1. The problem: The sales team of a Tech company onboarded resellers using four different pdf and PowerPoint documents depending on the region and type of reseller. This process created confusion among employees as they were unsure which version to use to train resellers. It also slowed down significantly the company to provide updated information given it was static. Another problem was that the information was highly customized as per the most current products which meant constant updates and it also took several hours for the sales team to onboard resellers one at a time. The company wanted a simplified process with global scalability.
2. The research process. Once the main stakeholders were identified, interviews were conducted to get feedback about the current process and discover pain points and suggestions to improve it. I wanted to fully understand the problem before considering solutions.
I chose interviews over other research methods given it was a small number of stakeholders and it allowed a more detailed evaluation to gather insights in an informal setting.
At this time, the client didn't want us to gather direct feedback from resellers but only from stakeholders that onboarded resellers. I interviewed all sales directors and inside channel managers involved in this process. I then reached out to the insights team to see if they had any related data in the latest survey but unfortunately, they didn't.
3. The solution. Based on the findings I mapped the reseller's and employees' journey and brainstormed with internal stakeholders about the specific onboarding content required in each part of the journey.
The onboarding content was carefully selected to ensure it would help alleviate each of the identified pain points in the journey. I kept testing concepts with the sales team to ensure I could redesign the solution if needed before the final version.
4. Prototype. Once I built a working demo, I validated it with more stakeholders for reassurance and presented it to all global regions to identify translation and localization needs.
5. Official global launch. The new digital onboarding tool allowed real-time content updates, a unique English version, and self-serve onboarding.
I created an infographic and a walk-through video to introduce it and train employees to use it. I also presented the tool in various global sales calls and show-and-tell meetings to continue reiterating its global scalability.
This new tool helped the sales team to focus on resellers with the highest sales potential by significantly reducing the time to onboard each reseller and reducing updates.
