Hiring is down. Productivity expectations are up. That means every new rep needs to deliver more value, faster. But too many teams are still relying on outdated onboarding playbooks - ones that overload reps with information, don’t account for learning styles, and fail to connect training with real deal execution.
“The bar is higher than ever for new hires. The days of giving people six months to ramp are gone. If you can’t get someone productive quickly, it’s a huge cost.” – Ryan Milligan, VP of Revenue Operations at QuotaPath
For a structured approach to evaluating new hires, QuotaPath offers guidance on measuring sales performance in 30, 60, and 90 days, ensuring that reps are on the right track from the start.
Shea describes a common ramping pitfall: the “firehose” method - cramming weeks of product, process, and tool training into the first two weeks and expecting reps to retain everything. His solution? Slow down to speed up.
He breaks onboarding into digestible stages:
Reps listen to real calls and map the conversation to the buying journey, learning how decisions are made and where pain points surface.
It’s not about feature lists—it’s about connecting capabilities to actual customer problems.
Reps pitch internally and roleplay key objections. Even senior sellers go through pitch certification - not as a test, but to build mastery and confidence.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you can sell. I hired you. But I need to know you understand how we solve our customer’s problems here.” – Shea Stringert, VP of Sales at Card
For additional insights on onboarding strategies, explore RevOps Co-op's Community Q&A: Sales Enablement 101, where industry experts share their experiences and best practices.
According to Ryan, comp plans aren’t just about payout - they’re a lever to drive specific behaviors. If your plan doesn’t incentivize the behaviors that lead to early success, you’re missing an opportunity.
Tips from the panel:
For a deeper dive into effective compensation strategies, explore QuotaPath's guide on designing sales compensation plans and their compensation plan template library to tailor plans that drive desired behaviors.
Additionally, RevOps Co-op offers valuable resources such as Navigating Comp Planning 201: 5 Strategies for Sales Success in 2024 to further enhance your compensation planning efforts.
“If your reps need a finance degree to figure out how they get paid, you’ve already lost.” – Ryan Milligan, VP of Revenue Operations at QuotaPath
Reps aren’t just learning a product - they’re learning a motion. Katie’s team at Zapier approaches tool training like a “day in the life” walkthrough. Instead of abstract modules, new reps are shown:
Zapier also takes care to explain why each tool exists. As Katie says, “Sellers come from other orgs with different tools. If you don’t give them the ‘why,’ they won’t trust the system.”
Her team also works hard to make systems “unbreakable,” encouraging reps to test and explore freely. That psychological safety lowers the barrier to learning and creates better adoption down the line.
For more on aligning tools with sales processes, check out RevOps Co-op's Need your Sales Reps to Follow Process? Make it easy for them.
Ramp doesn’t end after onboarding. Great teams bake learning into their culture. Shea calls it “practice forever” - embedding pitch drills, objection handling, and product refreshers into regular team meetings and enablement sessions.
For struggling reps, he adds structure. Certification checklists. Refresher programs. Even AI tools to identify skill gaps and suggest focused training.
Katie's team uses automation to track whether reps are applying what they’ve learned in real calls. If not, they go back and reinforce those topics. And she’s built automated daily digests that surface top-performing calls for leadership to celebrate - helping boost rep visibility and morale.
“Celebrate wins early - even before deals close. Strong calls, smart questions, and early pipeline deserve just as much attention.” – Katie Huson, Senior Revenue Operations Manager at Zapier
To delve deeper into enablement strategies, explore RevOps Co-op's The Shift to Real-Time Enablement and RevOpsAF Podcast Episode 7: How Enablement Can Bridge Silos
It’s not just the what - it’s the how. Ryan and Matthew Volm (CEO of RevOps Co-op) closed the session by reinforcing that reps are humans, not resources. The ramp experience is where culture shows up most visibly.
“The cost of skipping onboarding is way higher than investing in it. If you wouldn’t cut corners on a $20K software tool, why do it with your people?” – Matthew Volm, Founder at RevOps Co-op
When teams bake empathy and structure into onboarding, they create an environment where reps are more confident, more coachable, and more likely to succeed. That culture isn’t just a feel-good bonus - it’s a growth engine.
Here’s your checklist for better, faster, human-first ramping:
✅ Map onboarding to your real buying journey
✅ Space out product learning and test understanding
✅ Design comp plans that reward early milestones
✅ Use “day in the life” walkthroughs for tool adoption
✅ Create internal feedback loops with real call data
✅ Celebrate progress early and often
✅ Build a culture of continuous practice and growth
Explore our blog, join the community, and get access to 16,000+ revenue pros who are rethinking how RevOps can power repeatable growth - one ramping rep at a time.
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