Quick Take: How to Set Clear Expectations for New Salespeople (Without Overwhelming Them)

In this Quick Take episode, we're breaking down what it really takes to set new salespeople up for success and why clarity, not just enthusiasm, is what drives early performance.

Matt shares six ways to set clear expectations for new salespeople without overwhelming them, including:

• Why leaders should start with outcomes, not activities. Because when new hires understand what success looks like, the checklist finally makes sense
• How breaking the first 90 days into three distinct phases reduces anxiety and eliminates information overload
• And, finally, why specific standards always beat vague motivation

LINKS

New Hire Fast Start

Matt Sunshine

The Center for Sales Strategy

Transcript

Copy

Welcome And Focus On Onboarding

Matt Sunshine 0:05

Welcome to Improving Sales Performance, a podcast highlighting tips and insights aimed at helping sales organizations realize and maybe even exceed their goals. Here, we chat with thought leaders, experts, and gurus who have years of sales experience from a wide range of industries. I'm your host, Matt Sunshine, CEO at the Center for Sales Strategy, a sales performance consulting company.

Why Expectations Beat Activity Lists

Matt Sunshine 0:34

Hiring great sales talent is only half of the battle. In fact, that's often the easiest part. The real challenge begins after the offer letter is signed in those critical first 90 days. That's where momentum is either built or quietly lost. Many leaders genuinely believe that they're being very clear with their new hires. They share resources, they explain the process, they outline the goals, but what feels like clarity to the manager can quickly turn into information overload for the new salesperson that was just hired. Or worse, it turns into vague encouragement without real direction behind it. Today, we're going to talk about six ways you can set clear expectations for new salespeople without overwhelming them. Number one,

Phase The First 90 Days

Matt Sunshine 1:31

start with outcomes, not activities. So here's the common mistake: leaders just kind of dump a checklist of tasks. Um, they say things like, make sure you log into the CRM or make 50 calls or sit in on these meetings or learn the product. And while all those things might seem necessary, they're really just activities. New hires want to know this. They want to know, hey, what does success look like around here? And how will I know that I'm on track? And what does good look like? So give them what they want. Do this. Define three to five clear performance outcomes for the first 90 days. Things like a pipeline being built, or meetings booked, proposals delivered, skills, skill comp uh competencies um demonstrated. When expectations are outcome-based, when expectations are outcome-based, the the activity then makes sense. When all you're doing is focusing on the activity, they don't know how to put it all together. So make your expectations more outcome-based. Number two, break the first 90 days into phases. Overwhelm usually comes from trying to learn everything all at one time. Instead of doing that, structure expectation into stages. So day one through day 30, learn and observe. We want you to understand the ideal customer profile, the ICP. We want you to master the messaging. We want you to learn the systems, shadow others on calls, whether they're in-person or virtual. Begin prospecting, but in a controlled way. Maybe it's for a certain vertical that you're going after. Days 31 through 60, practice and apply. Run a discovery call. Start building real pipeline. Receive structured coaching. Begin owning opportunities. And then day 61 through day 90, own and perform. Manage deals independently. Hit early stage activity benchmarks. Demonstrate skill competency. This level of clarity reduces anxiety and phasing it reduces any sense of overload.

Define What Good Looks Like

Matt Sunshine 4:12

Number three, define what good looks like in specific terms. New salespeople don't just need goals, they need standards. So instead of run a good discovery call, maybe say it this way a good discovery call includes a clear business reason, three to five layered questions, a defined next step, and CRM notes updated the exact same day of the call. Be specific. Specific beats motivation every time. Number four, separate skill expectations from revenue expectations.

Separate Skills From Revenue

Matt Sunshine 4:54

One of the fastest ways to overwhelm a new salesperson is to tie their identity immediately to a quota. Revenue takes time. Anybody that's been doing this long enough knows that revenue takes time. Skill development happens first. So let's focus on that. Early expectation clarity should focus on one, are they executing the process? Two, are they asking strong questions? Three, are they improving week to week? You can't demand revenue before you start to build capability. Number five, create weekly expectation checkpoints.

Weekly Checkpoints For Clarity

Matt Sunshine 5:36

Clarity isn't set it and forget it. Have structured weekly check-ins that answer the following questions. What was expected this week? What actually happened this week? What needs to improve next week? By doing those things, you per you prevent that silent confusion, you know, where they don't say anything, but they're really confused about what's going on. You prevent lingering bad habits, you prevent any end-of-quarter surprises. Expectation alignment is a leadership rhythm that you have to have in place. Number six, communicate confidence alongside accountability.

Confidence With Accountability

Matt Sunshine 6:23

High expectations without support can feel crushing. Low expectations can feel insulting. So strike a balance in between. Here's what we expect, here's how we'll help, here's how we'll measure. And I believe you can do this. Expectations plus support equals belief.

Closing And Resources

Matt Sunshine 6:49

So in closing, in wrapping all this up, setting expectations isn't about control, it's about clarity. Clarity builds confidence and confidence drives performance. If you want new salespeople to ramp faster, be clear, be specific, phase in their first 90 days, and provide great coaching consistently because when expectations are clear and manageable, new hires don't feel overwhelmed, they feel equipped. This has been Improving Sales Performance. Thanks for listening. If you like what you heard, join us every week by clicking the subscribe button. For more on the topics covered in the show, visit our website, the Centerfor Sales Strategy.com. There you can find helpful resources and content aimed at improving your sales performance.