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The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Technology Sales Teams Need to Work From Home

Technology Sales Team Need to Work From Home

With most of the workforce now working from home, sales managers are figuring out what the new normal is when it comes to their team’s workflow. 

While there are numerous benefits to an at-home, flexible work schedule (like lower stress and a higher employee retention rate), sales teams still need all the help they can get for constant communication, effective project management, goal setting, and team building. 

Thankfully, there is an arsenal of apps, integrations, and platforms that will not only help teams to stay motivated and productive, but will also help to crush quotas as well. Keep reading to find out which tech is right for your team.

Topics: sales performance Remote Team

Is Your Organization Ready to Work from Home Permanently?

Is Your Organization Ready to Work from Home Permanently

It’s been quite a year of change for many salespeople and managers. What at first seemed like a temporary situation has slowly evolved into the potential for a new reality — working from home.

There are many benefits to working from home, such as no commute, which leads to greater productivity, better work/life blend, and looking professional from the waist up... just to name a few! Gartner's recent study shows that 74% of companies plan to shift some of their employees to working from home permanently.

In the past, many deals were built from the foundation of in-person relationships. The pandemic has shifted the sales cycle, and many salespeople have been forced to adjust. Mastering the art of both in-person selling and virtual selling is now a skill seller's must obtain.

As a sales leader, it’s important to ensure your sales team shifts their mindset and has the tools needed to perform at their best no matter what the situation holds.

Topics: COVID19 Resources Remote Team virtual selling

How to Keep Morale High While Working from Home

How to Keep Morale High While Working from Home

For some, the benefits of working from home are plenty. However, working from home is not for everyone, and experts say there are potential negative side effects to consider, such as feelings of isolation, loneliness, and disconnect.

It’s estimated that 46% of employees don’t know what to do after a meeting — leading to confusion, frustration, and unproductivity. Additionally, 26% of employees feel pressured to respond to work emails outside of business hours — leading to more stress.

All of this contributes to morale, and morale is the driver for productivity and engagement. While your team is working remotely, you’ll have to find new ways to work together and communicate, ensuring your company culture thrives in the comfort of your team’s own home.

Topics: employee engagement Remote Team

Best Practices to Improve Your Telephone and Video Conferencing Etiquette

Best Practices to Improve Your Telephone Etiquette

Clients calls, webinars, team meetings, staff meetings, one-on-one's with a coworker, prospect meetings we're spending a lot more time online.

Video conferencing etiquette and attire are certainly not a new topic for many professionals, but it's a new reality for millions.

How you portray yourself, whether over the phone or on shared-screen calls, represents both you and your company. It’s important that we present ourselves just as well virtually as we do in-person. In an effort to improve your phone and video etiquette, and ensure the person on the other end receives an excellent experience, implement the best practices outlined below.

Topics: sales strategy COVID19 Resources Remote Team

Maximizing Virtual Selling for Prospects and Clients

Maximizing Virtual Selling for Prospects and Clients

Remote selling, virtual selling, more communication via emails, and phone calls it’s all the new normal. And these new normal tactics require a significant shift in skills to create a more engaging buyer experience.

Conducting business over Zoom is tricky. Rather than shaking hands and reading body language, salespeople must learn how to limit distractions, make virtual sales demos more like traditional presentations, and learn to communicate as effectively online as they do when they’re physically with prospects and clients.

Being a sales professional in 2020 is very different than it was just last year. Buyers, who used to prefer meeting face-to-face prior to making a purchasing decision, have changed too.

Topics: sales process Remote Team virtual selling

Coaching Salespeople Who Struggle to Work From Home

Coaching Salespeople Who Struggle to Work From Home

Are you coaching a salesperson who is struggling to stay focused and deliver results while working from home?

You’re not alone! Several studies provide evidence of increased productivity while working remotely, but earlier this year Forbes also reported more than 75% of employees admit their productivity has plummeted due to distractions related to working from home and the pandemic.

If your salesperson has low discipline and struggles with organization, don’t lose hope — there are several strategies you can use to regain their focus.

Topics: sales performance Remote Team

How to Improve Virtual Selling

How to Improve Virtual Selling

It's been nearly six months since the first social distancing orders were issued—six months of working from home, Zoom meetings, and not wearing work clothes. Back in early April, most of us didn't think that this new normal would last more than a few weeks.

Well, we were wrong.

Working remotely, Zoom meetings, casual every day, is here to stay for a while and maybe forever. We must ensure that we’re not only enhancing our techniques for virtual selling but also becoming as personable on a Zoom call as we are face-to-face. If you’re not comfortable with virtual selling, you’re going to have serious problems moving forward and succeeding in this brave new world.

Topics: Remote Team virtual selling

The Future of Work

The Future of Work in Sales

While no one has enjoyed dealing with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has certainly provided many of us with impetus to change how and where our associates do their work. 

Technology has saved many businesses from crushing productivity loss and caused many executives and managers to re-think how work gets done in their organizations, and especially how productivity is affected by working from home (or, any remote location). 

But this is only the beginning. There are other changes on the horizon in the next 5-10 years that will demand that we change how we define work and how we measure productivity.

Topics: sales performance Remote Team

How to Crush Adversity with a Strong Sales Culture

How to Crush Adversity with a Strong Sales Culture

You hear it every day, “these challenging times,” “the new normal,” “the pandemic.” It’s no surprise that we are all facing adversity and uncertainty, but it doesn’t mean all doom and gloom. In fact, you can crush adversity and come out on the other side stronger, successful, and more skilled than ever. What is the secret to weathering the storm? Start with your sales culture as your foundation and proactively instill and foster resilience.

Topics: company culture communication Remote Team

5 Fun Online Activities for Virtual Team Building

5 Fun Online Activities for Virtual Team Building

Equipped with hotspots and Wi-Fi, laptops, and mobile phones, most professionals can now do their jobs from anywhere. However, the physical distance between remote workers quickly leads to loneliness and isolation for those not accustomed to the lifestyle. And, when employees feel left out, their comfort levels decrease when it comes to working with their team.

“Those organizations that will thrive right now are the ones that really, truly, care about their people and show it every day, even when they can’t be in the office together,” explains Beth Sunshine, Partner at Up Your Culture.

Virtual team building is essential for helping your team feel like they’re part of a community while working from home. It’s the ongoing process of bringing your remote teams together to help them connect and provide more human interaction. As employee engagement and happiness increase, so does performance, communication, and retention. Below are five activities that can bring more human interaction to virtual work.

Topics: company culture employee engagement Remote Team