{"id":1604,"date":"2022-01-17T09:45:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T14:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.comblog\/succeed-remote-salesperson\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T19:37:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T19:37:55","slug":"succeed-remote-salesperson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/succeed-remote-salesperson\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Succeed as a Remote Salesperson in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

As the Covid pandemic enters its third year, it\u2019s clear the world will never again be as it was before the spring of 2020. Employees all across organizations experienced extended WFH for the first time \u2014 coming to grips with the difficulties (and delights) that have been familiar to remote salespeople for years. If you\u2019re a veteran of remote sales, you have a leg up on office-bound peers, perfecting behaviors that seem foreign to them. If you\u2019re newly liberated from your cubicle, don\u2019t panic: You can not only survive, but thrive, in the new environment. And if this isn\u2019t your first remote rodeo, adapting your skills to account for Covid-related changes can supercharge your performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the best advice to do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are 10 tips on how sales reps can be successful working remotely:<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

1. Island Time<\/b><\/h3>\n

Remember the old saying, \u201cno man is an island?\u201d If you\u2019ve worked in remote sales, you know that\u2019s not true. Selling is by nature a lonely endeavour. Even if you have a support team, at the end of the day, it\u2019s you and the client, mano a mano. By all means, lean into and take all of the support your organization is capable of giving, but also be self-sufficient. That means mapping and mastering your own sales process, attaining a black belt in digital kung fu so you can find and maintain your own online tools, track your own sales funnel and \u2014 unless you\u2019re the lucky beneficiary of a robust lead-gen operation \u2014 find your own targets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. Office Space<\/b><\/h3>\n

Maybe your \u201coffice\u201d is just a laptop and a phone. Doesn\u2019t matter. You need a dedicated space where you go to work. It can be an isolated nook in an apartment. Maybe you have a giant walk-in closet that can be repurposed If you\u2019re lucky enough to have a spare bedroom, set it up with comfortable work tools: An ergonomic chair, an efficient desk, some shelves for filing and holding notebooks. When you\u2019re in there, you\u2019re working. When you\u2019re not in there, don\u2019t be working. This helps separate personal and professional and cues your brain to get ready to rumble when you enter the space.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Narrowed Focus<\/b><\/h3>\n

As a wise man once said, \u201cAll things being equal, I\u2019d rather work near my refrigerator.\u201d Working remotely usually means working from home, with all of the perks \u2014 and pitfalls \u2014 that entails. Your first priority is to tame the distractions. This is harder than it sounds. We live in a distracted world, bombarded by Tweets, twangs, emails, Slack messages. When you\u2019re working remotely from home, that volume only goes up with dogs barking at mail carriers, doorbells ringing with deliveries and possibly kids crying in the background.<\/span><\/p>\n

Either you take control of these things or they will control you. Do this: Keep a separate notebook handy and for a week, write down everything that diverts your attention from work as it happens. You go into the bedroom to grab a sweater and notice the full laundry hamper, then think \u201cIt won\u2019t take but a minute to start the wash.\u201d Write that down, along with the time it actually took to start the wash \u2014 which was more than a minute. At the end of the week, read the list and add up the time spent on non-work activities during your workday. This includes pausing next to the TV to catch a minute of news, the time it took to rearrange the refrigerator shelf when you went to look for a cold drink and exchanging pleasantries with the Amazon<\/a> delivery guy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now start paying attention to what you\u2019re paying attention to. You don\u2019t have to run to the door when the bell rings. You shouldn\u2019t have the TV on in the background. Keep the kids in daycare (if it\u2019s open) or hire a sitter to come in. Don\u2019t get sidetracked by domestic tasks. Focus on your sales process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Office Rules<\/b><\/h3>\n

Figure out when you\u2019re going to do your work, make a schedule and stick to it. If that\u2019s 7 am until 3 pm, fine. If it\u2019s 10 am until 6 pm, also fine. During those hours, commit to not spending time on personal calls or emails, stay off of social media, turn off the television. Don\u2019t make any playdates (for your kids or yourself) during those hours. The converse is also true: When you\u2019re \u201coff,\u201d be off. Keep the personal and professional times separate. Having work bleed over into your personal hours is one reason you\u2019ll be tempted to start doing personal things during your work hours. If you\u2019ve trained yourself to turn the computer off and walk away, you can ignore the laundry because you know you\u2019ll do it tonight when you get \u201chome\u201d from the \u201coffice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Line Up<\/b><\/h3>\n

The cell phone is at once incredibly useful and also the biggest impediment to getting things done. While it\u2019s convenient to just have all of your messages come to the same device, that means \u2014 at a minimum \u2014 taking the time to glance at the screen when it bings or dings. Consider getting a work-only line to add to your cellphone and train everyone to call you on that number. Set a distinctive ringtone and alert sound for that number. Then train yourself to only respond to incoming calls\/texts\/emails sent to that number. The things hitting your personal phone you can take care of during breaks \u2014 as you would in an office setting. Most cell providers will add an extra line to your phone for around $10 a month. It\u2019s a small price for increasing your productivity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Process Makes Perfect<\/b><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re accustomed to having others provide the structure and process for your sales, take control. When you have concentrated, uninterrupted time \u2014 probably on a weekend \u2014 shut off all of your devices. Go outside on the patio. Grab a notebook and pen and think through how you sell, from start to finish: Prospecting, qualifying, contact, follow-up, pitching, closing, post-close handoff. If your company has a CRM (like Salesforce<\/a> or Outreach)<\/a>, learn to use it to its full potential. It can probably keep track of your prospects, where each one is in the sales funnel, last contact, next steps and even send alerts. If it doesn\u2019t, consider subscribing to one yourself (Salesforce has a single seat option for $25\/mo) or use another workflow tool to formalize your process in digital form. Yes, it takes time to type in names and messaging data, the time you could use on phone calls. But that time will more than pay off in higher sales (and more commissions). Allow time in your schedule to \u201cclean up\u201d your tools every day. The most effective time is at the end of the day. An hour before you \u201cclose shop\u201d put the day\u2019s activities into your tool. That will also prep your mind to be thinking about tomorrow\u2019s tasks \u2014 what\u2019s important, what\u2019s not, the best way to make that pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Stock the Shelves<\/b><\/h3>\n

You need things to do your job: Sell sheets, presentations, price lists, videos. If your company doesn\u2019t have a central repository for these things \u2014 a GoogleDrive<\/a> folder, a shared DropBox<\/a> \u2014 make one of your own. That will save countless hours searching random folders for that updated product specification sheet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

8. Multitasking Is A Myth: Learn to Single task<\/b><\/h3>\n

Set aside time in your day to do each of the things in your process. Yes, people will return calls you made earlier in the day in the middle of the time you allocated for prospecting, but don\u2019t be tempted to \u201cmultitask\u201d while prospecting and talking simultaneously.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea that humans can do more than one thing at a time \u2014 and be truly effective at both \u2014 is pure, unadulterated horse hockey. Modern neuroscientists have confirmed what Publius Syrus<\/a> said 2000 years ago: \u201cTo do two things at once is to do neither.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom line is, your brain just doesn\u2019t work that way. When you\u2019re multitasking, you\u2019re not actually doing two things at once, your brain is just switching back and forth from one task to another very quickly. So far, so good. However, when task switching, the brain is still partially occupied with the first task even as it tackles the second. This is called \u201cattention residue<\/a>\u201d and it prevents the brain from focusing its full energy on either task, slowing both down and reducing accuracy. Want to see the research yourself?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

9. Emphasis on Communication<\/b><\/h3>\n

Having both worked remotely and managed remote workers, I can\u2019t emphasize enough your need to communicate effectively with home base, wherever\/whoever that is. Make time Friday afternoons to write a brief, bulleted summary of things you did since Monday along with a forecast of things you plan to accomplish the following week. Remember not to predict the unpredictable. Instead of writing \u201cClose the Williams deal,\u201d write \u201cAppointment is set to talk with Mike at Williams to press for a sale.\u201d That way, when Mike doesn\u2019t pick up the phone or some event prevents Mike from saying yes, you show that you are maintaining your schedule, whether or not you get the desired outcome. In reporting this, if Mike doesn\u2019t close, write why he couldn\u2019t or wouldn\u2019t in your summary along with what you plan to counter the objection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

10. The Upside<\/b><\/h3>\n

The lack of face-to-face communication in sales is a major, seismic shift. Getting in to see someone in person is rare, and the opportunity to schmooze them over a pricey dinner is even rarer. While that will likely ease up in the coming months, you may find that your customers are more than happy to continue seeing you virtually as it\u2019s less of an interruption in their work. Leverage the fudge out of that. You can make many more virtual appearances than physical ones in a day. Just be in your neatly organized office space, dressed for success, prepared and on time. Now, go get \u2018em.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Put these 10 tips to use and visit the <\/span>Peak Sales<\/strong> Blog<\/strong><\/a> for the latest actionable insights on how to advance your sales career.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Related posts<\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
Ten Austin Tech Companies To Watch If You\u2019re In Sales<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
B2B Cold Calling: 22 Tips to Elevate Your Skills in 2023<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
15 Top Cities To Advance Your Sales Career in 2017<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n