Virtual sales teams have become a common way of doing
business in the modular housing industry. More Sales Managers are using
technology that lets salespeople work productively from home offices or their
car. A good virtual sales team is a win-win situation.
Salespeople get the flexibility and convenience of working
where they wish, and the modular home factory gets to build a geographically
diverse sales team without needing to sink capital into building official
“offices”. The tough part is building the right virtual sales team.
1. Preparation is Key to a Successful Virtual Team
Building a virtual sales team is not the same as picking up
the phone and having a quick conversation with a sales rep in another office or
taking a big chunk of the sales reps’ time to brainstorm over coffee. The sales
manager must be ready to accept the challenges this will present and work hard
to adjust to it.
2. Choose the Right Salespeople
Most good modular factory salespeople are strongly
self-motivated, but a virtual employee needs to take this trait to the next
level. A virtual sales team often operates without day-to-day supervision from either
the sales manager or the factory owner, and possibly doesn’t speak to another
co-worker for days on end. Every member of the team needs to be comfortable
with this isolation and must be able to keep producing without a manager
standing over his shoulder.
3. Set Consistent Expectations
Since virtual sales reps usually decide what tasks to tackle
and in what order to tackle them, it’s important that everyone understands the
priorities right from the beginning. This is particularly important for new
salespeople or salespeople who haven’t worked virtually before. When a new
virtual salesperson is hired, the sales manager needs to sit down with them and
set some specific goals. Don’t just give them a sales goal; pick some
additional metrics as well such as new builder meetings, visiting house sets,
etc.
4. Use the Right Tools
There are plenty of technological marvels available to help the
virtual sales team to work smarter. Get webcams for all of the salespeople and
the sales manager and use video conferencing to meet. Set up a CRM that
everyone can use from their own computers, preferably a CRM service that
doesn’t require software installation. Whatever the need, there’s probably a
software package or Internet service that can meet it.
5. Stay in Touch
Once the virtual salespeople are out into the world, don’t
forget about them. There should be regular meetings (via the
aforementioned video conferencing) with the team and to go over any
sales-related issues. One thing that will turn off virtual salespeople is for
the sales manager to use the meeting format to question individual sales reps
at length. This is when its a good idea to call or conference with individual
salespeople so that you can touch base with them and find out how they’re
doing.
6. Know When to Let Go
Managing virtual employees requires a higher level of trust.
When a new salesperson joins the team the sales manager needs to keep an eye on
their activities, but once they’ve become familiar with their goals and
comfortable with the factory’s expectations, it’s time to back off a bit. Good
virtual employees prefer a high level of independence – it goes with their
ability to self-motivate – so barraging them with phone calls and emails “just
to check up” will send exactly the wrong message.
7. Focus on Results
Virtual sales reps can’t be tracked from moment to moment.
The only way to manage the team fairly under these circumstances is to judge
them by their results. If a salesperson is meeting or exceeding her sales goals
from month to month, give them plenty of praise and don’t try to mess with what
isn’t broken. On the other hand, a salesperson whose sales are below quota
needs immediate help and attention. Schedule a one-on-one meeting and find out
what activities that salesperson is pursuing, then set up some activity goals
for him and keep an eye on him until those sales numbers improve.
