Bringing new sales reps up to speed is always a pain—especially when you’re juggling onboarding, training, and your own pipeline. If you’re running a fast-growing sales team, you know the drill: the faster reps ramp, the sooner they start closing deals (and stop asking you the same questions). This guide is for sales managers, ops folks, and enablement teams who want practical ways to make onboarding smoother, not just another “transformation initiative” no one has time for.
Let’s talk about how you can actually use Momentum to automate the busywork that bogs down new hires, so they can start selling (and stop floundering) sooner.
Why Sales Rep Onboarding Drags On
Before we jump into automation, let’s be honest about why onboarding takes forever:
- Too many manual steps: Reps spend more time learning process than product.
- Scattered info: Key details live in docs, Slack, people’s heads—rarely where reps need them.
- No clear next steps: New hires get lost or stuck waiting for someone to tell them what to do.
- Managers distracted: You want to help, but your own tasks pile up while you hand-hold.
Automation isn’t a silver bullet, but it can keep things moving and free up your time.
What Momentum Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Momentum plugs into your CRM and tools like Slack to automate routine sales tasks. Think: creating follow-ups, nudging reps about next steps, and flagging deals that need attention. It’s not going to “revolutionize your culture” or “empower deep human connections.” It’s going to take stuff off your plate and make reps less dependent on you for every little thing.
What it’s good for:
- Triggering tasks automatically based on CRM updates or deal stage changes.
- Reminding reps and managers about next steps in Slack (no more “What am I supposed to do now?”).
- Standardizing checklists for onboarding, discovery calls, proposals, etc.
What it won’t do:
- Replace real training or coaching.
- Fix broken processes—if your onboarding is a mess, automating it just makes the mess go faster.
- Magically make reps care about your playbook.
Step-by-Step: Automating Rep Onboarding with Momentum
Let’s walk through the nuts and bolts. No fluff—just the steps that actually help.
1. Map Out Your Onboarding Checklist (For Real)
Don’t even open another tool until you’ve got this figured out:
- List every step a new rep should take in their first weeks—product training, CRM setup, shadowing, first calls, etc.
- Be brutally honest: Cut anything that’s busywork or just there because “we’ve always done it.”
- Put it in a simple doc or spreadsheet. If you can’t explain it simply, automation won’t help.
Pro tip: Ask a recent hire what confused them. Their fresh eyes will spot gaps you missed.
2. Identify What Can Be Automated
Now, go down your checklist and flag repeatable, predictable tasks. Examples:
- Assigning training modules or sales collateral.
- Reminding reps to log their first calls or send intro emails.
- Nudging managers to review onboarding progress at set intervals.
- Creating follow-up tasks when a rep completes a milestone.
Skip: Anything that needs real judgment, coaching, or a human touch. Don’t automate “schedule 1:1 with your mentor”—just remind the rep to do it.
3. Set Up Automated Workflows in Momentum
Here’s where Momentum earns its keep:
- Connect your CRM: This is what lets Momentum trigger tasks based on deal stages or rep activities.
- Build onboarding workflows: For each step you flagged in Step 2, create an automated task or reminder.
- Example: When a new rep is added to the CRM, auto-assign a 5-step checklist in Slack.
- Example: After a rep logs their first call, trigger a reminder to send a self-review.
- Assign owners and deadlines: Automation means nothing if tasks float forever. Assign every task to a real person (usually the rep) and set a due date.
Pro tip: Start with just a handful of automations. Add more as you see what works, rather than trying to automate everything at once.
4. Make It Visible—For Everyone
Reps ignore things they can’t see. So:
- Set up Momentum to post onboarding tasks and checklists in Slack channels or group DMs.
- Make managers and enablement folks part of the notification loop—transparency means less chasing people down.
- Use dashboards or simple reports to track who’s on track, who’s stuck, and where the bottlenecks are.
What to skip: Don’t overdo the notifications. If everyone’s drowning in Slack pings, they’ll tune it all out. Batch updates, and keep them actionable.
5. Keep Feedback Loops Short
Automation isn’t “set it and forget it.” Make it easy for reps to flag blockers or ask for help:
- Add a “stuck? Ask for help” step in onboarding checklists.
- Encourage new hires to share what’s unclear or missing. If you hear the same confusion twice, update your process or automation.
- Review completion rates and skipped steps every month. If tasks aren’t getting done, don’t just add reminders—figure out why.
Pro tip: Sometimes, you’ll find that a task isn’t needed at all. Kill it instead of automating it.
6. Measure What Matters (And Ignore Vanity Metrics)
Don’t get lost in the weeds of “tasks completed” if those tasks don’t move the needle. Track:
- Time to first deal closed
- Ramp time to quota
- Number of support questions from new reps
If automation isn’t helping these numbers, it’s either set up wrong or your onboarding needs a rethink.
What Works (and What Doesn’t)
What works:
- Automating repetitive, low-value steps so reps can focus on learning the product and talking to customers.
- Giving managers visibility without more meetings.
- Making onboarding less overwhelming by breaking it into bite-size, automated steps.
What doesn’t:
- Over-automation. If everything is a bot message or checklist, reps tune out.
- Assuming automation fixes broken processes. You have to clean up your onboarding before you speed it up.
- Forgetting the human side. Momentum helps with tasks, but reps still need coaching and a sense of belonging.
What to Ignore
Save yourself some headaches:
- Don’t automate “culture” or “values” onboarding—these stick through people, not bots.
- Fancy integrations you don’t actually need—stick to what helps new reps, not what looks impressive in a demo.
- Endless customization. Start simple, then tweak.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Onboarding isn’t a one-and-done project. The best teams pick a few pain points, automate the basics, and keep tweaking as they learn what slows reps down. Don’t chase perfection—get the clutter out of the way, and let your new hires hit the ground running. The faster you get the basics right, the sooner your reps will be out there actually selling.