One answer sets the path
The role question on the first task shows the SDR or AE tasks and hides the others. Shared tasks are written once, so an edit reaches both paths.
Sales Rep Onboarding Checklist Template
Too often a new rep starts calling buyers because a date arrived or the pipeline needed them. They should start when their manager has heard them pitch and signed it off.
This free sales rep onboarding checklist is for sales managers, enablement leads and sales ops teams bringing a new SDR or account executive into a B2B team. It runs from the week before the start date to the 90-day review in four phases: pre-boarding, week 1, the first 30 days and the ramp to 90 days. One answer on the first task, SDR or AE, decides which tasks appear, so an SDR gets sequences and a call blitz while an AE gets discovery and demo certification and a seat in the forecast review. For contact-centre queue agents and telesales teams, use the Call Centre Agent Onboarding Checklist. Contracts, payroll and HR forms sit in the Employee Onboarding Checklist, and a newly hired sales manager needs the New Manager Onboarding Checklist.
SDR Onboarding and the AE Onboarding Plan: One Template, Two Paths
SDRs and account executives share most of their first three months. Both need working tools on day one, a territory with clear rules about who owns which account, the same customer and product training, and time listening to colleagues before speaking to a buyer. They part company over the job they are being prepared for. An SDR has to open conversations and hand a qualified meeting to someone else. An AE has to run discovery, show the product, price the deal and forecast it honestly.
Two separate templates drift apart when someone edits one and forgets the other. This checklist keeps one set of shared tasks and adds the role-specific ones from a single answer. The quota ramp and commission plan are agreed in writing in week 1, so the numbers the rep is held to at 60 and 90 days are the ones they signed, not ones that moved along the way.
SDR path
Opening conversations and booking meetings
Extra tasks: sequences and a daily cadence, a call blitz with the manager, the meeting-booked standard and the handoff to AEs.
Certified on: the pitch and talk track.
Ready when: AEs accept the meetings at the agreed standard.
AE path
Running deals from discovery to forecast
Extra tasks: quoting access, pricing and discount authority, the first opportunities owned and the weekly forecast review.
Certified on: the pitch, then discovery and the demo.
Ready when: their own pipeline moves through the stages with CRM data the forecast can trust.
What the Sales Rep Onboarding Checklist Covers
Four phases take a rep from the week before they start to a ramp decision at 90 days. Tasks marked SDR only or AE only appear for that role alone.
Phase 1
Phase 1: Pre-Boarding
Done before the start date. The laptop, email and single sign-on come from IT’s own IT Onboarding Checklist; this phase covers the sales tools.
- Record the start date, role, manager, buddy and RevOps owner — the role answer, SDR or AE, decides which later tasks appear
- Assign the territory or account list and the rules of engagement — who owns inbound leads, named accounts and disputes, in writing
- Set up CRM and sales engagement access — the right CRM role and territory, and a sequencing seat
- Set up the dialler, call recording, Sales Navigator and booking link — with a test call recorded and played back
- Set up quoting access with the right discount limits — AE only: the CPQ or quoting tool, at the approval level the deal desk has agreed
- Set the quota ramp and draft the commission plan — monthly targets in a table, with the plan document attached
- Brief the buddy and book the 1:1s, reviews and shadowing slots — weekly 1:1s, the 30-, 60- and 90-day reviews, and named colleagues to shadow
Phase 2
Phase 2: Week 1
Tools, customers and rules. Nothing in this phase puts the rep in front of a buyer.
- Confirm every login works on day one — anything missing is flagged the same morning
- Sign the commission plan and quota ramp — the rep keeps a signed copy and the manager files the signed receipt
- Learn the ICP, personas and the problems the product solves — who buys, who uses it, and what each persona is measured on
- Complete product training and the product quiz — score recorded on the checklist
- Learn the CRM stages, required fields and logging rules — what must be true before an opportunity moves forward
- Learn the outreach rules before the first call or email — do-not-call screening, opt-outs and what must be said or shown, as in the table below
- Listen to recorded calls from the call library — good calls and poor ones, with questions noted for the 1:1
- Build the first sequences and daily call cadence — SDR only: approved templates, personalisation rules and blocked calling time
- Hold the first weekly 1:1 — what is clear, what is not, and anything still blocked
Phase 3
Phase 3: The First 30 Days
Certifications are approval tasks: the checklist stops until the manager approves. SDRs certify once, AEs twice.
- Study the main competitors and the common objections — where you win and lose, with a practised answer to each objection
- Shadow live calls with peers, an SE and a CS colleague — so the rep hears a technical demo and a customer conversation, not only prospecting
- Manager certifies the pitch and talk track — a role-play the rep passes before any live outreach
- Agree the meeting-booked and qualification standard — SDR only: what makes a meeting count, agreed with the AEs who receive them
- Learn pricing, discount authority and the deal desk — AE only: list prices, what the rep may discount alone, and when a deal needs the deal desk
- Manager certifies discovery and the demo — AE only: a discovery role-play and a demo built around that buyer’s problem
- Take the first live calls with the manager listening in — reverse shadowing: the rep leads, the manager stays quiet and debriefs after each call
- Run a call blitz with the manager — SDR only: a focused calling session with the manager alongside, reviewed straight after
- Hold the 30-day review and approve solo selling — an approval: from here the rep works calls and deals without the manager on the line
Phase 4
Phase 4: Ramp to 90 Days
The rep sells on their own. The manager coaches and checks the numbers against the ramp both signed.
- Hand meetings to AEs at the agreed standard — SDR only: handoff notes in the CRM, with the AE confirming each meeting is accepted
- Own the first opportunities through the pipeline stages — AE only: each stage moved on evidence the CRM records
- Present pipeline in the weekly forecast review — AE only: commit, best case and what has slipped, in the team’s forecast categories
- Review recorded calls in each weekly 1:1 — the rep picks one call and the manager picks another
- Record actuals against the quota ramp each month — target, ramp percentage and actual side by side
- Hold the 60-day review — progress against the ramp and the skills still to work on
- Hold the 90-day review and record the ramp decision — fully ramped, extend with a plan, or escalate to the sales leader
- Write the extension plan with a new review date — shown only if the ramp is extended: what changes, who helps and when it is reviewed
- Ask the rep what to change in onboarding — fed back into the template before the next hire starts
Outreach Rules a New Rep Must Learn Before the First Call
A new rep will never be asked to cite a statute. What matters is knowing which list to check and what to say before dialling or pressing send. This summary of US and UK rules is for building the week 1 briefing, not legal advice. Ask your legal adviser to check them for each country and state your reps sell into.
| Topic | United States | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Calling a business line | The National Do Not Call Registry covers personal numbers, not business lines, and the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule exempts most business-to-business calls. Calls selling nondurable office or cleaning supplies are the exception | Live marketing calls to businesses must be screened against both the TPS and the Corporate TPS, and your own do-not-call list, because sole traders and some partnerships register on the TPS |
| Calling a mobile | Mobile numbers can be on the registry, so screen a prospect’s personal mobile like a home number. Telemarketing calls to a mobile using an autodialler or a prerecorded voice need prior express written consent | Recorded-message marketing calls need the subscriber’s prior consent to that type of call, whether the subscriber is a business or a person |
| What the rep says | Since 2024 the Rule’s bans on misrepresentation and false or misleading statements apply to business-to-business calls as well | Say who is calling, display a number the prospect can ring back, and give a contact address or freephone number if asked |
| Cold email | CAN-SPAM makes no exception for business-to-business email: no misleading headers or subject lines, a valid postal address and a working opt-out in every message | Email to companies, LLPs and other corporate subscribers needs no prior consent, but the sender must be identified and an opt-out address given. Sole traders and some partnerships need consent or the soft opt-in |
| When someone says stop | Email opt-outs must be honoured within 10 business days. A do-not-call request on a covered call must be honoured within a reasonable time, no more than 10 business days | Add the number or address to a suppression list rather than deleting it. A named contact has an absolute right under UK GDPR to object to direct marketing, and the ICO recommends honouring company opt-outs too |
The UK rules are being revised. The ICO says its direct marketing guidance is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, and since 5 February 2026 it can fine up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover for breaches of PECR. Check the sources directly: the FTC guide to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the FCC’s rule at 47 CFR 64.1200, the FTC CAN-SPAM guide, the ICO guidance on business-to-business marketing and the ICO statement on the Act’s commencement.
The commission plan sits in week 1 for a similar reason. Where the law requires a written commission plan, as California Labor Code section 2751 does for commission-paid employees working in the state, the employer must set out how commissions are calculated and paid, give the employee a signed copy and get a signed receipt back. In the UK, the written statement of employment particulars, due by the first day, must give the rate of pay or how it is calculated. The checklist keeps the signed plan on the week 1 task, where it can be found if a commission is disputed.
Why Run Sales Rep Onboarding in CheckFlow?
No outreach before sign-off
The pitch certification, and for AEs the discovery and demo certification, halt the checklist until the manager approves. The manager, buddy and RevOps owner are chosen on the opening task, and due dates count from the start date.
The ramp on record
The quota ramp sits in a table, the signed commission plan is uploaded in week 1, and the 90-day decision is a required answer. Each task shows who completed it and when, and template reports show which reps are waiting on a certification.
Hiring a cohort? CheckFlow’s sales onboarding software runs one checklist per rep, each with its own start date.
For the reasoning behind each stage, certification design and the metrics to track, read the full guide: Sales Onboarding Checklist: The Complete 30-60-90 Day Guide. The 90-day onboarding plan covers the same period for every role.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a 90-day sales onboarding plan include?
Working tools and a territory before day one, training on the customer, the product and the outreach rules in week 1, certifications the rep must pass before selling unsupervised, and agreed numbers to measure them against. The last one is often missing. Write the quota ramp down month by month, have it signed with the commission plan in the first week, and hold the 30-, 60- and 90-day reviews against it.
How is an AE onboarding plan different from SDR onboarding?
An SDR is prepared to start conversations: sequences, a calling cadence, a clear standard for what counts as a qualified meeting, and a clean handoff to an AE. An account executive is prepared to run the deal: discovery, demos, pricing and discount authority, owning opportunities and forecasting them. Both share the tools, the customer and product training and the outreach rules.
What is reverse shadowing in sales onboarding?
It is the step after the rep has shadowed other people. The rep leads real calls while the manager or a senior colleague listens without stepping in, then debriefs straight afterwards. It sits between role-play certification and solo selling, so the rep’s first live mistakes are heard by someone who can coach them. In this checklist it comes after the pitch certification and before the 30-day sign-off for solo selling.
Do do-not-call rules apply to B2B sales calls?
It depends on the country. In the US, the National Do Not Call Registry covers personal numbers rather than business lines, and most business-to-business calls are exempt from the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, although its bans on misrepresentation now apply to them. A prospect’s personal mobile can still be registered. In the UK, live B2B marketing calls must be screened against both the TPS and the Corporate TPS. This is a summary, not legal advice.
When should a new rep sign their commission plan?
In the first week, before any deal is credited to them. Where the law requires a written plan, as California does, the employer must hand over a signed copy and get a signed receipt. Even where it is not required, a signed plan with a monthly ramp avoids arguments later about which deals counted and what the target was.
Is CheckFlow free for this template?
14-day free trial, no card required. The Business plan is $10 per user per month after the trial. Full details at checkflow.io/pricing.