How to Manage a Remote Sales Team » Small Business Bonfire

If you’re new to managing a remote sales team, don’t worry! You came to the right place.

I have been in the same boat as you and can tell you from experience – it’s not easy.

Through careful planning and dedication, I successfully managed my remote sales team and increased our performance drastically.

In this article, I will share my experience with you and teach you tips and tricks for managing your remote sales team. Ready? Let’s get started!

What is a Remote Sales Team?

A remote sales team is a group of people who work remotely to generate leads and convert them into sales for your business.

The individuals in the sales team can be located in various locations around the world or even within the same country. They communicate with each other and collaborate through digital means such as emails and video conferencing software.

Remote sales teams are a great way to increase sales and streamline your workflow while also saving time and money.

With benefits such as:

• Cost savings – with no need for offices, companies can save money on rent and other overhead costs.
• Increased productivity – remote work eliminates distractions from colleagues, allowing salespeople to get more done in less time.
• Flexibility – with no strict office hours, employees can set their own schedules and work when they are most productive.
• Improved quality of life – working remotely allows salespeople to work from home and spend more time with family and friends.

It’s no mystery why remote work has become a permanent fixture in the business world.

How Do You Keep Remote Sales Teams Productive?

Keeping remote sales teams productive and motivated can be challenging, but it’s not impossible.

Here are some tips to help you keep your remote sales team engaged:

• Utilize technology: Invest in the right tools that allow for efficient communication and collaboration. This could include video conferencing software or cloud-based applications that enable real-time collaboration.
• Foster relationships: Encourage team members to get to know each other, even if it’s virtually. Schedule regular virtual meetings and use the time for social activities such as icebreakers, or have your team share their successes of the week.
• Provide feedback: Offer timely, constructive feedback on performance and assignments so that your sales team knows what they need to improve on.
• Set goals: Have clear and measurable goals that the entire team can track. Celebrate big and small successes so that your remote sales team stays motivated.
• Create a culture: Create an environment of collaboration and trust among your remote sales team members by promoting a culture of open communication and feedback.

By taking the time to invest in your remote sales team, you will be sure to see improved results and better productivity.

How Do You Monitor Remote Sales Teams?

Monitoring remote sales teams can be tricky but ensuring that your team is performing adequately and meeting deadlines is still important.

Here are some tips for monitoring your remote sales team:

• Set expectations: Establish clear and reasonable expectations with your remote sales team, so everyone knows what is expected of them.
• Implement systems: Use a system to track performance and customer interactions, such as a CRM or sales analytics platform.
• Respect boundaries: Respect the privacy of your employees, and don’t impose unreasonable deadlines or expectations.
• Delegate tasks: Provide remote sales team members with specific tasks they must complete on time. This allows you to gauge their productivity and performance better.
• Track progress: Set up milestones and check in periodically to see how your team is progressing against them.

By ensuring that you monitor your remote sales team effectively, you can ensure that they are productive and hitting their targets.

Remember to respect your workers’ privacy and have reasonable expectations for their output. Just because they work from home doesn’t mean they aren’t working hard.

With the right tools and systems in place, you’ll be sure to get the best from your remote sales team!

How Do You Keep Remote Sales Teams Accountable?

Accountability is essential for any successful remote sales team.

Here are some tips on how to keep your remote sales team accountable:

• Set clear goals and expectations: Make sure that each team member knows exactly what their job entails so they can stay focused on their tasks.
• Utilize technology: Invest in the right tools that enable collaboration and communication so that team members can stay on the same page.
• Provide feedback: Offer timely and constructive feedback to your sales team so they know how to improve.
• Establish deadlines: Set deadlines for tasks and assignments, but give yourself some flexibility, as remote work is often unpredictable.
• Track progress: Keep track of your team’s performance and progress against set goals.

By staying firm with your expectations and providing feedback, you can ensure that your remote sales team is accountable for their work. Utilize the right technology and track progress to measure success.

How Do You Manage a Remote Sales Team?

Now that we have discussed how to monitor and keep a remote sales team accountable let’s break down the steps of managing a remote sales team in more detail.

In this next section, we will break down how to manage a remote sales team step by step, from setting up the right processes to providing feedback.

We will discuss getting your sales team organized and on track for success and provide tips on communication protocols and incentivizing performance. Ready? Let’s dive in!

1. Start With an Employee Contract

The first step to managing a remote sales team is to create an employment contract.

This document should cover each remote salesperson’s job duties, expectations, and key performance metrics. It should also include guidelines on acceptable behaviors, communication protocols, and other policies that are necessary for success.

Working from home provides more flexibility, but it also presents new challenges.

A remote employee contract should reflect the unique nature of working from home and include measures to ensure success.

Here are some considerations that you should include in a remote employee contract:

• Define job duties and expectations
• Establish communication protocols
• Outline acceptable behaviors
• Set key performance metrics
• Provide flexibility for working hours
• Establish policies on data security and remote work.

Including these considerations in a remote employment contract ensures that your team has the necessary parameters to succeed in their roles.

Having a well-defined contract helps ensure everyone is on the same page and helps keep your team organized, motivated, and accountable.

2. Clearly Outline Expectations, Rewards, and Deadlines

Having clear communication is essential for successful remote teams.

It’s important to clearly outline expectations, rewards, and deadlines so everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.

Here are some tips on how to communicate these expectations:

• Establish regular check-ins: Set up weekly or biweekly meetings with your team to ensure everyone is on the same page.
• Provide clear instructions: Give precise instructions for tasks and assignments.
• Offer incentives: Incentivize performance with rewards or bonuses.
• Be available: Make sure you are available to answer any questions or concerns your team may have.

By setting up a communication structure, providing clear instructions, offering incentives, and being available to your team, you will create an atmosphere of success and accountability.

3. Create a Sales Process

Creating a sales process for your remote sales team is essential to ensure they work efficiently and effectively. A well-defined process ensures everyone knows their role in the process and helps keep everything organized.

Here are some tips on how to create a sales process:

• Analyze current processes: Identify what processes are already in place and what you need to improve.
• Define roles: Who will be responsible for each step in the process?
• Set milestones: What are your team’s key goals and milestones to achieve?
• Track progress: How can you best track and monitor your team’s progress?
• Review performance: How can you review and evaluate team performance?

By creating a sales process for your remote team, you will ensure that everyone is on the same page and has a better understanding of their roles. This will lead to higher productivity and improved results.

By creating a sales process, you’ll be setting your team up for success. With a clear structure in place, you can help ensure that your team is productive and timely.

4. Write Down All SOPs & Processes

When managing a remote team, it is important to document all standard operating procedures (SOPs) and processes.

An SOP outlines the steps that need to be taken in order to achieve a particular goal or outcome.

Things you should always include in your SOP are:

• A description of the process
• The steps needed to complete the task
• Any tools or resources employees may need
• When and how to follow the SOPs

By writing down all SOPs and processes, your team will clearly understand what is expected of them and how they can achieve success.

Writing down all of your team’s SOPs ensures everyone is on the same page and makes it easier for new team members to get caught up quickly.

This practice also helps maintain consistency and quality in your team’s work. Documenting your SOPs is important when managing a remote sales team, so make sure you do it!

Remember to re-evaluate your SOPs regularly to ensure they are up-to-date and relevant. Doing this will ensure your team has the most effective processes, procedures, and practices in place to help them reach their goals.

Use Trainual

Trainual is an excellent tool for training and managing a remote sales team.

• Trainual allows you to easily create and store standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your entire team.
• With Trainual, you can quickly bring new employees up to speed with SOPs, onboarding tasks, and other essential information.
• The platform also makes it easier to keep track of progress and results, so you can see how your team is doing.

Trainual is a great way to ensure everyone on your remote sales team is on the same page and working efficiently.

5. Hold Your Team Accountable Monthly

Holding your remote sales team accountable on a monthly basis is essential for success. This helps to keep everyone on track and motivated, and it also promotes collaboration within the team.

Here are some tips on how to hold your remote sales team accountable:

• Set goals: Establish clear expectations for yourself and your team.
• Measure progress: Track performance on a regular basis and provide feedback.
• Celebrate successes: Recognize accomplishments and reward team members for their hard work.
• Promote collaboration: Host virtual team building activities to help develop relationships between remote employees.

Accountability is key to managing a successful remote sales team, so set clear expectations and make sure you monitor progress every month.

6. Use Remote Friendly Business Tools

Remote-friendly business tools can be incredibly useful when it comes to managing a remote sales team.

These tools help ensure that everyone on the team is kept up to date and make it easier to track progress and results.

There are various remote-friendly business tools available, so we will look at a few options you can use to manage your remote sales team.

Monday.com

Monday.com offers a great way to manage a remote sales team.

With numerous templates to choose from, plus the ability to customize how you use Monday.com to fit your specific needs, it’s the perfect tool for keeping track of who’s doing what and how far along they are in the process.

Plus, its modern UI and in-app automation make it super easy to use and keep everyone on the same page. So if you’re looking for an efficient way to manage a remote sales team without all of the manual repetition, Monday.com is worth checking out!

Slack

Slack has become an invaluable tool for managing a remote sales team.

Slack allows teams to quickly and easily

• collaborate
• create files
• and stay on top of tasks

Even when working in different locations.

With its rich set of tools and options that can be implemented within it and its ability to integrate with many other collaboration and office tools, Slack gives teams the security and convenience required to enable effective communication.

Highly customizable, all users have the power to customize their own app’s features, such as presence indicators or notifications, thus creating a more lively environment for discussing key topics without having to rely on emails.

PipeDrive

Pipedrive is a great solution for businesses that need to manage their remote sales teams. Its intuitive interface helps provide an easy way to keep track of deals, emails, and calls all in one place.

They also have mobile apps synchronizing with the main software, so you’ll always be on top of your CRM process.

With Pipedrive, you can

• Create and view sales reports to measure how well you manage tasks,
• Monitor how customers interact with your product or service
• And receive alerts when important contacts reach out regarding deals.

This makes it fast and easy to keep up with how your remote sales team is doing.

Harvest

Harvest makes managing a remote sales team easy, from scheduling to invoicing and expensing.

Harvest helps you

• Eliminate manual processes
• Reduce the time spent on administrative tasks
• And accurately track how much time your team is spending.

Plus, Harvest offers plenty of convenient integration options so you can be sure your data will work with the other tools and systems you use.

Whether you’re an individual or part of an organization, scalability doesn’t need to be an issue. Harvest gives everyone in business the freedom to get back to what they do best by taking care of the detail.

Conclusion

As remote work has become the new normal, learning how to manage a remote sales team is essential. With the right tools and processes in place, managing a remote sales team can be just as effective as managing an in-person one.

Take the time to find the right tools and processes for your team, and you’ll be sure to reap the rewards. With so many great options out there, it’s never been easier to manage a remote sales team!

We would love to hear your thoughts! How do you manage your remote sales team? Let us know in the comments! Let us know in the comments below!