If you work in Sales on a remote team, you know the thrill of the done deal. Salespeople thrive on results, so we’ve put together some tips for getting great results when you work from home.
Be Smart With Time
Timing is important. There’s research on the best time to send emails, so take a look and correlate to your timezone if needed.
Also, what timezone are your core customers in? Do you work with techies on the West Coast? With business on the East Coast? Maybe you need to sync up with Europe and South Africa. Your emails, webinars, and outreach should be targeted to your prospects.
Lots of video conferencing? Don’t schedule back to back meetings. Having time between calls means you’re available if things go over, and can still prep for the next meeting.
Know When to Call
Not working in an office means you may often rely heavily on text-based communication. Some communications are best done in a phone call so be sure to pick up the phone when needed. And if your clients live nearby, in-person coffee meetings are a great way to get to know your customers and develop trust.
Bonus tip: Set up a call area in your home. You’ll want this to be away from traffic noises and with a smart background if you have video calls. Speaking of video, think about good lighting, as well. It may seem subtle, or unnecessary, but if you look professional, you’ll be treated like a professional. Pick your window and lamp locations so your face isn’t just a big shadow on camera.
Set Up Notifications Correctly
What do you really need to be notified about? Utilise VIP features in email apps to only be alerted when it warrants interrupting your workflow. Also, make sure your work notifications aren’t interrupting your work life balance.
On the other hand, are you making it to all those meetings during the work day? Maybe you need to go the other way with notifications. Have appropriately timed notifications as loud as you need them so you don’t miss any meetings. Do you need one or ten minutes notice? Do you need a backup timer? How about a notice the night before so you make it to that 4am meeting in a far off timezone.
Screen Sharing the Right Way
Take the extra step to set up your visible workspace (i.e. desktop) in a professional manner. Clear off extra files from the desktop, throw up some branded wallpaper. This is all of you that a client sees, so treat it like your office.
Not to mention silencing those notifications. You don’t want your prospect to see the notification of who you’re meeting next, or that inappropriate text from a buddy. Just send them thru your phone. And put that phone on silent.
If you’ve got notifications you can’t miss, try putting your phone in view. Ten1 Design makes a clip to hang it onto your computer screen. That’s even saving you screen space.
Start With Difficult Tasks
Working remotely means you have greater control over your working schedule. It’s tempting to leave the tasks you dislike to the end of the day, but sometimes it’s best to get them out of the way. If time flies when you’re putting together proposals, save those for the afternoon and start your day with the more laborious sales tasks.
Review Your Progress
You’re entitled to know how well you’re performing in your role. Schedule meetings with your managers for frequent performance reviews to help guide you. Understand what makes you good, learn from your weaker areas and use both managerial and self-reflection to become an even better salesperson.
If there are skills you wish to develop, HubSpot Academy is a great source of free sales training material. If you want to delve deeper, Coursera offer paid-for courses on The Art of Sales: Mastering the Selling Process, Strategic Sales Management and more.
Sales Success
What do you do to get better results in your remote sales position? Let us know in our Facebook group.