In today’s day and age, companies now more than ever are tasked with the difficult challenge of building a remote sales team. Learn how to build a remote sales team that’ll take your business to the next level.
It’s 2022, people are working remotely a majority of the time now, which wasn’t the case just a couple years ago! It’s a fascinating time, which brings its own pros and cons to the table, especially for leaders looking to build a remote sales team.
It can be challenging, but it’s one of the best ways to create more leads for your business. You’re allowing people to work from home, have less stress, and to grow your company all at the same time! How to Build a Remote Sales Team is something you need to do!
Finding the Right People
This is a challenge for every employer, but it doesn’t have to be for you, you’re reading this article! What we look for in finding the “right” sales people is:
Impeccable Character
- Someone who truly cares about growing the company and its values, not just about them making big money with you.
Coachable
- Someone who can take direction without an ego and in the future make the correct decision.
Quick Thinker
- Someone who while on a cold call or demo call can think quickly on their feet to handle objections in order to close the deal.
We also recommend posting all of your jobs through LinkedIn, as you’re able to see multiple sides of an applicant to make sure that they’re even worth having an interview with in the first place. This is a great step on learning How to Build a Remote Sales Team!
Expectations
“You’re going to make calls and sell our product.” Those aren’t expectations, that’s a recipe for disaster. To create a sales team that’s worth growing, you need to set clear expectations to your team of what they can expect for a day in the life of a sales person in your company.
What we tell our sales people is that “you’ll be required to adhere to your quota each week. If you do not hit quota for two weeks in a row, then you get put on a PIP (performance improvement plan) until you make up the lost ground. If within two weeks of not hitting their PIP, they are officially fired.”
We give clear expectations to all of our sales people because there is a level of excellence that we expect out of everyone. This is a business, and should be treated as such. As corporate as that sounds, it’ll save you so much time and money from giving clear expectations upfront to ensure you have the right people understanding the expectations you need them to.
Onboarding & Training
One of the things that most entrepreneurs don’t do enough, train, train, and then train some more! As boring and mundane as it sounds…it works! When you’re being onboarded as a sales rep for our company, for an entire week, this is their process:
- 3 meetings/day (30 mins each) discussing SOP, technology, questions, pitching, etc.
- Listen to 5 successful cold calls and 5 successful demo calls
- A successful cold call is when a random prospect agrees to have a meeting
- A successful demo call is when the lead agrees to work with our company
After the onboarding week goes by and they’re confident that they’ll succeed, they’re given the ability to make calls for our company at the agreed upon schedule. Quota is understood as calling a certain number of people a day, of those calls they need to set a certain number of demos per day, and of those certain number of demos, they need to close a certain number of those demos into clients each week. This is a great tip to learning how to How to Build a Remote Sales Team!
Daily Communication
Once you’ve been with Momentum for a handful of weeks, we prioritize daily communication between management and team to ensure maximum efficiency. Once per day, we actually meet for a complete hour to go over:
- Call recordings
- Objection handling
- Scripts
- New ideas
- Current vision + culture
- SOP
It’s imperative to meet with your team at least once per day to understand what’s going on with your company. Left to their own devices, your team will slowly make mistakes and not be nearly as sharp as you need them to be.
Scaling
Last but not least, learning how to scale the team. So, you have a small team, but they’re crushing it and you’re looking to onboard more people. How does an entrepreneur do that to the best of their ability? You ask your people that are doing great already to see who they know in their immediate circle that would be interested in growing with the team. They need to be a great culture fit!
If that doesn’t work, I’d recommend starting all over again from what you’re currently doing! As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and that’s especially true here as well. Never forget to continue to do the boring work, as the masters never forget to do the basics. We hope this helped you learn How to Build a Remote Sales Team!
FAQ
What qualities are essential for finding the right remote sales people?
Essential qualities for remote sales hires include impeccable character, being coachable, and being a quick thinker who can handle objections effectively on calls.
Why are clear expectations important when building a remote sales team?
Clear expectations are crucial to prevent disaster and ensure team growth. They define daily responsibilities and performance quotas, saving time and money by setting a level of excellence upfront.
What does an effective onboarding and training process for remote sales reps involve?
An effective onboarding process includes daily meetings for SOP, technology, and pitching discussions, along with listening to successful cold and demo calls to understand best practices.
How often should remote sales teams communicate with management?
Daily communication is imperative. Meeting at least once per day helps review call recordings, handle objections, refine scripts, share new ideas, and maintain vision and culture for maximum efficiency.
What is a recommended strategy for scaling a successful remote sales team?
To scale, first ask high-performing team members for referrals within their network who would be a great culture fit. If that doesn’t work, replicate your initial successful hiring and training processes.
Where should I post job openings to find suitable candidates for a remote sales team?
It is recommended to post all job openings through LinkedIn, as it allows you to evaluate multiple aspects of an applicant before inviting them for an interview.
