Sales Onboarding Plan: 90-Day Template With Milestones per Week
8 min read ยท 2026-10-25
A sales onboarding plan is a structured program that takes a new sales rep from day one to selling on their own, usually over about 90 days. It sets what the rep learns each week, who teaches it, which skills they must prove before talking to buyers and what pipeline or revenue targets they should hit as they ramp.
The template below covers 13 weeks in six phases, starting before the first day. Each phase has steps and a milestone you can check, such as passing a discovery call certification or booking a set number of first meetings. You will also find a filled-in example for a new account executive, who owns what, the metrics to track and how to present the program to sales leadership.
Adjust the length to your sales cycle. Reps selling a simple product with short deals can ramp faster. Enterprise reps with long cycles need more time, and their targets should focus on pipeline before closed revenue.
The roadmap at a glance
Goal: Each new rep passes all certifications, builds qualified pipeline on their own and closes or advances deals at the ramp target by day 90. Duration: 13 weeks (90 days)
Pre-boarding (Week 0)
Make sure the rep can work from day one instead of waiting for access.
- Order the laptop and set up accounts: email, CRM, sales engagement tool, call recording and the content library.
- Assign a peer buddy from the same team and share their name before the start date.
- Send a welcome note with the first-week schedule and a short reading list: company story, ideal customer profile, two customer case studies.
- Book the first week's meetings: manager, buddy, product, marketing, customer success and sales operations.
Milestone: All accounts working and the first-week calendar booked before the rep's start date.
Company, product and buyer (Weeks 1-2)
Teach the rep who buys, why they buy and how the product solves their problem.
- Run sessions on the ideal customer profile, buyer personas and the problems each persona has.
- Give a product walkthrough with a solutions engineer, ending with the rep giving a short demo back.
- Listen to recorded calls from top reps: at least a few discovery calls and demos, with notes.
- Teach the competitive landscape and the most common objections with the approved responses.
- Review the sales process stages and the exit criteria for each stage in the CRM.
Milestone: The rep passes a product and buyer quiz and delivers a short demo of the core use case to the manager.
Process, tools and certifications (Weeks 2-4)
Make sure the rep can run each part of the sales process before using it with real buyers.
- Train on the CRM: logging activities, creating opportunities, updating stages and next steps.
- Teach the qualification framework the team uses, such as MEDDICC or BANT, with real deal examples.
- Role-play a cold call, a discovery call and a demo with the manager or enablement lead.
- Certify each call type with a scorecard: pass, or repeat after coaching.
- Shadow live calls with the buddy and other reps, then debrief each one.
Milestone: Cold call, discovery and demo certifications passed with the scorecard, and the CRM training checklist complete.
First live selling (Weeks 4-7)
Start building pipeline with support close at hand.
- Assign a territory or account list and build a first prospecting plan with the manager.
- Run outbound sequences and book first meetings, with the buddy reviewing early emails.
- Run the first discovery calls with the manager or buddy joining and debriefing.
- Join a deal review each week and present the rep's own opportunities.
- Log every activity in the CRM so the manager can coach from real data.
Milestone: First meetings booked and first qualified opportunities created, at the target agreed for week 7.
Independent selling (Weeks 7-11)
Run deals on their own from discovery to proposal.
- Lead discovery, demo and proposal calls alone, with the manager reviewing recordings.
- Bring in solutions engineers, legal or customer success at the right stages.
- Build a mutual action plan with at least one buyer.
- Work on one or two skills the manager picked from call reviews, such as handling pricing questions or multi-threading.
Milestone: A qualified pipeline at the ramp target, with every opportunity showing clear next steps and a close date in the CRM.
Ramp review and handoff (Weeks 11-13)
Check that the rep is ready for a full quota and set the plan for the next quarter.
- Compare the rep's activity, pipeline and deals against the ramp targets.
- Collect feedback from the rep on the onboarding program and what was missing.
- Agree on development goals and the coaching rhythm for the next quarter.
- Confirm the full quota start date with sales leadership.
Milestone: A ramp review signed off by the sales manager, with the full quota start date and a development plan recorded.
Your first-week schedule
The first week sets the tone. A rep left alone with a pile of recordings feels lost. A rep with a clear schedule, a buddy and early wins feels part of the team.
Plan each day with a mix of learning, meetings and listening to calls. Keep Friday for a recap with the manager.
- Day 1: welcome, accounts check, meeting with the manager to go over the 90-day plan and ramp targets, lunch with the buddy.
- Day 2: ideal customer profile and personas, first recorded discovery calls, meet the marketing lead.
- Day 3: product walkthrough with a solutions engineer, meet customer success to hear what customers love and complain about.
- Day 4: sales process and CRM basics, sit in on a live deal review.
- Day 5: short quiz, recap with the manager, questions list for week two.
Example: a 90-day sales onboarding plan for a new account executive
Picture a mid-market software company hiring an account executive to sell to operations leaders at logistics firms. Deals usually take a few months, so the ramp targets focus on pipeline first. Here is how the plan could look with owners and milestones.
The certifications come before the territory. That order protects your best accounts from a rep who has not yet practiced the pitch.
- Week 0 (Sales ops and manager): accounts ready, buddy assigned, reading list sent. Milestone: everything works on day one.
- Weeks 1-2 (Enablement lead and solutions engineer): logistics personas, product walkthrough, recorded calls. Milestone: quiz passed, short demo given.
- Weeks 2-4 (Enablement lead and manager): MEDDICC training, role-plays, certifications. Milestone: three certifications passed.
- Weeks 4-7 (Rep with buddy): territory of named logistics accounts, first sequences, first discovery calls with the manager joining. Milestone: first qualified opportunities created.
- Weeks 7-11 (Rep, manager coaching weekly): solo demos and proposals, one mutual action plan. Milestone: pipeline at the ramp target.
- Weeks 11-13 (Sales manager and VP of Sales): ramp review and feedback. Milestone: full quota start date set.
Who owns what
Onboarding fails when everyone assumes someone else is teaching the basics. Name an owner for each part and put it in a simple RACI that the rep can see.
The manager owns the result. Enablement owns the content. The buddy owns the daily questions.
- Sales manager: owns the plan, ramp targets, weekly one-on-ones and call coaching.
- Sales enablement lead: training content, certifications and scorecards.
- Peer buddy: daily questions, shadowing, review of early emails.
- Sales operations: accounts, CRM setup, territory and reporting.
- Solutions engineer: product training and demo coaching.
- Marketing: personas, messaging, case studies and content library.
- Customer success: what customers value and the handoff process after a deal closes.
Ramp targets and metrics to track
Set ramp targets that grow week by week, and base them on what your current reps did in their first months, not on wishful numbers. Leading indicators such as activities and meetings come first. Pipeline and closed deals come later.
Track each new rep on the same dashboard so the manager can coach early, and compare cohorts to improve the program.
- Time to first meeting and time to first qualified opportunity, from the CRM.
- Certification pass rate on the first try, from the enablement scorecards.
- Activities per week (calls, emails, meetings) against the ramp target.
- Qualified pipeline created by week 7 and week 11.
- Time to first closed deal, where your cycle allows it in 90 days.
- Ramp time: weeks until the rep hits a full quota month, compared across hiring cohorts.
How to build the plan in a spreadsheet or your LMS
In Excel or Google Sheets, make one row per task with these columns: week, day, task, type (learn, do, certify), owner, due date, status and notes. Group rows by phase and use conditional formatting to turn overdue tasks red. Add a second tab for ramp targets, one row per week with activity, meeting and pipeline targets next to the rep's actuals.
If your company uses a learning platform or a sales enablement tool, load the training content and quizzes there and keep the spreadsheet as the master plan. The manager then reviews one sheet in the weekly one-on-one.
How to present it to sales leadership
Show the program on one slide: the six phases on a 90-day timeline, the certifications, the ramp targets and the owners. Leadership cares about how fast new reps produce pipeline and how you will know early if a hire is struggling.
After each cohort, report ramp time, certification pass rates and pipeline created against the targets, plus the two or three changes you will make to the program. Leave out the full list of training sessions. Put it in an appendix for managers who want the detail.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Giving a new rep a territory before they are certified burns good accounts, so require cold call, discovery and demo certifications first.
- Burying reps in product training for weeks delays real practice, so mix product learning with role-plays and call listening from week one.
- Setting ramp targets from hope rather than data leads to missed numbers, so base them on what current reps achieved in their first months.
- Leaving the buddy role informal means questions go unanswered, so name a buddy before day one and book time for them weekly.
- Measuring only closed revenue in 90 days hides early problems, so track activities, meetings and pipeline week by week.
- Running the same program forever lets it go stale, so collect feedback from each cohort and update the content after every hiring wave.
Frequently asked questions
How long should sales onboarding take?
Many teams run a structured program of about 90 days, with full ramp taking longer for complex or enterprise sales. Base the length on your sales cycle and on how long current reps took to reach a full quota month.
What should a sales onboarding plan include?
Pre-boarding, a first-week schedule, training on buyers, product and process, certifications before live calls, shadowing, ramp targets by week and a coaching rhythm. Add owners for each part and a ramp review at the end.
What is the difference between sales onboarding and sales training?
Onboarding is the program that gets a new rep productive, covering company, product, process, tools and early selling. Sales training is ongoing skill building for all reps, such as negotiation or a new product launch. Onboarding usually includes some training, but it ends with a ramp review.
How do you measure sales onboarding success?
Track time to first meeting, time to first qualified opportunity, certification pass rates, pipeline created and ramp time to a full quota month. Compare each hiring cohort to see whether program changes help.
Who should own sales onboarding?
The sales manager owns the result for each rep, and sales enablement usually owns the content and certifications. Sales operations, solutions engineers, marketing and a peer buddy each own a part. Write this down so nothing falls through.