Onboard Sales Reps with Real Sales Challenges

Why do too many new sales reps fail? Their onboarding teaches them scripts, not how to solve customer problems. Here's how we did this better at Coursera:

When I built the Coursera Mid-Market team, we transformed our sales onboarding by focusing on real-world challenges rather than product knowledge dumps.

Less focus on online quizzes.

More focus on simulated sales calls.

That meant faster AE ramp times and higher success rates.

How’d we do it?

Here’s one example: Our simulated discovery call:

1. We created a hypothetical tech company that perfectly matched our ideal customer profile

2. We gave this "prospect" specific business problems that online learning (our product) could solve for different employee groups

3. We introduced our common competitors into the scenario so reps had to articulate our unique value

4. During the exercise, reps practiced uncovering layered needs, presenting solutions, and differentiating from competitors

The best performers didn't just ask questions—they uncovered problems, tied our solution to specific use cases, and built a compelling case for why we were the premium choice.

This wasn't just role-playing—it was problem-solving in a realistic environment that represented our bread-and-butter deals.

The payoff? Reps who could nail this exercise consistently closed deals faster in the real world.

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