In My last article, I wrote about how to hire and manage the first salesperson. This article will discuss the ideas and lessons in managing the remote sales team.
Hiring the first salesperson can be challenging. The idea of managing a remote sales team always sounds daunting and risky in the first place.
I am sharing what we have learned in the last two and a half decades—the products and solutions that require proper “solution selling” techniques.
We sell CRM Solutions, Call Center Solutions, and Tally Cloud solutions, which are business solutions and require a good understanding of the product and the sales process. With proper product knowledge and sales techniques, sales will happen effortlessly.
If your product falls in the fast-moving distribution-model category, this article’s ideas might only partially apply. But the majority of the points will stand valid.
If you do not have managerial bandwidth to track, monitor and review the work done by remote salesperson, do not hire any. You will waste money and get frustration.
Fresher or Experienced Salesperson?
Freshers will generally need a lot of guidance and mentoring, which might be challenging remotely.
So, unless you have a manager at a remote location, always select experienced people.
How to prepare yourself before hiring a remote person
- Have proper documentation for the process, role and responsibilities of the person.
- Set the goals very clearly.
- Be reasonable when you set the goals.
- Implement a good CRM before you hire a remote person.
- Tracking and managing teams remotely without any proper software system can be a nightmare. For your information, Sangam CRM is one of the best CRM Software in India.
- Factor in the total cost to the company of the new team member you are hiring. It’s not just the salary; you must count conveyance, travelling, other expenses, and the cost of managing that person remotely. The salesperson will also require back-office support.
Hiring Process for Remote Salesperson
The hiring process is too big a topic to be part of this article.
I suggest you follow your process and policy for the same.
If you need assistance with the hiring process, please mention that in the comment section. I will create another article for the same in future.
Training the salesperson for remote location
Invite the new joiner to be in your HO, where you can provide proper training for the product.
Pay attention to the sales process training. Provide proper step-by-step documentation and training.
Generally, people need to pay more attention to the reporting process in the training. Refrain from making that mistake.
Introduce the new person to the team with whom they have to coordinate.
Define the process of meeting a client.
If your process requires writing minutes after the meeting, discuss that also.
Create a complete suite of required sales materials—product brochures, email templates, presentations, videos, and client testimonials.
Introduce the new person to your existing clients and partners. Sending introduction emails will need to be fixed. Arranging for personal visits helps kickstart things smoothly.
Managing and growing the remote salesperson
The mantra is “MAKE THEM WIN.” Plan to provide all the support to make that happen.
- If you are hiring a Senior solution executive, don’t expect them to do the cold-calling process.
- You have to feed remote salespersons with leads and appointments.
- Analyse all opportunities monthly, fortnightly or weekly as your business demands. But never miss that.
- The review meetings cannot be verbal or based on random numbers in a spreadsheet. It has to be based on the entries made in the CRM.
- I have seen many companies spend entire days in review meetings shooting questions and counter questions just because the data in CRM does not back the numbers in the spreadsheet.
- If it’s not in the CRM, it does not exist.
- Define the process of meeting a client.
- Similarly, define the process of handling leads generated by the HO and their meetings. Otherwise, your efforts in HO will be wasted.
- CRM entry to be made by the sales person only. Quotations are also to be created by the remote salesperson.
- Using the Back-office team at HO as data entry operators is a criminal waste of resources. Use the back office for other productive work.
- Have a system of continuous training and upgradation. At Enjay, we spend Saturdays on training, doubt-solving, and learning.
