In 2020, most companies had to resort to remote work whether they wanted to or not. This proved to be quite effective, as productivity among remote employees skyrocketed. Many companies have decided to stick with remote work or transition to a hybrid model permanently.
From the employee’s point of view, they’d rather sacrifice some of the job benefits than go back to the office. If you have a remote B2B sales team, you’re undoubtedly worried about managing remote workers.
Your team will do just fine as long as you make sure they have everything they need to be as effective and productive as possible. Here are a few proven methods on how to make your remote B2B sales teams more efficient.
Set Clear Communication
Many company owners argue that remote work isn’t as beneficial as people tend to believe. This is not the case as long as you maintain a clear line of communication with your remote team.
Communication is the most important factor when it comes to the efficiency of remote teams.
Fortunately, modern technology has managed to bridge such gaps with ease. Nowadays, you have tons of different communication software that will completely eliminate the geographical barrier between the main office and remote teams.
As a result, everything will appear as if everyone was present at the same place and at the same time.
Moreover, such tools are not only designed for communication. Many modern tools also have project management features that allow everyone to collaborate and effectively communicate while working on a project.
Therefore, with the right strategy and tools, any company can ensure seamless communication with their remote sales teams and thus ensure their efficiency.
Schedule Regular Meetings
Remote work isn’t without its downsides. After all, people are working from home, which can be quite distracting. However, the vast majority of remote employees effectively manage to separate their work from other activities even while working from home.
The real issue is the disengagement that can happen over time. That’s why regular meetings are a must. Remote sales teams need to feel like a part of the company and not some separate entity that operates in the dark. If you neglect them for too long, their productivity and morale will start to decline and they’ll ultimately become less efficient.
Regular meetings don’t always have to be business meetings. You can have a video conferencing meeting with your remote sales team to check up on them and see if there’s anything they need.
Furthermore, if you’re running a digital marketing company, you’ll have lots of teams working on separate things. You’ll have to meet with them and collect reports on their progress and needs. This is a perfect opportunity to check up on your remote workers.
Break Information Silos
You cannot convince a lead to convert if you know nothing about them. For some reason, a lot of companies prevent cross-department collaboration. As you may already know, the future of service is digital, and if you want your remote salespeople to do their job well, you have to provide them with the data they need. That includes breaking information silos and encouraging cross-department communication and collaboration.
If your sales representative is in contact with the lead, they can immediately request information about that lead from the marketing or customer service departments. This will prevent a lead from going cold while your employees make the formal requests to access data. Instead, they have instant access to information that will help them nurture the lead until they’re ready to convert.
Leverage CRM Tools
As mentioned before, breaking information silos is very important for your remote team’s efficiency. Still, there is always more you can do to help your remote B2B sales teams become more efficient. A good example is leveraging the right CRM software.
As you may already know, a lot of companies focus on collecting as much information about their customers and potential customers as they can. The main goal is to have better insights and thus ensure more conversions or sales.
CRM software helps make sense of all the data collected. It can boost your remote team’s productivity and efficiency tenfold. It can help create an effective sales pipeline and even help automate some of the most repetitive and mundane tasks. This will allow your sales reps to focus their attention where it matters most.
In addition, CRM software integrates communication from all channels, thus allowing your salespeople to nurture leads and even focus on customer retention whenever it’s necessary. A CRM solution is vital for your sales teams, especially because they work remotely and can leverage every advantage they get.
Having remote sales teams is beneficial for your company. You may not be able to keep an eye on them like would if they were present in the office. However, working from home can significantly boost your team’s productivity. The key is to ensure they are as effective as they can be.
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