From Onboarding to Outperforming
Redesigned onboarding for BDRs at SaaS company, cutting ramp time & boosting cold-call target attainment
*This 14-module onboarding course was originally developed in Articulate for a specific company. To protect the company’s privacy and avoid copyright concerns, I’ve recreated one sample module which I've showcased below.
Project Overview
The Audience
New hires to the BDR team at a B2B Saas Company during first 2 weeks
Responsibilities
Instructional Design
eLearning Development
Visual Design
Tools Utilized
Articulate Rise
Figma
MindMeister
Google Suite
Asana
Where to start?
The Problem
New BDR hires in their first 9o days were struggling to RAMP within the desired 2 week timeline and meet their first set of sales targets. The manager was investing ~30 hrs/cohort on Zoom calls. New hires were providing feedback of unclear expectations and product knowledge, evidenced in missing initial call-set targets.
Primary Stakeholders
New BDRs
The learners themselves; their experience, ramp-up time, and confidence
BDR Managers / Team Leads
Need their team to ramp quickly, hit quotas, and align with company messaging and sales motions
Sales Leadership (VP of Sales, Head of Sales Development)
Care about overall team productivity, pipeline creation, and ROI from training investments
The Solution
A proposed overhaul of the BDR new hire course and calendar that would more clearly synthesize sales fundamentals, the tenets of the company’s sales methodology, and the ROI of the different software features.
Why propose an e-Learning course?
Document tribal knowledge: providing clarity, accountability, and a back-up given team turnover
Allow the new hire to work independently and at their pace
Transform time with manager into feedback session rather than information session
Avoid excessive down time for the new hire
The company is remote, so an e-Learning course is a good medium, and the content can be referenced later
Training Supplements
Workbook- manager preference to leave quick & daily feedback (Google Suite)
Cold Calling Framework (Notion)
Calendar Schedule including: independent work time, group workbook time, and daily feedback time with the manager (Notion & Google Calendar)
My Process
Starting with the end goal in mind, I applied the ADDIE model to design an experience hitting on all essentials without causing information overload. The goal was to get BDRs ready to be on calls, while giving tools for further skillset development down the line.
I proposed a 101 and 102 course, with the 101 course covering essentials in first 2 weeks and the 102 course reviewing & covering topics in further depth in their first 6 months. The course presented in this portfolio was 101.
Walk Through The Process:
Design
Text-Based Storyboards & Master Outline
Given the many SMEs and Stakeholders involved, we required multiple feedback loops. I created a master document in Google Sheets outlining every module and individual lesson, with a high overview of the elements involved and any SME contributor in that lesson. The majority of video walkthroughs were created by myself, but there were elements requiring involvement from the manager or current BDRs. For these I created a general script or outline to follow, as well as to help stakeholders quickly see what would be included.
One of the more complex elements were the branch scenarios, for which I created text-based storyboards. With that master document along with the storyboards, I did various an original presentation as well as check-ins after each itieration to ensure buy-in from the stakeholders.
The scenarios in the original course had branch scenarios allowing a BDR to experience the ramifications of their first decision, and take a path futher until realizing there was a turning point earlier in the conversation, or provide them the opportunity to redirect back toward the correct path!
Develop
Asana Tasks & Rise Course Previews
For the development phase, I first assigned any contributors their assigned task in Asana, providing context, and having discussed via Slack if there was a script or outline for their portion, as well as the deadline.
I then worked on my individual contributions, and got a working prototype of the courses created in Articulate Rise, and created a feedback document to work through with the manager and implement her feedback throughout each cycle.
Implement
Workbook, Reach 360, Google Calendar
For the implementation of the courses for the new hire cohorts, we used various mediums to communicate expectations and administer the course. The Rise courses were published in Reach 360, and the new learner was added to the system and enrolled in the appropriate courses.
We utilized their Google Calendar to block worktimes for module work (as there were also meetings, HR/IT compliance trainings, coffee dates, etc. to account for in their daily schedule.) The calendar blocks dictated which modules they were to work on, and at the end of each day, the manager would do a 1-1 to provide feedback to review what takeaways they had from the content of the day.
As they worked through each module, they had some prompts to write in their workbook, which was where the manager was most comfortable checking answers and providing feedback. For any “long-answer” question, the manager preferred to see their answers in their Google Doc workbook and check and leave comments rather than having these live in Articulate Reach. For any auto-graded questions (multiple choice, matching, etc.) these were a part of Articulate Reach and the manager was able to access those scores as well.
The entire documentation of each piece of this process was noted in Notion, for clarity for future managers and future cohorts.
Evaluate
Our desired outcomes for the new hires post-training were the following:
Know and use the company's sales methodology to identify pain points
Articulate the ROI of the software’s features to meet that pain point
Successfully book enough demos to meet their booked call metrics
If these tasks or behaviors weren't properly performed, it would have resulted in high turnover on the BDR team, poor-fit prospects (or no prospects) being booked for demos with AEs, resulting in lower company earnings.
After delivering this training, we measured its impact by tracking three key indicators: RAMP time, BDR cold call outcomes, and keyword usage in Gong trackers (as evidence of stronger product knowledge and ROI messaging). We are still measuring the results, but initial reception by the first cohorts has been extremely positive. (Check back soon for more detail!)
What stood out as most meaningful to me as the creator of the course: When some current BDRs heard about the course from a new hire, they requested access to the course because they wanted to learn and saw its value.
Leading this process from beginning to end provided a meaningful opportunity to advance my enablement and instructional design skills. The lessons learned throughout will continue to shape my approach in future projects.