With remote sales becoming more common, it’s important to understand why remote sales work and how to make them effective. If you’ve ever tried selling someone who lives half a world away, you know it’s challenging no matter what. Remote sales are even more difficult than normal cross-country selling as they can be so time-consuming in coordinating meetings and getting everyone on the same page in terms of expectations. Why is that? It’s because with remote sales, you have to create trust before you can close the deal at all. There are several ways you can improve your chances of success to keep your team motivated and help them succeed with their new role. Keep reading for more details:
Teach your team how to build relationships online
First things first, you need to teach your team how to build relationships online. It’s more important than ever that your team knows how to communicate with prospects via email, social media, and other online channels. If your team knows how to build relationships online, they’ll be able to communicate with their prospects in an authentic and friendly way, which will lead to a more successful sales cycle. For example, customers are more likely to respond to emails that are short and to the point, rather than lengthy emails filled with marketing jargon. Customers also prefer to communicate with companies via social media channels, rather than email, if they can get their questions answered in a more friendly and informal manner.
Create a transparent culture
Next, you’ll want to create a transparent culture within your sales team culture. As a manager, it’s important for you to lead by example and make sure your team understands the importance of transparency. If your team knows that you’re available and willing to help along the way, it will create an environment where people feel more comfortable asking questions and seeking assistance. If you’re constantly keeping your team in the dark about what’s going on, nobody will trust you or have confidence in your leadership. If you have an unclear leadership structure or a secretive culture, not only will your team not trust you, but they won’t trust each other either. If a colleague asks a question, they’ll question their own judgement because they don’t know who else they can trust.
Be ready to pivot constantly
As a remote manager, you’ll need to be ready to pivot constantly. Furthermore, it’s important to be both flexible and adaptable if you want to be successful with remote sales. It’s easy to fall into a comfortable routine with the same approach each time you go out and sell a product or service. But as a remote manager, you’ll need to be ready to change your approach quickly if your initial approach isn’t working. For example, if you’re using an outdated sales process, you’ll need to be ready to change that process. However, if you’re doing something wrong, you’ll need to be ready to pivot and correct that mistake as quickly as possible so you don’t lose momentum. It’s also important to remember that even if you’re doing something right, you’ll need to be ready to quickly change your approach if your initial approach isn’t working. For example, if you’re using a sales process that’s 20 years old, you might want to change that process. However, if your process is outdated, you’ll want to be ready to pivot and change that process as quickly as possible so you don’t lose momentum.
Use gamification to keep your team engaged
It’s easy to feel like remote work is a chore and a waste of time. To combat this feeling, you’ll want to use gamification to keep your team engaged. For example, create a sales leaderboard that rewards your team member who closes the most deals each month. It’s also a good idea to create contests and challenges that will keep your team engaged, such as a sales-tracker competition that requires your team to compete against each other to see who can make the most sales. If you’re trying to keep your team motivated, it’s important to keep them engaged with gamification. When your team feels like they’re competing with one another, they’ll be more likely to stay motivated and try their hardest to keep their team moving in the right direction.
Don't stop asking for feedback
Finally, don’t stop asking for feedback. As a manager, you need to constantly ask for feedback from your team. If you don’t, you’ll never know if your team is happy or successful with their work. For example, you can ask your team members for their honest feedback about their work or the work of their colleagues. You can also ask your team members if they feel motivated to continue working after a particular project or assignment is complete. If your team isn’t happy with their work, they’ll tell you. If your team is happy with their work, they’ll tell you. It’s important to keep asking your team members for feedback so you can make adjustments and improve your team’s experience.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it’s important to keep in mind that remote work is just work. It’s important to appreciate the difficulties that come with working remotely, but it’s important to stay positive and focused on the goal at hand. It will take time to learn how to be successful remotely and it will require patience. However, if you stay motivated, try to adapt quickly, and use gamification to keep your team engaged, you’ll be successful in creating a successful remote team.