The world has been moving towards a more remote work environment in recent years. Since 2010, the number of people who work remotely at least once a week has increased by an estimated 400%.
With this massive growth in remote work, modern organizations have started offering remote work options to employees, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, organizations had to adapt to hybrid or fully remote work structures to keep internal and external operations running smoothly.
Managing teams remotely can also benefit organizations by controlling operational costs and increasing employee satisfaction. However, this is a bit more complicated when it comes to sales teams, as a lot of training, follow-ups, and sub-processes can be required to achieve the desired results, especially if the team is remote.
Here are a few powerful strategies that you can use to build a winning remote sales team that can achieve the set targets successfully:
Set clear goals and expectations
For any strategy to succeed, one of the primary considerations is to set clear expectations for the team. Communicate the goals you want to achieve so employees can align with them. Clear expectations, supported by goals monitored through specific metrics, can help the team stay on track even when working remotely.
You should consider the following parameters while setting expectations for your remote sales team:
Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals
Associate metrics with each goal so that employees can track their progress
Consider the limitation of remote working on the sales team while setting expectations.
When goals and expectations are well-defined, employees find it easier to understand what is required of them and thus tend to perform better.
Build a powerful hiring strategy
A weak team can be the downfall of your remote sales strategy and, in turn, your performance. They say the key to building a powerful sales team is hiring the right professionals. Compare candidates' qualifications and skill sets with your expectations to find the right fit. Your hiring strategy should also consider the specific technical skills you expect in your team members, beyond the core skills.
Here are a few parameters to consider while designing your hiring strategy for your remote sales team:
Create a specific job description for the position
Set out to clarify your expectations with the candidate right from the start
Align the candidate’s goals with your expectations to find the right fit
Did you know that when faced with two job offers, 80% are likely to choose the one that offers flexible and remote work options? As a business owner, you can capitalize on this opportunity and build a strong sales team.
Consider employee engagement and communication
While building a powerful strategy to get the best out of your remote sales team, it is important to remember what it's made of: humans. We have an inherent need to communicate and interact with others, which is highly limited in remote work environments. More than 19% of employees reported that loneliness was one of their biggest challenges in remote work environments.
Here are a few ways in which you can increase engagement and communication among employees in a remote working environment:
Introduce a health and wellness care policy - physical and mental
Build personal connections with employees and keep the communication lines open
Plan for casual hangouts and virtual team-building activities periodically to facilitate employee socializing.
Employee engagement and productivity are highly interconnected. The more engaged they feel in your organization, the more productive they will be in their job roles and responsibilities.
Implement the right tools and technologies
The right tools and technologies can help you build a successful remote sales team. For teams prospecting by phone, a dedicated SDR stack keeps calls, follow-ups, and booked meetings in one place.
Some of the biggest challenges companies face in managing remote sales teams include managing productivity, enabling real-time communication with team members, and fostering collaboration within the team. These challenges can be largely eliminated by implementing tools and technologies that automate some processes.
Some tools can manage every aspect of an organization's sales process. From lead generation to managing customer relationships, tools can automate almost every process you currently handle manually. Moreover, industry-specific sales tools also cater to the specific functions of each industry.
While there are myriad tools and solutions available for effective management of remote sales teams and their processes, the following are some of the primary ones:
Slack/Trello: For any team to succeed, communication is key. Even more so, when it is a sales team. Tools like Slack and Trello have been at the forefront of facilitating team communication and allow easy file sharing and collaboration through channels/rooms.
Zendesk/Acquire/Agile CRM: CRM tools can be very important in managing leads and customers remotely. These tools can be great additions to your stack if you want to drive superior customer engagement, experience, and service processes with features that let you manage all client conversations and leads in one place.
Apollo/Hubspot/Hull: Another important part of sales processes is the ability to generate leads and manage the sales funnel. Tools like Apollo and HubSpot let you integrate your database and networks to generate and manage potential leads. You can also schedule follow-up emails, manage communication with leads and guide them through the sales funnel. (Check out this article to know more about Apollo pricing and its pros and cons.)
Implementing communication tools and CRM systems can be a great way to support your remote sales team and to drive desired results for your business.
- Create an SOP for remote working
Establishing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) can be a great way to establish uniformity in the way your business processes are carried out. Creating an SOP for any new process or department can be instrumental in the latter’s success. An SOP sets down the goals, the specific rules, and procedures applicable to the process, the expected results, as well as the KPIs and other metrics that will determine the success of the process.
SOPs are generally implemented within engineering organizations where processes can be very detailed, but preparing an SOP for your remote working strategy can help you achieve better results from the move. Not to forget, recruits, as well as other team members, can always be on the same page about the processes and procedures if an SOP sets a foundation for them.
Here are a few things that you should include within the SOP for your remote sales team:
Goals and Expectations
Sales Strategies to follow
CRM process to follow
Overview of Tools and Technologies used
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
SOPs can also eliminate any conflicts and dissatisfaction that may exist among employees, and clarify your expectations from them.
- Introduce creative ways of celebrating and rewards
In order to keep your employees engaged and motivated, it is important for companies to come up with creative ways to celebrate even small wins. In a remote working environment, it is easy for employees to feel alienated, and small, virtual celebrations go a long way in showing them that they are cared for.
Planning an activity that every team member can participate in virtually or planning meals together can be a great way for employees to bond with each other. Integrating focused initiatives like team building activities can strengthen remote work dynamism and culture. One notable approach is utilizing platforms like TeamBonding, which specializes in crafting events that not only enhance collaborative skills but also reinforce company values, even in a remote setting.
Additionally, you should also find ways to appreciate hard-working employees and reward them appropriately. For example, if an employee has exceeded the sales target or acquired a big client for the company, make your appreciation known in one of the team meetings or send a gift that lets them know that you are pleased with their work.
Here are some of the primary ways in which you can make small celebrations and rewards count:
Send gifts or vouchers to employees who showcase exceptional performance
Plan virtual parties and social gatherings to celebrate small wins
Reward employees during special occasions and festivals
Keeping your employees motivated would be one of the biggest challenges in managing a remote sales team and hence, boosting communication through creative means and rewards can be very useful.
Wrapping up
Having a winning sales team can be key in achieving organizational goals and building sustainable performance. Managing remote sales teams can be challenging but with the right processes in place, you can ensure that your sales team achieves the desired results and performance. Using an employer of record (EOR) could also help you along this process.
You should set out KPIs and assign metrics to measure them so that the team members are always aligned with the interests of the organization. Moreover, maintaining the motivation and satisfaction of employees can also be crucial in managing their productivity and hence, should be considered while building a winning sales team.
