how to go remote
how to work from home productively <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been working from home for 7 years. But I was curious: what would others highlight as the most important in this new watercooler-less crisis? Especially for sales teams? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
5 Sales Experts Weigh in on Remote Sales <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Rather than rehash many of the points already made by the best in B2B sales, I wanted to put all the most promising tips from sales experts into one place.
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We have tips from Gong, Saleshacker, and HubSpot along with insight from our own Stephen Hakami (hail to the chief<\/em>) and Hans Dekker (our in-house growth guru). Taking on everything from introducing some self-care to conducting a successful coaching call, these sales experts have a lot to say on what it means to manage your newly remote sales team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a typical sales team, reps can quickly communicate on the status of a deal or ask a quick question about a lead in real-time and in-person. CRMs and pipelines keep everything organized, but plenty of sales teams rely on these face-to-face conversations. With a remote sales team, you\u2019ll have to ensure everything remains visible. \u201cStep one is making sure everyone on the team has visibility on what\u2019s happening in deals,\u201d Gong\u2019s Jonathan Costet<\/a> writes. \u201cThat means upgrading permissions, creating new dashboards, and distributing information that reps would have normally obtained by tapping on their neighbor\u2019s shoulder.\u201d Even if you already have the software tools in place to track tools and lead conversations, you may need to up the ante. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGetting information to flow in your team will allow you to start the week strong with *actual* pipeline reviews. Instead of getting caught up on what opportunities have been or haven\u2019t been updated, you can spot at-risk deals and define next best steps for those accounts.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Ellie Tamari<\/a>, Chief Customer Officer at Market Beyond, was recently interviewed on the Sales Hacker podcast. The topic \u2014 managing remote sales teams \u2014 extended beyond the management mechanics and into Tamari\u2019s philosophy and building a strong team. \u201cOur attitude is, \u2018This is something that we should love\u2019,\u201d Tamari told Sales Hacker. \u201cIt\u2019s fun. The way to make people feel like they\u2019re a part of something \u2014 and in a startup, we have that privilege \u2014 is to help them build the company together.\u201d For remote sales teams, Zoom checkins should go beyond numbers and CRM notes. Team calls should be much more collaborative, giving the whole team a chance to talk about what\u2019s working, what isn\u2019t and (better yet) what could <\/em>work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s an art and a science. We\u2019re a team, and a lot of our team meetings and communication is about building things together. So, rather than coming with, \u201cHere\u2019s what I think our sales methodologies should be,\u201d or, \u201cHere\u2019s how to prevent no shows,\u201d and turn that into a lecture, every team member no matter where they are is part of building something together and owning it together.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n HubSpot\u2019s Rebecca White<\/a> interviewed the company\u2019s remote salesforce to determine how to be successful at remote sales, both as a sales rep and as a manager. Corporate Sales Manager Matt Hambor<\/a> told her: take time for group training. With a time constraint, running these reviews remotely can be even more productive than in-person meetings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce a month, Matt\u2019s team runs an hour long call review meeting. This is a great way to run remote friendly enablement and training exercises.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Matt splits his sales team into groups and reviews a discovery call together. After discussing the call, they write down their takeaways in a PowerPoint and come back together to share with the larger group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I asked our CEO, Stephen Hakami<\/a>, what tips he has for sales managers facing a newly remote team. His #1 recommendation has nothing to do with organization or even communication. It\u2019s all about keeping the competition alive, even remotely. \u201cWhen you’re working sales inside of an office, competition is everywhere,\u201d Stephen told me. Sales teams celebrate big deals and display quarterly progress. Taking things remote doesn\u2019t mean these things have to go away. In fact, keeping a competitive edge in your team will help them perform. \u201cMoney can be a strong motivator, but doesn’t always have the emotional connection that competition does,\u201d Stephen says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a manager, it’s important to foster competition to keep teams motivated. Celebrate big deals on calls, display each reps numbers in a place everyone can see, and add weekly prizes for the winners. Working from home as a sales rep can make it feel like you’re alone. Fostering competition amongst the team fixes this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Our Head of Growth, Hans Dekker<\/a>, also recommends saving time wherever you can. \u201cDo you have any idea how much time you\u2019re spending on writing or thinking up the same replies to the same objections you\u2019re getting on your cold outreach?\u201d Hans recommends cutting down on repetitive work by putting together a playbook with the most common objections and best ways to address them. Then save them as templates in your email or CRM tool. \u201cNot only will this help you win time to spend on other tasks, it also guarantees the best quality in your sales efforts across the board, and can make or break your onboarding for new reps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How do you keep sales competition alive when you\u2019re limited to a 13\u201d screen and Zoom calls? With COVID-19 hitting headlines everywhere, sales leaders are looking to their most promising option: a remote sales team. Like plenty of other marketers and sales leaders, I quickly realized this would be our new reality. So I started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nGong.io: Encourage visibility from day one<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nRead more: Strategies for Managing Remote Sales Teams<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"remote](\"https:\/\/wiza-edge.b-cdn.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/bench-accounting-C3V88BOoRoM-unsplash-1024x684.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSales Hacker: Build something together<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nListen: How to Manage a Remote Sales Team<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
HubSpot: Don\u2019t forget about training <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nRead more: How to Be Successful at Remote Sales<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Wiza: Encourage competition and<\/em> save time <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nRead more: How to Send Cold Email at Scale<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n