I love it when new sales reps / professionals / SDRs come to me early in their tenure and ask – “What should I be doing during the first month or two so I can accelerate my success?” First of all, simply asking shows they care, and while most organizations are going to provide a list of things to do, read, study, etc during the first couple weeks, there’s always a bunch of stuff not on those lists that can quickly get them producing faster than their peers.

So here’s a list of items that probably aren’t on that list, and when you jump to that new role, have these handy and don’t be shy about pursuing them:

    —  Ensure you have a 100% crystal clear understanding of how your comp plan works, and walk through some scenarios to test your knowledge. It’s critical that you know what drives success for you personally.
    —  Seek out 3 reps who are killing it and ask to sit in on as many calls as possible, hopefully 1 of them will invite you to some. If all 3 of them send you some invites, you’ve landed in a really good sales organization.
    —  If they do you sit in; listen (intently), jot down questions, and get the answers
    —  Have a candid conversation with your manager about what you want to achieve professionally over the next 18-24 months. Make sure you are in agreement that your objectives are reasonable, given both effort and results on your part.
    —  Make sure your manager understands WHY you want to achieve those things.
    —  Watch out for any ethical or cultural non-starters for you – don’t be afraid to pull the ripcord quickly – you CAN get another job.
    —  Don’t drink the last of the coffee without making more. Ok, do any companies still actually have drip coffee or airpots any more? Does anyone know what an airpot actually is?

Good luck out there!