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Working from home is a challenge and requires you to adjust your management technique, especially if you’re in control of a sales team.
Fortunately, making it work is easier than you think. In this article, you’ll learn some of the techniques that you can use to improve the efficiency of your remote selling team, even if you’re all working away from the office.
Invest In Shared Resources
Don’t assume that every member of your sales team knows how to work from home. Many won’t.
It’s a good idea, therefore, to invest time and energy into creating shared resources that everyone can use quickly and easily when they need them. Set up a Google Docs account and make important instructional articles publicly available. These storage systems make it easy for remote workers to access the information they need at any time of day, regardless of their time zone.
Improve Trust In Your Relationships
It can be difficult to establish trust with a remote team. When they can’t observe you physically, they can find it hard to build a connection with you.
The trick here is to improve communication between team members as much as you can. As a sales manager, you have to lead from the front. Your interactions should set the standard for the rest of the team.
Where possible, implement group Zoom conversations every morning. Ask team members to all make short contributions that benefit other members. Where possible, encourage cross-chat, for instance, between senior sales reps and new recruits.
Be Clear About Your Expectations
Sales reps like it when managers set expectations. Research shows that they are much more likely to feel engaged in their work.
Make sure that each rep has a sales quota and then use software to track their performance. Make it clear what results you expect on average so that each member of the team can strive for excellence.
If there’s a problem with a sales rep’s performance, you’ll need to hop on a video call with them to figure out whether there is a way to resolve the problem. Be clear on your ground rules for calling cold prospects and how sales reps should be representing your brand. If possible, create a system that allows you to record calls to ensure compliance to protect your brand.
Use Team Communication Tools
Sales reps shouldn’t be isolated, even if they’re working remotely. As in other sales situations, they should have other reps around them, showing them the ropes.
It’s sometimes a good idea to get sales reps to “shadow” more senior members of your team. This way, they can observe the sales techniques that work, and those that don’t.
You can also schedule meetings that allow your team to get involved in your sales strategy. You could have sessions in which you brainstorm new sales ideas.
Make sure that you have a chat app that sales reps can use to talk to each other throughout the day. This can help to replace those essential chats that employees have besides the watercooler in a real office.
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