Remote working is becoming more popular across almost every sector. There are various reasons such as hiring people in different locations, diversifying the workforce, etc. But though there are good perks for both the employer and employee in this kind of a working relationship, there are certain things to keep in mind when hiring remote salespeople. Salesmen already work under a lot of pressure, so it is important to ensure that they do not feel isolated when working from remote locations. Not just on the road, remote salespeople have to ensure that they are efficient even when not making a sale.
It is obvious with the increase in remote sales jobs that it is very beneficial to the organization and to the salespeople as well. But it also requires greater responsibility from the employee and the management to make it a successful relationship. The main problem in this context is the difficulty of communication, especially if the employees are working in different timezones. Managing all the employees will require higher engagement responsibility for the upper management which they should be ready for and prepared. Moreover, when problems arise, you can’t just walk across the hall and resolve those issues face-to-face. So, as far as possible, it is important to inculcate frequent and productive communication among all the team members for better chances of success.
It is crucial to have responsible team members when building a company or an organization. You need both productive workers and successful leadership. Your team members need to trust each other enough to collaborate seamlessly. If you can ensure that your potential remote salespeople can manage their time properly on their own, it becomes easier to work effectively. That is why we have put together some smart productivity tips that can help your remote salespeople.
1. Processes For Productivity
Organizations need to ensure that there are tested processes that are a template for the structure and direction in which work should be accomplished. Every single aspect of work, whether it is on lead generation, or how to do a demonstration, approaching a customer or closing a sale, will have to be established first as a system of how your organization does things. Most companies do have such processes but the expectation is that employees will follow them on their own is not correct. That is why you have to follow the approach of processes in setting up and following everyday tasks.
If necessary, start using a project management tool with templates for everyday processes. Build a bank of templates and workflows that your team can follow to accomplish standard tasks. Moreover, it becomes easier for you to track and monitor.
Make sure that there are regular and routine accountability checks that employees can be prepared for. This way they will know what is expected of them. Accountability is also great to let all the members of the team understand what others are doing. This increases team effort by letting everyone know team achievements and goals in advance.
2. Make Time Management Training
One of the biggest challenges of a remote workforce is time management. This is actually a problem even in onsite offices so it shouldn’t be a surprise that remote workers find it even more difficult.
The whole idea is about letting employees understand the timeframe in which they have to fulfill their duties. This is the reason if you feel that remote salespeople are taking longer than necessary to provide them standard time management training that will put all the team members on a similar schedule. Tasks like email response time, the gap between cold-calling customers should all be standardized for all employees so everyone knows what to expect.
Sometimes without boundaries, people may feel overwhelmed with personal and professional lives. So time management can be a crucial step in helping your remote salespeople manage both.
3. Try Video Conferencing:
Isolation is a major problem for your remote workforce since they are working on their own. Lack of personal feedback and interaction can be both demotivating, as well as make it difficult for people to hold themselves accountable. Even communicating over phone and texts may not be enough for your remote salespeople to get the job done.
Video conferences can be a great way to help with that. With the help of technology, your entire remote workforce can connect with each other and with the management regularly. Having a committed schedule for all members to talk freely, ask questions, and discuss problems or issues is a fundamental step to great teamwork.
We would suggest having at least one weekly meeting over a video call to stay on track with agreed-upon goals. This is also an opportunity for you to handle management issues or smooth out process issues before they become a hurdle in your organization’s process.
4. Self-care
Make sure that your employees understand the importance of practicing self-care. Remote salespeople may take fewer sick days or work even when they are sick since they feel that they are already working from home anyways. Even if it sounds like good news for you, it has negative effects on your employees and for your organization. This is because practicing self-care is one of the fundamental lessons in increasing productivity for all employees, whether remote or otherwise.
Ensure that your employees understand the importance of regular physical activity, Simple exercises such as stretches, or yoga poses can have immense positive physical and mental benefits. Even taking a mid-day nap has been shown to have strong positive impact on productivity and energy levels. The basic point is to make sure that your remote salespeople understand what works for their energy type and inculcate practices to improve their productivity.
5. Set Clear Goals
In a big team, miscommunication is one of the biggest challenges. People can easily misunderstand what is expected of which team member, and this can have a negative impact on the accomplishment of tasks. Especially, sometimes things can be overlooked which will put the stress on everybody.
That is why it is important that you make sure that every employee understands what is needed of them personally rather than as a team. One way to do this is to enter each member’s tasks and responsibilities in the group project management app. Setting up individual expectations is important to motivate your remote salespeople to perform better since they know what is expected of them. Goals are not just about achieving sales targets but also in how to go about the process. When recruiting new members the workflow and processes have to be communicated effectively to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Always make sure that your team knows that they can get on a call with you to clarify any process or problem. This goes a long way in establishing a successful remote working relationship! Encourage smooth communication and collaboration between team members, create efficient processes, set accurate measurable goals, build trust, and be available for each other.
