MANAGEMENT How to Manage Remote Sales Teams DAVID FLETCHER


Remote work went mainstream in 2020, and the forced experiment showed us that working from home doesn’t have to derail productivity. In fact, a 2020 survey from FlexJobs shows that 51% of re- spondents said they feel more productive in their home office than at a traditional workplace. Be- cause of distancing requirements, employee senti- ment, and the efficiency gains associated with well- managed remote work, it’s reasonable to expect that many companies will opt not to shift entirely back to the office in 2021 and even beyond.


DAVID FLETCHER, SR VP, CLEARSALE


For salespeople who can spend much of their time on the road any- way, this may not be as big a shift as it is for other teams. Managing


remote sales teams, however, while never easy, has become even more of a challenge – requiring changes in technology, managerial mindset, and


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culture to succeed. At my international company, 60% of our sales teams operated remotely even before the pandemic. Here’s how we drew on our remote team- management experience to take the rest of our sales staffers remote and set them up for long-term success.


THE RIGHT COMMUNICATION TOOLS


When your sales team is remote,


good technology can hold you all together. For example, I’m in the East Coast, but I also have staff on the West Coast and in Australia, so I have to manage conversations across a broad range of time zones. A reliable time zone app or world clock is help- ful for scheduling team meetings that work for everyone. Another challenge is that most people use multiple apps for commu- nication and collaboration. To keep everyone in the loop, set expecta- tions, and meet deadlines, you need to find and implement the technology that works best to support your entire team. Whatever you choose must 1) allow collaboration, 2) operate reli- ably, and 3) work for everyone on your team – not just one or two people. Finding the right tools can take time


as well as trial and error, but it’s critical to helping your team stay connected.


CLEAR AND VISIBLE EXPECTATIONS Managing sales data remotely re- quires clear expectations. In an office, you might check in with your team frequently and have a leaderboard on the wall. When you’re remote, you should still have those check-in discussions about your goals, but your


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