AE Onboarding Mentorship Program

In addition to an Onboarding Buddy, AEs will be paired up with an Onboarding Mentor. The mentor will be someone from the sales team who will act as a point of contact for role-related support during an AEs ramp period. As a peer, mentors will provide support and guidance while AEs are learning and practicing the sales pitch and sales process. They will also help AEs determine who to go to in the company for various Sales related tasks or partnerships.

You can read more about Onboarding Mentors here

Why We Have Onboarding Mentors

Mentors ensure new AEs are set up for success and have additional resources while they learn the industry, product, and hone the skills that will make them successful AEs.

The Role of the Mentor

The role of the mentor is to support the first 30 days of a new hire’s ramp period. It’s essential to the learning and development of new AEs, critical for Sourcegraph to scale operations, and beneficial to the mentor because they are able to develop deeper selling skills by mentoring a peer.

Responsibilities of the mentor:

  • New AE shadows mentor on sales calls throughout the sales cycle
  • New AE shadows mentor through MEDDPICC and 3 Whys updating in SFDC to observe the importance and required attention to detail
  • Practice and roleplay sales pitch and demo to ensure new hire AE is prepared for the pitch/demo certification
  • Provide 30 min overview of the pricing model
  • Answer role-based questions a new AE might have
  • Point AE to resources and SMEs that can accelerate their ramp period

In order to accomplish this, mentors will:

  • Meet with assigned AE new hire at least once a week for 45-60 minutes during their first 30 days to review and/or roleplay relevant topics outlined in the checklist below
  • Invite assigned AE new hire to shadow their discovery, product demo, pricing, etc. sales calls during this time period

Managers will assign a mentor to their AE new hires. AE will then set up the recurring invites for dates/times that work best for them and their mentor.

Mentor Selection

When selecting a mentor, managers should ensure that the mentor fits the following profile:

  • On the same team and in the same role
  • Been at Sourcegraph for at least 3 months, with satisfactory sales performance and productivity
  • Ensure mentor has the bandwidth to support new hire through the mentor tasks and aim to follow the guideline of no more than one new hire mentee assigned to each mentor per quarter
  • Ideally, be in the same time zone (to aid in scheduling meetings between mentor/new hire)

Once a mentor is selected, managers should notify onboarding@sourcegraph.com with the choice.

Mentor Checklist:

Day one:

  1. Reach out to your mentee on their first day and introduce yourself. Let them know you are their mentor and to reach out to you if they need anything.

Week 1

Focus:

AE new hires focus on the following in the first week:

  • Access and computer setup
  • Company-wide onboarding: our values, being handbook-first, etc.
  • Learning about the industry, the developer community, and the space Sourcegraph operates in

Tasks:

  1. Invite new hire to shadow at least two of your sales calls
  2. Check in to see if your mentee needs help with:
    1. Setting up their sales tools and systems
    2. Questions on any of the sales new hire trainings they have completed
    3. Questions they have from shadowing sales calls

Week 2

Focus:

AE new hires focus on the following in the second week:

  • Sourcegraph product offerings and value
  • Use Cases
  • Competitive differentiation
  • Sales calls roleplays and shadowing

Tasks:

  1. Invite new hire to shadow at least two of your sales calls
  2. Recommend Chorus calls for the new hire to review
  3. Roleplay and practice sales pitch and demo
  4. Check in to see if they have any outstanding questions from their trainings or calls they shadowed

Week 3

Focus:

AE new hires focus on the following in the third week:

  • Learning the sales motion and processes
  • Prospecting and discovery skills and processes
  • How to pitch and demo sourcegraph
  • Working with other teams
  • Complete pitch certification

Tasks:

  1. Roleplay and practice sales pitch and demo to help them prepare and feel ready for their sales pitch and demo certification
  2. Invite assigned new hire to shadow** **MEDDPICC and 3 Whys updating in SFDC
  3. Check in to see if they have any outstanding questions from their trainings or calls they shadowed

Week 4

Focus:

AE new hires focus on the following in the fourth week:

  • Transition out of new hire sessions

Tasks:

  1. Provide 30 minute pricing model review
  2. Check in to see if they have any outstanding questions from their first month ramp period

If you have any questions about the AE new hire mentor program, reach out to onboarding@sourcegraph.com.