As companies continue to promote a remote-first culture, it is important to continue evaluating how teams are managed. Some salespeople flourish; some struggle. Challenges consist of everything from time management to tech support, but most executives have adapted to the new norm.
From a management perspective, leadership still struggles to manage teams remotely. Here are some guidelines to help manage teams. This can be applied not only to sales teams, but also operations, marketing and other departments with just a few adjustments.
8 Guidelines to Manage Virtual/Remote Sales Teams
- Do not make business decisions or judge the team based on one person who may abuse a working remotely. What many small companies came to realize during the pandemic is that if one person who was ill came to the office and had contact with others, it could halt the entire business for a period of time.
- When a salesperson abuses your remote working situation (like working on their golf game instead of their sales pipeline), get your facts documented. Don’t make any assumptions. Let the facts drive your management decisions.
- Manage by metrics. Increase your paperwork reporting on cold calls made, appointments set, and proposals submitted. Managing remote teams is about managing by sales metrics.
- Hold regular sales meetings by Zoom and require them to attend. If weekly, schedule it for Monday morning so team members can prepare for the week. Hold semi-monthly meetings so you can review deals in progress, roadblocks, and areas in which they need help to move prospects along and close business by the end of the month.
- When holding Zoom meetings, require your team to dress in business casual and to respect the time online as if they were reporting to the office. Working remotely can result in executives becoming too casual, which then results in diminished professionalism in front of prospects.
- Provide ongoing sales training by Zoom or self-paced. Working remotely by its nature detaches your team and forces salespeople to sink or swim. By providing sales training, you create a support system to help your team with their skillsets.
- Hold your team accountable for their numbers.
- Once you have set up these measures, trust your team.
For mature, experienced salespeople, remote working will enhance their productivity and can create a positive work experience, which increases their sales revenue capture success. They no longer have stress or wasted time commuting and can use that time more productively.
For immature employees, working remotely will be a grand opportunity to be unproductive and will create high-maintenance salespeople for the management team.
Working remotely is here to stay. Use these guidelines to help connect your team, increase production, and improve your sales objectives.
