If you run sales or enablement, you know onboarding new hires can drag on forever. Shadowing calls, endless docs, and “just ask if you have questions” isn’t really a plan. This guide is for sales managers, enablement folks, or founders who want to use Convin to make onboarding faster and less painful—without drowning in features you’ll never use.
Convin is a conversation intelligence tool (here’s the link) that records, transcribes, and analyzes sales calls. The pitch is that it helps you ramp new salespeople by giving them access to real calls, feedback, and examples. But, like any tool, it’s only as good as how you use it. Let’s get practical.
Step 1: Get Your House in Order First
Before you even log in to Convin, take stock. No tool will magically fix a broken onboarding process. Ask yourself:
- What are your best reps doing differently?
- Where do new hires usually get stuck?
- What “tribal knowledge” never makes it into the docs?
- Which calls do you wish every new hire could listen to?
Jot down the key moments, questions, and objections that matter most. This will focus how you use Convin, instead of just dumping hours of random calls on your newbies.
Pro tip: If your sales playbook is out of date, update the basics now. Convin helps reinforce good habits, but can’t invent them for you.
Step 2: Set Up Convin the Right Way
You don’t need to be a tech wizard, but don’t skip the setup steps—half-baked integrations cause headaches later.
Connect Your Tools
- Calendar: Sync your team’s Google or Outlook calendars so Convin can record sales calls automatically.
- Dialers & CRMs: Integrate with your dialer (like Zoom, Teams, or RingCentral) and CRM. This keeps call data tied to deals and contacts.
- User Permissions: Make sure new hires only see what you want them to see—especially if you have multiple teams or sensitive accounts.
What to ignore: Don’t get lost customizing every last dashboard. Start with the basics: recording and organizing calls.
Step 3: Build a Call Library That Doesn’t Suck
Dumping every call into a folder helps no one. The real power of Convin is in curating the right examples.
Pick the Right Calls
- Wins & Losses: Include both. Hearing how deals are lost is just as valuable as hearing wins.
- Objection Handling: Tag calls where tough objections come up—budget, timing, competitors, etc.
- Process Walkthroughs: Demo calls, pricing discussions, negotiations.
- Different Personas: Calls with different buyer types (finance, tech, C-suite).
Organize for New Hires
- Create playlists or folders for each scenario: “Great Discovery Calls,” “Handling Price Objections,” etc.
- Use tags and notes so new hires know what to listen for. “Listen at 12:30 for how Jane handles the competitor question.”
Pro tip: Quality > quantity. Ten great calls beat 100 mediocre ones.
Step 4: Make Onboarding Interactive, Not Passive
Nobody learns by just binge-watching call recordings. Convin has features to keep new hires engaged—use them, but don’t overdo it.
Assign Call Reviews
- Give new hires a list of calls to review each week.
- Ask them to leave comments or questions as they listen—build the habit of active listening.
- Use Convin’s quiz or assessment feature to check for comprehension. (But don’t turn it into a test for test’s sake.)
Shadowing, 2.0
- Instead of live shadowing, have new hires review call clips and then discuss them in your 1:1s.
- Focus on moments that matter: how to set an agenda, how to handle pushback, how to close.
- Skip the “listen to the whole hour” approach—pull out 3–5 minute clips that actually teach something.
Peer Learning
- Let your best reps pick calls they’re proud of and add commentary. New hires trust peers more than they trust managers sometimes.
- Encourage a little friendly competition: “Who can find the best example of objection handling this week?”
Step 5: Give Real Feedback—Not Just Scores
Convin’s AI can score calls, but it’s not a replacement for human coaching. Use the analytics, but don’t outsource judgment.
What to Use
- Talk ratios: Are reps talking too much? Not enough? Use this data to coach, not police.
- Filler words & talk time: Helpful for self-awareness.
- Keyword tracking: Useful for checking if reps are hitting key points (like mentioning a new product).
What to Ignore
- Don’t obsess over every AI “score.” Sometimes great calls break the mold.
- Avoid micromanaging every “um” and “uh.” Focus on what moves deals forward.
Make Feedback Actionable
- Leave timestamped comments in Convin: “Nice job reframing the objection at 10:42.”
- Set one or two focus areas at a time: “Next week, work on asking open-ended questions in discovery.”
Step 6: Track Progress, But Keep It Human
Convin’s dashboards will show you who’s reviewing calls, how often, and how they perform on quizzes. That’s all useful—just don’t let it replace actual conversations.
- Use reports to spot who’s behind, but ask why before jumping to conclusions.
- Celebrate quick wins: “Sara picked up our pricing pitch in week one—awesome.”
- Adjust onboarding based on what’s working. If everyone bombs a certain quiz, maybe you need a better example, not a harder test.
Pro tip: Don’t turn onboarding into a surveillance project. The goal is to help, not to catch people slacking.
Step 7: Keep Improving Your Onboarding Library
Your sales process, messaging, and market will change—so should your onboarding materials.
- Every quarter, review which call examples are outdated or no longer relevant.
- Rotate in new “winning” calls as your team improves.
- Ask new hires for feedback: What helped? What confused them? Where did they get stuck?
What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t)
Works: - Short, focused call clips with clear context. - Commenting and discussion—don’t just “assign” calls, talk about them. - Tagging real objections and tough calls, not just the highlight reel.
Doesn’t: - Dumping hours of random recordings and hoping reps learn by osmosis. - Relying only on AI scores to judge rep readiness. - Treating onboarding as a one-and-done event.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Stay Flexible
Convin can make onboarding way less painful, but only if you keep it simple and focused. Don’t get caught up in the shiny features or try to automate the human side out of onboarding. Start with a handful of great calls, real feedback, and clear expectations. Iterate as you go. Fancy tech won’t fix a broken process—but a little structure and thoughtful examples go a long way.