With the rising number of companies moving to a temporary remote working policy, things have changed for everyone. The effect of this change may be felt the most by field sales and service representatives, as they will no longer be venturing out into the world for face-to-face time with customers and prospects.
However, this new environment offers unique opportunities for those usually in the field. Because of this, we wanted to offer some ideas on how best to navigate this new way of working without missing a beat.
Below you’ll find four areas of adjustment for outside sales and service representatives to become successful inside sales representatives until they can once again travel.
Adjustment Techniques
Prepare to use new technologies in lieu of face-to-face meetings
There are many technologies available to inside sales representatives that should be taken advantage of by newly remote field salespeople. Missing those personal, face-to-face meetings? Use technologies such as Zoom or GoToMeeting to video chat with prospects and customers. Reps should also begin relying heavily on email and phone communications, maybe even taking advantage of technologies such as SalesLoft to build email and call cadences and record activity in Salesforce with its seamless integration.
Partner with your marketing team
Gone are your road warrior days of uncovering leads on your own. Inside sales requires a strong relationship with your Marketing teams because lead generation is no longer a solo effort.
Life in inside sales requires a strong relationship with your marketing team because of their ability to generate quality leads from targeted sources. Staying up to date with what the marketing team is doing, whether it be webinars or email campaigns, is a great way to get conversations started with prospects and customers. Invite them to webinars, send them some of the latest thought leadership blogs or ebooks, even give prospects a call to discuss new industry trends. Having the ability to use marketing collateral and resources as a pillar of support during all stages of a deal is a major advantage of inside sales.
Practice building rapport remotely
Meeting with prospects and customers in the field, of course, has major benefits. You are able to use gestures, facial expressions, and body language to get your points across in a sincere and professional manner. This, unfortunately, is not the case with remote, inside sales.
Building rapport on the phone takes practice, but using the tools mentioned above are a great starting point towards successful virtual communication. The good news? You can still rely on some of the techniques you used in the field, specifically when on video conferencing calls. Utilizing a mix of old and new techniques will have you up to speed regarding remote rapport building before you know it!
Pay special attention to your written communications
Outside reps rely mostly on verbal communication and body language as mentioned above. Although those skills do apply to video communications, as a new remote, inside sales rep, you’ll likely see an increase in your written correspondence such as email and chat.
Pay close attention to the messages you are sending and receiving. A typo on your part or using the incorrect tone may derail a successful deal. On the other hand, it is important to have superior reading comprehension skills if you are to get to the bottom of your prospect’s pain points and what they truly need and are asking for.
Although remote work will not last forever for those sales and service representatives normally in the field, it’s a temporary adjustment that needs to be made in order to practice personal safety and find professional success. Learning to adjust accordingly is important towards success in this uncertain time.
