Improve workflow efficiency, and your entire sales process will benefit.
There are numerous benefits to remote sales. People on your team can work hours that better suit them and your clients, you don’t have to pay as much to lease office space (or you don’t have to lease space at all if you’re entirely remote), and your company can hire the salespeople that fit best with your group, no matter where they live. But to succeed, you often need to improve workflow efficiency.
That’s not necessarily because remote salespeople aren’t working hard. In fact, some studies report that, since 2020, remote workers are working about 30% more, while 18% of this extra time is “beyond normal business hours.” But, to be fair, the opposite has also been reported, pointing out that people are working fewer hours but are more productive.
Both are likely true. Working remotely gets you away from the office chatter and other distractions, and you don’t have to factor in commuting time. At the same time, there can be plenty of distractions when you’re working in a home office. In either case, when you can improve workflow efficiency, everybody wins. Your team can potentially work shorter days, and there’s still plenty of productivity to go around.
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Discover 7 ways to improve workflow efficiency
You can take steps to improve workflow efficiency for remote salespeople, but it’s essential to understand that some things are beyond our control. Factors like whether people have private home offices or loud neighbors or kids home from school are things we can stress about or we can figure out how to live with.
However, given the right tools, it’s possible to work more efficiently even with distractions present. Here’s what that looks like.
1. Communicate: If you’re only allowed to do one thing to improve workflow efficiency, this is it. Communication is vital in keeping everyone informed of what’s happening in the company or department. This might be anything from an upcoming marketing campaign to a software update to a price change. Weekly team meetings or a team Slack channel are good options for real-time and asynchronous communication. You may find that one-on-one meetings help your team, as well. Part of the frequency and style of communication depends on your industry or company, so choose what works best for your team. Just don’t overdo it. There’s nothing to decrease efficiency like too many meetings!
2. Keep data accessible: Another easy way to improve workflow efficiency is to ensure everyone has easy access to the data they need. For example, if you’re involved in phone sales, be sure there’s a history of calls with customers so anyone can step in to help them if need be.
3. Use templates: Templates save so much time, and they help you ensure that your customers are all getting the information they need. Software like Call Logic allows you to create and store multiple email templates, so your salespeople can simply fill in the details and send the email off to customers and prospects either during or right after a call.
4. Use metrics: Metrics aren’t everything, and it’s vital to look at them in context. However, metrics can also be an excellent tool for helping people reach goals. More specifically, metrics give your salespeople a point of reference.
5. Encourage breaks: While it may not seem like a great way to improve workflow efficiency, regular breaks actually help people perform better. Even a five-minute walk or a quick coffee break can be enough for a refresh. Sometimes, to get the mind back on track, we have to let it get off track.
6. Make the toughest calls first: In any kind of customer service work, whether it’s remote sales or in-person sales meetings, those difficult tasks can weigh on us and make everything else more challenging. Rather than spending the day with that task in the shadows, encourage your team to tackle these tough calls first. Get it out of the way, and the rest of the day can seem like a pleasure.
7. Celebrate success: Remote sales work can be hard. It’s more challenging to have those moments of mutual celebration or sharing sales tips when we don’t run into each other in the hall or walk to lunch. Similarly, our big sales or huge accomplishments often go unnoticed. Making it a point to celebrate people’s success may be another tip that doesn’t initially seem like it would improve workflow efficiency. However, keeping the people on your team happy and content means they are, in turn, more likely to put in the extra effort and stay with your company longer. In other words, happy employees work harder and lower turnover rates.
One last tip that we’re obviously biased about is to use dialing software. Tools like Call Logic are more than just a way to dial faster. We can help improve your entire phone sales protocols.
Call Logic’s auto-dialer and call management software offers dozens of helpful tools to increase your success and simplify your daily tasks. Call for your free consultation today to learn more!