Building a Remote Sales Team

Many professionals now work remotely, and salespeople are expected to meet and exceed their sales quotas while working from home. As a sales manager, it is critical to lead your virtual sales team with the goal of assisting them in reaching their goals while adjusting to a new way of working. Remote selling can elevate your selling process, help improve your team's productivity and fill your sales pipeline, all without having to leave your desk.

What is Remote Selling?

Remote selling is a method of making sales in which buyers and remote sales representatives do not come into physical contact. It's similar to the inside sales approach, which involves reaching out to prospects and closing deals via technology such as the internet or phone rather than in-person meetings.

Here are the key benefits of remote selling:

Cut down on costs: The most obvious advantage of selling remotely is that you save a lot of money that you would have spent on renting office space, equipment, car fuel, and flights otherwise. However, you'll still have to spend money on things like setting up a home office, buying paid tools and applications, etc.

Scale business globally: With remote selling, you can reach out to prospects all over the world and pitch to them. All you need is a reliable internet connection. Furthermore, using the right technology makes it easier to increase sales and scale your business. Zoho One includes many tools available to assist you in automating repetitive manual tasks, managing your sales pipeline, and organizing all of your internal and external communication.

Increase efficiency: When you eliminate the hours spent traveling to prospect meetings and engaging in face-to-face conversations, you free up valuable calendar space. This time can be used by virtual sales teams to qualify leads, reach out to more people, and perfect your sales pitch. The more you pitch and improve your sales skills, the more likely it is that you will capture hot leads, nurture prospects through the buying journey, and close more deals.

Boost team morale: Adopting remote selling for your company can help motivate your sales representatives while also increasing team morale and productivity. Allowing sales development representatives autonomy and supporting their efforts with comprehensive resources will empower them to produce impressive results. Allowing employees to choose their work environment and set their own schedule (within your predefined parameters) reduces stress and increases productivity. Furthermore, remote sales representatives are not distracted by distractions such as a commute or office politics, allowing them to focus their energy solely on sales opportunities.

Step-by-Step: Building a Strong Remote Sales Team

Step 1: Create and establish communication channels

Strong communication should be a top priority when leading a successful virtual sales team. Establishing clear communication norms with your sales reps so they know how to reach you will create an environment of transparency and trust. For example, your reps may want to send you messages that don't require an immediate response via email. Zoho Cliq can be used for sending brief messages that require an immediate response, as well as for appropriate social conversations. And video conferencing software like Zoom can be used for one-on-one meetings and calls that lack the face-to-face element that phone calls have.

Step 2: Form a job description for ideal candidate

One of the simplest ways to build a successful virtual sales team is to hire the right people. Not every in-person salesperson will be able to seamlessly transition to a fully remote sales role. To hire the best virtual sales representatives, consider asking additional questions during the interview process that focus on qualities required for success in a remote role.

Step 4: Set measurable goals and KPIs

In a world where data is a major competitive advantage for businesses, it is critical to monitor performance based on specific goals and targets. To truly ensure that you are growing and making the most of your data-driven efforts, you must set measurable goals that will allow you to efficiently assess your strategic efforts. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are one of the most effective. KPIs are a type of measurement that aids organizations in assessing their success in various activities and areas. Setting KPIs, targets, and goals can help you analyze your team's performance and make changes to your processes if necessary.

Step 5: Conduct exercises to build relationships

Make it easier for your virtual sales team to connect and get to know one another. You can include icebreakers or engaging activities as team-building exercises to encourage collaboration. Developing trust with your employees is critical to success. Employees who trust their managers have less stress, more energy, and take fewer sick days than those who don't.

Managing your team remotely

While remote work may be the way of the future, managing a remote sales team is difficult. The fundamental principles of the sales management job description and process remain, but when issues arise, it is not as simple as getting up from your desk and walking down the hall to get clarification face to face. This is especially true if your reps travel more than they stay, leaving them out of pocket and out of reach for large portions of the day.

Here are three ways to improve your leadership abilities when managing remote positions and teams:

1) Set clear expectations

Encourage sales employees to meet higher performance levels when setting expectations. Setting clear expectations for your remote sales force gives them a benchmark to strive for. The benchmark should include sales objectives, specific online procedures for working on leads, and time management tips. Sales leaders must also be willing to participate in a video call with their remote sales team to discuss expectations and provide each employee with a detailed report on their specific tasks and desired performance goals. Discuss the ground rules for finding leads, what to do when cold calling prospects, when to perform follow-up work, how to close the deal, and what to do if there are any problems.

2) Allocate universal resources for team

Technology drives innovation, which results in better products for your customers and higher sales and revenue for your business. Access to cutting-edge technology can empower employees and boost employee satisfaction. Employees can use technology to work more efficiently and productively while also benefiting from working for a forward-thinking organization on the cutting edge of technology. Most companies work in the cloud. Cloud software helps ensure that every member of your remote sales team has the information they need exactly when they need it, so everyone can receive the most up-to-date information.

3) Socially interact and build trusting relationships

When you have a remote sales team, it can be difficult to establish trusting relationships. After all, you don't see each other every day at work. Sales managers should schedule their days so that they overlap with the majority of their team members. A good manager encourages positive interaction among team members. Holding weekly team meetings facilitates communication and allows your sales team to learn from one another. Encourage your team to connect outside of your company's normal operations because it will improve communication skills, make meetings more productive, and foster healthy team relationships.