With 56% of people believing that managers must alter how they manage their remote workforce you can’t afford to apply the same management style as you would for a regular sales team. If your sales people are having a bad month you don’t have the luxury of walking down the hall and delivering a motivating speech. So you need management strategies and top software to help your team hit their targets and work on their personal development. Let’s look at the most effective management strategies for your remote sales people:
Implement clear processes
According to The Flexible Working in 2019 survey, 44% of our time is wasted on ineffective communications, and when managing remote sales people that figure could hike up further. One way that you can tackle this unproductivity is to draw up clear guidelines for your remote sales people. This will ensure that no matter where your sales team are, they’re all being directed by the same processes and are aware of the next steps. The best processes will outline all the possible scenarios – especially the undesirable ones – and with your remote sales people working more independently this leaves you with more time to support them in other ways. Implementing clear processes will also save you time when onboarding new sales people.
Providing them with the best software and tools
But note that to be effective the processes must be well documented and created in a format that meets two criteria – accessible on the various types of devices that your sales team are using and stored on a drive that can be opened remotely. Additionally, you’ll need a robust CRM system which your remote sales people must use to track all their leads so you can easily see which stage each is at in the sales pipeline.
Managing their performance
The real benefit of using CRM analytics data to evaluate pipelines is that it can help sales managers see how their team is working towards their sales quotas and spot any opportunities for them. Looking at the CRM, you can easily see how many in-person calls they were on and who they’ve been visiting. When managing remotely it’s important not to just focus on the results but to monitor the behaviours that contribute – this can help you pinpoint any areas for improving the process – however, it needs to be done so in an artful way so that you don’t appear to be micro-managing. Taking a step back in this way is a great way to motivate your sales team to hit targets.
Build trust
Micromanaging is not an effective way to guide your remote sales people because it damages the trust between you and your team. And with 45% of workers stating that lack of trust in their managers is the biggest contributing factoring to work performance, this is not an issue that management can ignore. A great way to start building trust is to set clear expectations about sales objectives and the procedures that should be followed to achieve these. This assures you that your team are working towards a common goal whilst giving them the independence to get on and do their work.
And how can you ensure that this trust never wavers? By investing in your sales team. Sales people who are regularly put through training will see that the company cares about their career development and if your company isn’t providing training or coaching this could be one reason why your sales leaders are leaving.
BMS Performance
Do you have a top-performing sales team but are looking for that next hire who will fit right in your team? Our consultants at BMS specialise in sales recruitment and are expertly practised at helping our clients find the right sales people. Contact us to hear how we can help you.
