CASE STUDY

Beverage Distributor Revamps Onboarding to Improve In-Store Execution & Support Growth​

​A global beverage distributor’s U.S. division, which serves retail outlets in dozens of markets throughout the country, needed to improve field sales onboarding to ensure consistent execution & performance across all markets.
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The company hired PS Solutions Group to upgrade its onboarding approach in order to more effectively drive in-store execution required to keep pace with rapid sales growth.

OVERVIEW

INDUSTRY
  • Food & Beverage
  • ​Wholesale & Distribution
CLIENT
U.S. division of global beverage distributor
Services
  • People & Organization - Onboarding
  • People & Organization - Training Methods
  • Process Engineering - Work Methods
  • Process Engineering - Work Flow Optimization
  • Process Engineering - Business Process Engineering
  • Change Management - Managing Organizational Change
  • Change Management - Managing Individual Change
GEOGRAPHIC AREA
United States​

THE STORY

  • The Challenge
  • Recommended Solution
  • The Results
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  • Distributor did not have a standardized approach to onboarding
    • Inconsistent front-line sales onboarding approaches, processes and duration
    • Widely varied from market to market, with most only allowing 1 week of training, with limited structure
    • Most approaches focused only on Orientation, the administrative processes - which are only 1 component of a true onboarding program
    • Management in most markets felt they couldn't "spend more time training new hires.”
  • ​Lack of standardization was leading to inconsistent in-store execution and results
    • Approach of new hire training was "trial by fire" / "sink or swim"
    • Turnover, retention and productivity varied widely across the markets
    • Excess time was being spent sourcing, hiring, and training new hires
  • ​​​Distributor needed to improve front-line sales onboarding program, in order to more effectively drive Sales Representative in-store execution that would support rapid sales growth.​
  • Distributor needed a holistic approach to manage organization & individual change
  • Identified all market & region level front-line sales orientation & onboarding training processes
  • ​Assembled a cross-functional distributor project team to provide input on design of new orientation & onboarding training
  • Combined distributor project team input with industry best practices to design a standardized onboarding approach across all markets​
  • ​Incorporated instructional design & training approach that ensured... utilization of desired sales processes & routines (new common national approach), speed of adoption without rushing the process, and ​performance at the required level of proficiency
    • ​Development of a 90-day Onboarding Plan: Management Preparation Checklist. 90-Day Calendar, Daily & Weekly Training Topic Checklist
    • Development of a Route Sales Field Guide (all-in-one reference manual) covering Company & Product Overview, Route & In-Store Process & Routines
    • On The Job (OTJ) Training checklist that ensures processes are reviewed, modeled, and implemented each day​​​
  • Improved new hire training effectiveness & increased knowledge retention
    • 100% of new hires...  Agreed Onboarding training length was Just About Right
    • 90% of new hires...  Strongly Agreed Onboarding was Appropriate & Informative
    • 80% of new hires...  were Very Satisfied Overall with Onboarding, and 20% were Satisfied
  • The introduced processes & mechanisms have helped ensure sustainability
    • ​100% of new hires...  Received and Utilized the 90-Day Onboarding Plan
    • 92% of new hires...  felt the Onboarding training "Exceeded" their Expectations and felt "Very Prepared" for success
    • 88% of new hires...  Received the full 3 days of Orientation (in-office training)
    • 83% of new hires...   felt the pace of training was just right, and helped them feel confident in moving to the next topic​
  • Reduced sales rep turnover by 33%​​