing training, leveraging social selling and sharing of success stories, tailoring training and messaging for specific buyer personas, using video for engaging and memorable training, providing guidance on conducting value-added conversations, and ensuring training content is easily accessible anytime from any device. The goal is to equip sales reps with the necessary skills, knowledge, and resources to have successful conversations that

1. TIPS FOR
BETTER SALES
READINESS

2. CONTENTS
Introduction
1 . . . . . Formalize Sales Onboarding
2 . . . . . Flip the Classroom
3 . . . . . Go Mobile (Your Reps Already Have)
4 . . . . . Make Readiness a Contest
5 . . . . . Shift Your Product Focus to the Buyer
6 . . . . . Prioritize Selling Skills
7 . . . . . Reinforce, Rinse, Repeat
8 . . . . . Keep It Social
9 . . . . . Know What Your Reps Know
10 . . . Start a Mentoring Program
11 . . . Share Success Stories
12 . . . Know Who You’re Selling To
13 . . . Embrace the Power of Video
14 . . . Fuel the Conversation
15 . . . Provide Easy Content Access
16 . . . Keep Your Reps (& Your Content) in the CRM
17 . . . Put Content in Context
18 . . . Control the Show
19 . . . Use Content (Analytics) as a Proxy
20 . . . Coach the Gap
21 . . . Fill Your Sales Toolkit
22 . . . Assemble Your Support Staff
About Brainshark

3. Able, adjusted, all systems go, apt, equipped, fit, in
order, organized, planned, prepared, primed, qualified,
rehearsed, set.
These are all synonyms for the word ready. The
question is, can you really be sure that these words
apply to your sales team? Is each and every rep ready
to consistently have more successful conversations
with prospects and customers? Are they prepared to
deliver the VALUE that moves deals forward?
After all, just because reps THINK they’re ready,
doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, there is a real and
universal struggle at many organizations to get
sales reps ready (able, adjusted, equipped…) to sell
efficiently, effectively, and productively.
According to The TAS Group, as many as 67% of sales
reps fail to reach quota every year. Forrester Research
reports that nearly 90% of sales conversations fail to
meet the expectations of executive buyers. Does that
sound like a sales force that’s truly ready (fit, in order,
organized, planned…) to get the job done?
Introduction
Naturally, it all starts with effective training
the moment new reps walk through the door.
But onboarding alone is only one piece of the
sales readiness equation. Being ready (qualified,
rehearsed, set…) to sell also requires continuous
reinforcement of sales knowledge and behavior;
the insight to coach reps with maximum impact;
and more and more, the right content to help reps
prepare for every call, every meeting, and every
conversation.
To help you not only shift the way you think about
sales readiness, but actually take steps towards
ensuring your own sales organization’s readiness,
we have compiled 22 tips to guide you.
Are YOU ready?

4. FORMALIZE
SALES
ONBOARDING
Onboarding might seem obvious, but SiriusDecisions
reports that 38% of companies lack a formalized sales
onboarding program1
– and that’s a BIG problem for
sales readiness. Onboarding is the first line of defense
for ensuring that sales reps have the selling skills,
product knowledge, industry expertise and more to be
successful.
By formalizing this process, not only are you setting
the tone that training is something to be taken
seriously, you are able to ensure comprehension and
completion, and decrease the time it takes to get reps
ramped up and selling productively.
While less structured, informal learning can be great
for continuous reinforcement of skills and messaging
later on, formal training is a must for getting reps off
on the right foot.
1
–Liz Couchon, Director of Sales
Knowledge Management, Brainshark
“If you don’t get your
reps productive quickly,
you’re losing revenue.” 2

5. See how Brainshark
can help
FLIP THE
CLASSROOM
While live and in-person sales training has its place, it’s
not always practical. On-demand, virtual eLearning is
a great way to supplement your live sales training, add
more flexibility for reps, increase engagement, and avoid
scheduling issues.
Ideally, your training should include a blended approach
that provides the best of both worlds. By “flipping
the classroom”, you reverse the typical training
environment by delivering most instruction outside the
classroom, and bringing activities that reinforce that
learning inside the classroom.
Quick Tip
Create an on-demand eLearning environment where
reps can access and complete learning content online,
on their own time. Then, you can use the classroom
time to interact, discuss, and apply sales, product, and
company knowledge through simulations and role-play.
2

6. With mobile technology like
tablets, companies are betting
that quick and more flexible
access to these resources will
encourage sales reps to use these
tools more effectively – and it’s
already paying off.” 3
GO MOBILE
(YOUR REPS
ALREADY HAVE)
Reps live on their mobile devices—so why not make sure
your training content is mobile-ready and accessible
wherever they are? An article from eWeek touts the
growth of tablet adoption for small and mid-sized
business (SMBs), with 97% saying “anytime, anywhere
access to data and applications makes employees more
effective” and 83% indicating that mobile-ready content
“would have a high or medium business impact.”
Quick Tip
For the ever-mobile sales rep, access to resources while
they’re at home or on the road is huge. Whether reps are
taking a formal training course or simply preparing for
a meeting later that day, all your content and resources
should be accessible and optimized for the devices they
use most.
3
“
–Brendan Cournoyer, Director of
Content Marketing, Brainshark

7. MAKE
READINESS
A CONTEST
Harness reps’ competitive spirits by benchmarking against
a standard of performance. Attach points, prizes and public
displays of progress to training to keep sales reps motivated and
engaged.
“Corporate giants such as SAP, Comcast, PayPal, and Stanley
Black & Decker are tapping gamification to inspire sales teams,”
writes Bob Marsh for Inc.com. “Some of the country’s best and
brightest companies have leveraged gamification theory and
produced legitimate business results.”4
Quick Tip
Making learning events a game is one way to approach this. For
example, who does the best corporate pitch? Video tape them,
and share examples of the best reps. A Salesforce blog post
quantifies the impact of these sorts of competitions, reporting
that the majority of surveyed companies saw an increase
in measured sales performance between 11% and 50% after
implementing gamification.5
4

8. SHIFT YOUR
PRODUCT FOCUS
TO THE BUYER
Some sales reps like your products SO much that
they want to talk about them all the time. And if
you’re products are cool, your prospects will listen
– to a point. The thing is, rote memory alone won’t
serve your reps well if they can’t translate it to solve
problems. The challenge is ensuring your reps are
ready to connect the product’s possibility to the
customer’s reality.
Quick Tip
Train reps to focus the conversation on the
customer’s challenges, and reach agreement on
the problem they are trying to solve. Then help
them learn to shift the demo from being a review of
features/functions to an in-context demonstration of
the solution to that problem. Role play, simulations,
and (when you think they’re ready) observed
prospecting calls are great ways to reinforce these
buyer-centric conversation skills.
5
–Tamara Schenk,
Research Director, MHIGlobal
“Value messages have to be focused on
what a product, solution or service
means for the customer’s specific
situation and their desired results and
wins, rather than what a product is and
what it does.” 6

9. PRIORITIZE
SELLING
SKILLS
Are your reps proficient in the basics of selling – or
do you just assume they are? Studies show that reps
spend 19 hours per year on product training, but only
14 hours on actual sales training.7 But just because
reps know a lot about your product, doesn’t mean
they’re ready to sell it.
Quick Tip
Don’t gloss over the cold calling, prospecting
emails, corporate pitch, and face-to-face customer
conversation aspects of your training. Ensure you’ve
adequately covered, practiced, and coached around
prospect engagement, value delivery, and plain old
selling skills.
This “back to basics” approach can go a long way once
reps are out in the field; after all, what good is product
knowledge if you can’t articulate it in a way that moves
deals forward?
6
Cold Calling
Prospecting
Pitch

10. REINFORCE,
RINSE,
REPEAT
Studies show that reps tend to forget 80% of what
they learned within 6 months of their initial training
sessions.8
To keep reps prepared and productive,
training needs to be continuously reinforced long after
they’ve been hired and onboarded.
Quick Tip
This is where self-paced, virtual learning options
can help. By offering reps the flexibility to take a
training course or refresh their memories on their
own – without being forced to block out an entire day
for another in-person training session – the doors are
opened for a more continuous learning strategy. For
example, instead of annual or semi-annual training,
salespeople can keep their skills fresh throughout the
year with short, targeted eLearning modules.
7
“
–Andy Paul, Author,
Zero Time Selling
In most small to medium-sized
enterprises, sales training is treated
as a one-time event. Companies
need to do a better job of providing
a [continuous] structure for
professional development and
learning for sales.” 9

11. KEEP IT
SOCIAL
8
It’s been reported that more than 70% of salespeople
that use social selling these days outperform their
sales peers, and exceed quota 23% more often.10
But
not all reps feel comfortable enough using social
media to make it a staple of their sales process. In fact,
many aren’t even willing to try.
While it’s likely that you already have a few reps
who know their way around Linkedin and Twitter,
if you want the rest of your sales force to use social
effectively, you’ll have to show them how. Start simple
so as not to overwhelm them. Demonstrate the value
so they don’t view it as a waste of time. And at the very
least, make sure they all have professional headshots
for their profiles!
Also, if you’re serious about social and not sure where
to start, remember that many social selling technology
providers also offer training and consulting as part of
their services.

12. KNOW
WHAT YOUR
REPS KNOW
When it comes to providing resources for sales
readiness and training, you don’t want to just send
out content to reps and hope for the best. You need to
be able to actually SEE if reps have completed virtual
training, reviewed product updates, read executive
messages, been briefed on competitive information,
and so on, to ensure they are ready to have the high-
value conversations that are expected of them.
Quick Tip
Content analytics can help keep your finger on the
pulse of sales reps’ level of preparedness without
being face-to-face. At the very least, you should be
able to see which reps have opened and reviewed
content items, while virtual training resources should
make it easy to track comprehension and completion.
See how Brainshark
can help
9

13. START A
MENTORING
PROGRAM
Your “A” reps (top performers) are secret weapons when
it comes to sales readiness. Leveraging the knowledge of
your best salespeople and encouraging them to impart
their wisdom to “B” and “C” level reps is a great way to
increase productivity and preparedness across your
sales force.
You can take peer-to-peer feedback a step further by
establishing a formal mentor program. This creates the
structure for senior, more experienced reps to guide new
hires.
Quick Tip
Reps are typically very independent workers and may
not go for this idea right away. Their quota is their
number one priority, so you may need to incentivize
participation. For example, if their mentee is successful,
find a way for it to trickle down to the mentor rep who
advised them.
10

14. SHARE
SUCCESS
STORIES
As the saying goes, knowledge not shared is knowledge
wasted. Reps should be sharing stories of their wins,
how they approach deals, and even recognize the key
players who helped close them.
Sharing these stories through email or an internal
social network like Salesforce Chatter not only
increases visibility into what reps are doing and the
new customers they bring in, but allows everyone
to learn and benefit from the tactics and strategies
that work.
11
“
–Rachel Clapp Miller, Force Management,
a GrowthPlay Company
Highly effective sales teams have
something in common that merely
adequate teams rarely possess:
a high level of sharing among
salespeople. When individual
performers hoard information and
best practices, it may benefit them
individually in the short term, but it
does nothing for the whole team.” 11

15. A company doesn’t sign the
purchase order; a person within
the company does. Accordingly,
they should be communicated
with—from content to
conversations—as distinct
individuals.” 13
KNOW WHO
YOU’RE SELLING TO
Are your reps prepared to demonstrate industry
and persona acumen for target segments? Are they
ready to have value-added conversation with unique
audiences, and demonstrate that they understand
their business and, more importantly, their
challenges?
As Forrester’s Laura Ramos writes in a recent
report, it’s time to humanize the sales process—and
organizations need to support that transition through
customer-focused sales enablement.
The report cites that 50% of B2B buyers want to
work with suppliers who “understand my business,
culture, and how to help me execute.” 12
Part of
sales readiness involves understanding the unique
challenges of different buyers so you can arm reps
with the messages that will engage and resonate with
them most.
12
“
–Wendy Goeckel, Sales
Enablement Principal, Brainshark

16. EMBRACE
THE POWER
OF VIDEO
Studies show that audiences retain information at
a much higher rate when they can see and hear it. In
fact, when it comes to training retention, one minute
of video is equal to about 1.8 million written words.14
It comes as no surprise then, that on-demand video
has become a preferred format for online training
content.
Not only does it yield higher retention rates for
training, video allows you to communicate more
information in less time and is generally a more
engaging way to present information virtually to reps.
In addition to formal sales onboarding and training,
video is also a great format for quick hit content that
reps can use to prepare for specific deals on-the-go, or
even to share with prospects and customers.
13
See how Brainshark
can help
“
–Greg Flynn, President, Brainshark
Sales reps are the perfect
candidates for video-based
training. Video is engaging enough
to capture their attention and
communicate a lot in a short
amount of time. It’s quick. It’s
easy. It’s on-demand. And it caters
to their on-the-go lifestyle.”

17. If you leave new hires to
try and pick this essential
information up for themselves
through trial-and-error, you’ll
undoubtedly delay the point at
which they can become truly
productive. In fact, you might
end up turning a potential
success into a failed hire.” 15
FUEL THE
CONVERSATION
In order to deliver more value-added conversations
with buyers, organizations should provide guidance
to reps on how to ask a question, listen to the answer,
and use the answer to move the conversation forward
(rather than as a signal for permission to move on to
the next question).
Quick Tip
For example, instead of discovery call question
lists, try providing guidelines to help reps drive
the conversation and capture the customer point
of view. Role-play sessions and sales leader
coaching will help reps use these recommended
talking points effectively. You need more than
great documentation—reps need to be able to
translate documented questions and points into real
conversations with prospects as they uncover their
challenges.
14
“
–Bob Apollo,
Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners

18. PROVIDE EASY
CONTENT ACCESS
Sales reps are notorious just-in-time learners who tend to
only look for information only when the need arises. For
example, Brainshark’s State of
the Sales Rep survey found that 40% of
salespeople prepare for meetings no more than
a day in advance.
The problem is, there are so many places where content
can live – network drives, LMSs, SharePoint, etc. – and
the time it takes to find the right resources is wasted effort
that cuts into their productivity.
Cater to the way reps work by ensuring that the
content and resources they need are easily accessed
and logically organized—don’t make them go
searching for them. Reps should be able to
find exactly what they need, right when
they need it – no matter where they are.
As mentioned previously, it should also be
accessible from any device.
15

19. KEEP YOUR REPS
(& YOUR CONTENT)
IN THE CRM
One way to simplify access to sales content and
training is to house it all in a single, central location.
In this case, why not use a platform your reps are
already familiar with? For example: the CRM.
Companies already invest a lot in platforms like
Salesforce. Integrating content and training
resources with the CRM can make it an even more
valuable solution for teams. This can not only help
ensure reps have access to content they need to
sell more effectively as soon as they get their CRM
logins, but it can also help increase CRM adoption
throughout your organization.
See how Brainshark
can help
16

20. PUT CONTENT
IN CONTEXT
When it comes, to content, access alone isn’t
enough. Studies have shown that reps waste 40%
of their time just looking for the right content to
prepare for meetings and share with buyers.
That’s why it’s important to make it easy for reps
to not only access your content, but find the BEST
content for every selling situation. The concept
of “content in context” means having the right
resources not only available, but prescribed and
served up, in the exact situation at the exact time
that they should be utilized.17
Quick Tip
Try mapping specific content assets by persona,
industry, stage of the sales cycle and more, so
reps can quickly find the best resources for any
scenario, and not waste time looking around or
guessing what
to use.
17

21. CONTROL
THE SHOW
When it’s time to give a presentation, do you know
what slides your reps are showing? Can you tell if
they’re ready to present the message that you want
them to deliver?
A recent SiriusDecisions study found that, of all the
content assets available to reps, sales presentations
still make the biggest impact on B2B buyers’ purchase
decisions.18
(Yes, not all salespeople rely on slides
during meetings – but many still do.) As such,
it’s important to ensure that reps are presenting
approved, up-to-date slides that reflect the right
message. You don’t want reps using some PowerPoint
deck they’ve had since 2008, or worse – creating their
own slides from scratch. This is especially critical
for highly regulated industries, such as finance,
healthcare, and pharmaceuticals, where compliance
is a major concern.
Quick Tip
Keep reps on message with continuous access to the
most up-to-date, approved presentation content so
you can be sure of what they’re presenting, and reps
can present confidently… every time.
18
See how Brainshark
can help

22. USE CONTENT
(ANALYTICS)
AS A PROXY
Do you have a way to correlate sales knowledge and
sales behavior to sales performance? In other words,
can you see how the things reps know (training) and do
(activities) affect their ability to sell? If not, then you
have a blind spot that could be keeping you from ensuring
your reps – all your reps – are as ready as they need to be.
Content can help – or more specifically,
content analytics.
Quick Tip
Managers can’t be in every meeting and on every sales
call – but your sales content can be. You should be able
to track what your reps are using and sharing, what
engages customers most, and what contributes best to
revenue. In this way, your content can provide a window
into what’s really happening during sales interactions, so
you can identify the strategies that work best, and coach
reps accordingly.
19
–Joe Gustafson, CEO,
Brainshark
“Sales conversations are no
longer limited to what
takes place in a meeting room –
they’re happening before,
during and after the actual
meeting. With the right content
and technology, managers get
to be a fly on the wall, while
sales teams have access to
insights about engagement
they’d never otherwise have.” 19

23. COACH
THE GAP
In a recent study, the Aberdeen Group reported that
68% of “best-in-class” companies find applying big
data and analytics to their current sales pipeline
works for coaching reps. The results, measured in
sales turnover and quota attainment, make a clear
case for “fact-based, performance-improving sales
behavior modification.”20
Quick Tip
OK, so what does this mean in plain English?
Basically, any data that points to what’s working (and
what’s not) in your sales process should be used as
the impetus for your coaching conversations. For
example, highlight the areas where underperforming
reps need to improve (or where they lack knowledge),
showcase the strategies that have worked for others,
and provide the support, training and resources they
need to strengthen their own approach.
This is the type of insight required to shrink (if not
close) the sales productivity gap between your top
performers and your B and C reps.
20
“
–Keith Rosen,
CEO, Profit Builders
Build a bridge that takes
your people from where
they are today to where
they need to be.”21

24. FILL YOUR
SALES TOOLKIT
Email templates, discovery call guides, persona
overviews, proposals. These are just a few of the tools
sales reps need in their toolkit. Tools should always
be designed to make it easier for reps to do their job,
whether that means getting ready for a meeting,
responding in a competitive situation, or simply
sending a follow-up email. But just having a sales
toolkit is not enough. Reps need to know why and how
the tools should be used, and just as importantly, when
they should be used.
Quick Tip
As covered in Tip #17, organizations are starting to
focus on delivering content in context for reps to share
with prospects at different points in the sales cycle.
You can take the same approach to delivering your
sales tools, so reps can find them easily, at the exact
time they need them. When you develop a new sales
tool, start by understanding the why, the how, and the
when – that way you will create assets that truly make
your sales reps’ jobs easier.
21

25. ASSEMBLE
SUPPORT
STAFF
22
Most sales reps are not autonomous. In addition to the
material sales tools mentioned in Tip #21, they also
need to be able to rely on internal resources to help
them execute. This includes sales engineers, support
groups and sales managers, to name a few.
Identify the key constituents at your company whose
support reps need to be successful, and ask yourself:
are each of these groups prepared to assess, coach, and
support the sales reps in whatever it is they are getting
ready for?

26. 1. Sirius Decisions, Onboarding: Accelerating Time to Productivity and
Competency, 2014.
2. Brainshark, Sales Onboarding Tips: Navigating Challenges, 2015.
3. Brainshark, Mobile Sales Strategies Reduce Costs, Boost Productivity
[Report], 2013.
4. Inc., 4 Benefits of Sales Gamification, 2014.
5. Salesforce, Gamification and Sales: Is it Working?, 2013.
6. Brainshark, Value Messaging and the Sales Enablement Process with
Tamara Schenk, 2014.
7. HubSpot, 10 Steps to Supercharge Your Sales Onboarding Process, 2014.
8. Brainshark, Solving the Sales Productivity Problem, 2014.
9. Brainshark, The Importance of Putting Sales Skills to the Test: Q&A with
Andy Paul, Part 2, 2015.
10. Triblio, 23 Shocking Social Selling Statistics, 2014.
11. Business2Community, Five Things Your Salespeople Need After Learning A
New Methodology, 2015.
12. Brainshark, The B2B CMO’s New Role in Sales Enablement, 2015
13. Brainshark, Prospects Are People Too: The Person(a) behind the Account
14. Video Brewery, 18 Big Video Marketing Statistics and What They Mean for
Your Business.
15. Brainshark, Prepare Your Sales Force: Ideas for Enabling B2B Reps with More
Effective Onboarding and Training, 2014
16. Firebrick Consulting, Why Sales Doesn’t Use Your Presentation, 2012.
17. Brainshark, What is Content in Context? (and Why It Matters for Sales), 2015.
18. BusinessWire, SiriusDecisions Unveils Results from New Study on B-to-B
Buying, 2015.
19. Brainshark, Brainshark Sales Accelerator Debuts New Analytics – Shining
Light on How Sales Reps’ Knowledge and Behavior Impact Deals, 2015
20. Aberdeen Group, Sheldon Cooper, Sales Whisperer: Applying the Science of
Data to the Art of Selling, 2014.
21. Keith Rosen, 31 Inspirational Sales Coaching Tips, 2013.
Brainshark sales enablement solutions help
organizations harness the power of content to achieve
faster training, better coaching and more successful
sales conversations.
Using Brainshark to simplify content creation and
delivery, companies can ensure salespeople are always
up-to-date with the information and resources they
need – anytime, anywhere and from any device. Tight
integration with Salesforce empowers reps with fast,
easy access to the right content and training for every
selling situation. Brainshark’s detailed analytics also
help companies tie content directly to revenue and
identify the best sales opportunities, while enabling
managers to pinpoint best practices to improve
coaching effectiveness.
Thousands of companies – including half of the Fortune
100 – rely on Brainshark to improve sales productivity
and increase the impact of their sales, marketing and
training communications. Learn more at
www.brainshark.com.
Contact
Brainshark Inc.
(866)-276-7427
info@brainshark.com
About Brainshark