4 Tips to Keep Remote Sales Teams Productive

Starting in March, many of us faced the inevitability of working from home.

For sales teams, this can be particularly challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. Regardless of the current situation, let’s put working from home into perspective. 4.3 million people in the United States work from home at least half the time, with the number of people working from home increasing by 140% since 2005. Chances are, some if not all of your team is working from home at least one day a week. So the answer to the current dilemma is to take the best practices you implement both in and out of the office and scale them to a fully remote team. Here are four tips to get that might help to get you started:

Tip 1: Set a Schedule and Expectations

It’s important to maintain a schedule just like you would if you were in the office. Block time each day on your calendar for activities like outbound outreach, follow-up, and meetings. Every morning, take 30 minutes to prepare for the day. Write five things that you want to accomplish and actively cross off items as you achieve them. Now is a good time to research accounts, as many prospects may hunker down. Also, don’t forget to schedule times for breaks. It’s important to re-charge. Grab some lunch, go for a quick walk or do some meditation to get your head back in your day. boostr provides robust capabilities to track email and calendar activity which will help you stay on track.

For sales managers, it’s important to set and communicate an expectation of your team. What do you want them to accomplish on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? Establish clear goals and measure success. Schedule time for one-on-one meetings. Every seller is different, so create a schedule that works best for each individual. Avoid canceling these meetings, especially when working from home.

Tip 2: Check-in Regularly and Often

Working from home can get lonely. Take the time to check in with each other. Continue to hold team meetings and one-on-ones just like you would have in person. Encourage everyone on the team to use video. Having a daily “sales stand up” for 15 minutes at the start of the day to share progress, tips, best practices can help morale and accountability. Make yourself available whether it’s via email, chat, phone, text or all of the above. You can also provide “office hours” for others to contact you with questions or brainstorming. Bottom line - be accessible, be visible, be accommodating.

Tip 3: Hold Each Other Accountable

Just because everyone is out of sight does not mean that they are out of mind. Hold each other accountable for setting a daily schedule and staying on track with both short- and long-term goals. Use a shared communication channel like Slack to communicate. Create a channel where everyone adds their priorities for the day and check back in at the end of the day on progress.

Tip 4: Find Software That’s Easy to Use and Gives Visibility

Choosing a CRM that works best for your team is critical to success. At boostr, we’re focused on helping advertisers run their business through an omnichannel ad sales CRM and OMS. It’s important for advertisers to easily measure both pipeline and media trafficking all in one place, to fully recognize revenue. Boostr will save you time, improve your forecast accuracy and ultimately help you grow sales. You should ask yourself the following questions to evaluate the efficacy of your current solution:

• Am I using too many systems to manage data and reporting?
• Do I have a real-time view of my pipeline across all sellers at all times?
• Do I trust the numbers that I’m seeing?
• Do I have visibility into all activity associated with prospects and accounts?
• Am I paying too much for under-utilized systems and not solving these problems?

Don’t let working from home overwhelm you and your team. These are simple strategies you can implement today that can actually give you a leg up on the competition.