How One Company Cut New Rep Training Time in Half

By Tim Jernigan

A new sales rep at L’Oréal takes an average of one year to become fully trained. That year is spent learning the territory, clientele, and sales practices needed for success in the field.

In the time it takes reps at L’Oréal – the biggest personal care brand in the world, with earnings of more than $25 billion worldwide – to get up to speed, however, they have already lost a large percentage of their expected ROI. During that year, turnover is a strong possibility. It costs an average of $114,000 to replace a sales rep, so employee retention is an essential strategy for growth.

This strategy becomes more difficult to implement as scale increases. L’Oréal solves this problem by using Badger Maps during the onboarding process. Prior to Badger Maps, L’Oréal reps took 12 months to reach full productivity, which is in line with industry standards. L’Oréal reps who used Badger Maps as a training tool reached full productivity in six months, which cut training time in half.

Kellie Glenister, director of sales operations at L’Oréal, manages 120 sales reps. She is an advocate for how quickly reps learn with Badger Maps, and says it has increased profits and improved employee retention in a competitive industry. Glenister trains each new rep herself because of how strategically important onboarding is to the organization. Every day, she trains about two reps.

There are three key areas that impact retention of new reps. Glenister uses Badger Maps to treat these trouble areas while she’s training new reps.

Area #1: Preparation. Salespeople need to know who they’re seeing, why, and how they’re getting there. Badger Maps helps salespeople visualize the entire day, making preparation for each interaction effortless.

Area #2: Relationships. A sale doesn’t happen without a relationship in place. A new rep in an unfamiliar territory must manage customer relationships without any history. Badger Maps’ CRM function allows reps to learn about customer information quickly. Reps can access past orders, preferences, and other important information directly through Badger Maps.

Area #3: Territory Management. One of the biggest hurdles new reps face is navigating their new territory. A majority of their early driving time is spent getting accustomed to unfamiliar routes. Badger provides in-app GPS and customer visualization so reps always know the lay of the land. Badger’s interface is easily maneuverable even for reps who aren’t completely comfortable with technology. This is important for companies like L’Oréal because the data reps collect is essential to the company’s success.

All told, L’Oréal has reduced training time by 50 percent with Badger Maps. According to Glenister, the tool helps her keep the company motto, “One team, one dream,” alive and well.

Tim Jernigan is marketing analyst and content writer at Badger Maps.