Your Gateway to Success in Remote Sales

The selling process has evolved with the current advances in technology and the remote work culture. Long gone are the days of traveling miles and miles to meet your clients in person without even knowing whether they'll be interested in buying.

These complications have been cast aside with the help of remote sales handled by virtual sales teams. These teams are fueled by video conferencing, cloud communication software, virtual team management systems, and remote collaboration tools.

The rise in remote operations is evident through HubSpot's research which has shown that 50% of sales organizations will move towards hybrid operations while 17% will move to complete remote operations. This shows that even when the pandemic is coming to a close, there's still a substantial level of importance being given to remote sales.

With this in mind, today, we seek to guide you toward success in remote sales. But to get there, first we'll have to understand remote sales and virtual sales teams.

Remote Sales Explained

Remote sales mainly refer to the selling process in which the seller and the customer never meet in person. Instead, this process is mediated through high-speed internet and advanced communication technologies, which enable sellers to engage buyers irrespective of their location. This reduces the cost of traveling for face-to-face meetings and makes the sales process easy, quick, and risk-free.

To undertake this process, a virtual sales team is needed to handle all relevant operations remotely, reducing office expenses. In addition, these virtual sales teams can complete sales tasks from the comfort of their home, and thus they also save up on time and money, which would otherwise be spent on commuting.

The COVID-19 pandemic mainly fueled this transition of the traditional sales team to the digital realm; however, even with this calamity coming to an end, virtual sales are here to stay. This prevalence of remote sales is evident in a Salesforce study which shows that about 46% of salespeople want to continue virtual selling in the future.

However, with this new mode of sales operations comes a fair number of challenges regarding virtual sales teams.

Challenges Faced by Virtual Sales Teams

• Communicating with customers is a challenge that hinders the sales process from progressing fruitfully; it is caused mainly by technical problems faced in operating virtual communication software and devices.
• Not being able to recognize non-verbal cues and body language also hinders the virtual sales rep's ability to understand the direction in which the conversation is going.
• Keeping the buyer engaged through this virtual conversation is a daunting task as most of the time, buyers are multitasking, and their responses can end up being dry.

Positioning Your Virtual Sales Team for Success

We've established thus far that remote sales work can prove to be beneficial yet challenging in several ways; however, to practically reap the benefits, you'll need to manage and lead your virtual sales team in a way that allows relevant goals to be met while also helping them adjust to this virtual mode of work.

The following tips can help position your virtual sales team in a manner that improves operations and allows sales goals to be achieved.

Setting Measurable Goals and KPIs

Virtual sales teams must know how to gauge their performance to compare it with the numbers that need to be achieved. To do so, you have to ensure that your sales reps are aware of the metrics and KPIs that enable them to measure their success and performance while tracking the daily operations according to the set goals. Relevant metrics and KPIs for virtual sales teams include.

• Gross Profit
• Conversion rate
• Churn rate
• Average profit margin
• Purchase frequency
• Net profit margin
• Average session on the website
• Bounce rate average CTR
• Pay-per-click
• Cost per conversion
• Traffic to lead ratio
• Lead-to-customer ratio

Applying Remote Sales Enablement Strategies

The art of virtual selling is a factor that must be paired with relevant resources that can allow this skill to be translated effectively. The most prominent resource which can allow virtual sales teams to progress is relevant sales enablement strategies. Sales enablement strategies that must be in place include.

Utilizing Videos for Training

Virtual sales teams can face many problems for which they'll need to contact the virtual sales manager. Thus, video conferencing and training videos must be utilized for the team to solve their problems and develop their virtual sales skills.

Refining The Sales Process

Managers must conduct reviews surrounding the sales process to ensure that reps aren't facing any unnecessary friction. In addition, managers can further remove any misconceptions from the sales team by periodically walking them through the sales process to simplify troubling areas.

Remote Team Building

Team synergy is a factor that can make or break a virtual team's success. The fact that virtual operations cause a sense of disconnect and loneliness amongst teammates shows that remote team building is a necessary aspect of virtual sales teams.

With the use of remote team-building strategies such as virtual break rooms, digital company celebrations, ice-breaker activities, virtual co-working time, and feedback sessions, virtual team members can gain a sense of inclusion which can allow them to collaborate and communicate more wholeheartedly, thus improving synergy and subsequently virtual sales operations.

Remote Product Demonstrations

To effectively sell a product, the virtual sales team must be well-versed in every intricate detail linked to it. Knowing every inch of the product can allow them to effectively communicate relevant information to specific customers to provide a more personalized customer experience.

Additionally, virtual sales reps can also use this information to give remote demos of the product to intrigued customers for them to make informed purchasing decisions. These demos can allow the virtual sales reps to demonstrate the product in a useful and positive manner through a video conference so that customers can get a sense of the touch and feel of the product as well.

Conclusion

With the ever-advancing world, it is imminent for sales organizations to recognize the importance of remote sales in the near future. With the tips mentioned above, companies can hope to position their virtual sales teams in a manner that can set them apart from the competition and allow them to reach new heights in the virtual sales world.

Virtual teams have become an effective part of numerous tech companies worldwide. Aspired is the remote staffing agency that can help you in this meaningful endeavor if you're a tech company that requires robust virtual resources.