Onboarding new sales reps is never as simple as you hope. You want them to hit quota, not get lost in a maze of spreadsheets and “welcome” emails. This guide is for sales managers, ops folks, and anyone tired of chasing people to finish onboarding tasks. If you’re using Enrow or thinking about it, here’s how to use its task automation to make onboarding less painful—for everyone.
Why bother with automation in onboarding?
Let’s be honest: most onboarding “processes” are a mess of checklists, docs, and crossed fingers. Stuff gets missed, people get frustrated, and you have to remind everyone (again) to finish their compliance training. Automating this routine work isn’t sexy, but it’s the fastest way to save time, cut mistakes, and actually give new reps a fair shot at ramping up.
A tool like Enrow won’t magically fix a broken onboarding process. But if you’ve got your act together and just need to get the right info to the right people at the right time, automation can take you from “barely functional” to “consistently good.”
Step 1: Map Your Onboarding Process (Don’t Skip This)
Before you even open Enrow, take an hour to write out your current onboarding steps. Yes, on paper or in a doc. It’s tempting to leap straight into the tool, but if your process is unclear, automating it just creates faster chaos.
- List out every step a new sales rep should complete in the first week, month, or quarter.
- Include who’s responsible for each step (rep, manager, HR, IT, etc.).
- Be honest—what’s actually required vs. “it would be nice if…”? Cut the fluff.
- Note which steps are often dropped or delayed. These are your biggest wins for automation.
Pro tip: Ask a recent hire what tripped them up. They’ll tell you what matters way faster than your documentation will.
Step 2: Set Up Enrow’s Task Templates
Now you’re ready to use Enrow’s automation features. The backbone here is task templates—sets of to-dos you can assign to every new rep with a click.
How to do it:
- Head to the Task Templates section in Enrow.
- Create a new template called something like “Sales Rep Onboarding.”
- Add tasks for each onboarding step from your list.
- Assign deadlines (but be realistic—don’t stack everything on Day 1).
- Attach links to key docs, videos, or resources.
- Set owners for each task: new rep, manager, IT, etc.
Don’t overthink it: You can always tweak these templates later. It’s better to start simple and add detail than get bogged down in setup.
Step 3: Automate Task Assignment for New Hires
Once your template is ready, the real magic is in triggering these tasks automatically whenever you add a new sales rep.
In Enrow, you can:
- Set up onboarding “workflows” that trigger when a new user is added with the “sales rep” role.
- Automatically assign the right task template to the new rep and anyone else involved (manager, HR, etc.).
- Schedule reminders so nobody forgets their part.
This means you don’t have to remember to send out 10 different emails or chase down managers to do their bit. Enrow handles it.
What works: Automatic reminders are gold. People forget, so let the tool be the nag—not you.
What to ignore: Don’t automate stuff that still needs a human touch (like a 1:1 with their manager). Just include a task that says “Schedule 1:1”—the actual meeting should happen face-to-face.
Step 4: Track Progress and Nudge (Without Micromanaging)
With tasks assigned, Enrow lets you see who’s done what—without pestering everyone for updates.
- Check the onboarding dashboard to see where new reps are stuck.
- Send nudges only when needed, not just because the tool lets you.
- Spot patterns: If everyone gets stuck on the same step, your process needs fixing—not just more reminders.
Pro tip: Share progress with new hires too. People like seeing what’s left (and hate being in the dark).
Step 5: Use Automation to Collect Feedback
Onboarding isn’t “fire and forget.” If you want to get better, build feedback into the process.
- Add a final task like “Fill out onboarding feedback form.”
- Automate reminders for this step a week after onboarding wraps up.
- Actually read the feedback. Automating the ask is pointless if you ignore the answers.
What works: Make the feedback super short and specific (e.g., “What was confusing?” “What could we skip?”).
What to ignore: Don’t bother with long surveys. One or two open questions beats a 20-question monster nobody reads.
Step 6: Iterate—Don’t Set and Forget
The first time you automate onboarding, things will break or feel clunky. That’s normal. The whole point is to catch issues sooner and fix them for the next batch.
- Review the process every quarter.
- Ask recent hires what made sense and what didn’t.
- Update your Enrow templates as you go. Don’t wait for “the big fix.”
Pro tip: If a task gets ignored by everyone, ask if it needs to exist at all. Automating busywork just creates digital noise.
What Enrow Automates Well (and Where It Falls Short)
What works:
- Repeatable, checklist-type tasks: Think doc sign-offs, intro videos, setting up software accounts.
- Reminders and accountability: Nobody wants to be the “Did you finish your compliance training?” person.
- Tracking who’s behind: You spot problems faster.
Where you still need humans:
- Coaching, shadowing, and real feedback: No tool can automate a good conversation.
- Building team culture: You can assign “Meet your buddy” as a task, but you can’t force a real connection.
- Fixing broken processes: Automation just speeds up whatever you put in—good or bad.
Bottom line: Use Enrow’s automation to clear the boring stuff out of the way. But if your onboarding is confusing or overwhelming, the tool won’t fix that for you.
Keep It Simple, Fix It as You Go
If you take one thing away, it’s this: Don’t overcomplicate onboarding automation. Start with the basics—clear steps, simple task templates, and honest feedback loops. Use Enrow to handle the repetitive stuff and free yourself up to actually help new reps succeed. Stay skeptical of bells and whistles. Iterate, trim the fat, and keep what works. That’s how you get onboarding that doesn’t suck—for you or your new hires.