Managing Remote B2B Sales Teams During COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has caused millions of people to suddenly shift toward working from home. Many B2B sales organizations are now working 100% remotely, some for the first time. Even if your business already was working from home part-time, or even if your B2B sales people are accustomed to having a lot of independence in how they work, the current crisis has caused many companies to feel a sense of disconnectedness. How can you keep your sales team’s cohesiveness and company culture going strong if you’re all working remotely?

Here are a few tips and insights for how to manage remote sales teams during COVID-19 and beyond.

Check in Regularly With Daily Communication

One of the most important things to do when managing a remote team, especially during time of crisis, is to keep communicating with your people. Schedule team calls and regular one on ones. You might want to have a team call once a week, or maybe even every day.

Just because you all are not “going to the office” everyday doesn’t mean you’re not part of the same team. There are ways to maintain contact and open communication with videoconferencing tools and even simple phone calls. Make sure your sales people know that you’re available at any time, and make sure you keep those channels of communication open. Stay in close contact with your front-line sales people and see what they’re hearing from customers. Especially in uncertain times, listening to your sales team can be some of the most valuable business intelligence.

Clearly Communicate Expectations and Goals

When working remotely, it’s even more important to make sure your sales people understand what is expected of them. Make sure you are keeping your team updated on their sales targets, make sure everyone is on the same page about monthly and quarterly sales goals. If the company is going into a period of financial uncertainty, or if layoffs and furloughs are going to be necessary, or if these next few months are make-or-break for the company, your sales people need to know this as soon as possible.

When people understand the full stakes and implications of their performance, they will be more likely to rally to the occasion. Sales people often thrive under pressure. It doesn’t mean you need to be harsh or put extra stress on people, but this crisis is a good occasion to be transparent. If you need all-hands-on-deck from your sales team for the foreseeable future, it’s time to tell them that.

Help Your Team Adapt to New Realities

B2B sales teams are scrambling to adapt to the new challenges of the COVID-19 crisis. Your customers might have suffered a big loss in their business, they might be delaying any new purchases; your pipeline of business leads might have disappeared.

Help your sales team adapt. Help them redirect their sales pitches in a way that’s more relevant to what your customers need now. Listen to what your sales people are hearing from customers on the phone; what are the core challenges and problems that your customers are feeling pain from today? Your customers’ pain points might have become more fundamental problems; they might be less worried about “increasing efficiency” and more worried about “staying in business.”

It’s time for your sales people to go all-out and offer high-value consultative services. Think big picture about what your prospects need and how you can help their businesses survive and thrive.

Prioritize Your Sales Activities

One of the most important jobs for B2B sales leaders, whether you’re a sales person or sales manager or business owner with a team of sales people working for you, is deciding how to help your team prioritize their sales activities. Who are the right prospects for your sales people to spend time calling? What are the right sales strategies to pursue? How can your team spend their time in the most effective way?

This is easier said than done, of course. Sales planning is a complex process. But as the B2B sales team leader, it’s your job during this crisis to provide the best possible high-level guidance and direction for how you want your team to deploy their resources and allocate their time and energy. Trust in your team to make the calls and do their day-to-day work. This is not the time for micro-managing. Now is the time for you as the sales leader to take a step back and think big picture about where your sales team need to focus their efforts.

For example: do you want to stop targeting certain types of customers? Do you want to shift focus to a different industry or geographic territory? Do you want to revamp your team’s sales pitch or sales process based on new feedback from the field? Do you want to start going after a different market or different type of buyer altogether?

Times of crisis are also times of opportunity, and can be an occasion for positive change. Don’t assume that your sales team can or should continue with “business as usual.” Instead, look for ways to adapt your sales management to the new realities and opportunities of this moment.