The number of sales managers working from home is growing with the development of online business.
Advantages of moving to a remote location and technical solutions
The first advantage is salary savings. In other words, you can hire a specialist with fewer salary claims for the desired qualification. In addition, it is savings on the organization, maintenance and provision of the workplace. Remote workers do not need to rent an office, they work in their territory. Practically regardless of the specialization of the company (if necessary, in office workers), the owner can save a very decent amount for the year.
Remote employees prefer not to go on sick leave when they or their children get sick. They prefer to slightly reduce the load on this time, and they do not get sick all the days prescribed by the doctor, and suspend work only when it is really necessary. They are less “late”, more often they are in touch and they have less excuses from the category “I was in traffic”, that is – the real working time increases.
Some savings also occur on the corresponding work tools – computers, printers, pens, pencils and notebooks they buy themselves. In fact, the employer provides only automation tools – these are software solutions that provide employee interaction within the company (CRM, Trello), a platform for training employees (GetCourse), IP-telephony to communicate with customers, a program for sending letters, a service for integrating the site with messengers, etc.
Who can be transferred to the remote?
All the operations that an individual employee can perform in the office environment, he may as well do at home, it is enough to provide him with tools for communication with other employees (customers, partners). In general, in any activity that involves correspondence with the client and telephone conversations (with rare meetings, if the transaction lasts 1-2 years), it is worth to transfer the employee to the “online”, as it is profitable.
It is not possible to transfer to remote the sales representatives, who walk on their feet to the points of sale, conclude transactions and monitor the laying of goods, as well as employees of all professions that involve direct contact with customers or partners, the execution of any production processes. Of course, it is impossible to switch to the remote mode of offline point managers, such as ateliers, beauty salons, stores.
There are also such markets where two specialists interact in sales – a professional salesperson (a person who owns sales techniques) and a person responsible for the technical component of the project. For example, the manager reaches financial agreements on the transaction, and the IT specialist negotiates the technical part. In such cases, to ensure the interaction of these specialists with each other and the client can be through an online conference, where the transaction can be simultaneously discussed by 3-5 people.
How can the surge in demand for remote work affect the IT business?
Even during the crisis, business is developing and growing. remote managers have become more in demand. “Smart” businessmen have gone online, and those who have not yet left will go. Now, due to quarantine measures, the involvement and presence of people in the network grows by 30%.
In a certain time people will get used to it, will understand the benefits of doing business online, will see the savings and convenience. After we are allowed out of quarantine, most managers will no longer want to come back from “online” and will be right. Similarly, most employers will understand a simple truth, which is well reflected in the question: “Why pay more?
Stress on communication networks – are there risks?
There is an opinion that the growth in demand for employees at remote will lead to a sharp increase in the load on communication systems, which may lead to a violation of their performance. However, by and large, this growth can hardly be considered so critical, as only the location where the activity is carried out will change, and in quantitative terms, data exchange will remain at the same level.
Control systems: what does a remote employee do?
CRM systems which allow to determine the presence of an employee at the “online” workplace and control productivity of remote employees. In CRM, you can describe an employee’s step-by-step work so you can understand what’s happening now. In other words, we automatically control the manager’s work. You should also start chat rooms where the manager (or the owner himself) sets tasks every morning and collects reports twice a day.
Reporting is, in this case, a control mechanism. If we collect reports every day, we will see whether a person was working or not. Similarly in the office – a person can pretend that he or she is working, but actually chooses a tour to travel on.
Features of remote: time zones, working hours, schedule
The “deleteer” can work in a different time zone, and this is important, especially when it comes to the B2C format. In other words, we work in the time zone of our potential client. In addition, it is possible to involve people into the team very quickly, even if you need a person for 1-2 hours a day. Many “remote workers” are ready for such a schedule, they can fill their day with such small part-time jobs, while employees in the office do not agree to work just a couple of hours at the appropriate rate.
Recruitment of employees for remote work: how does it happen?
Recruitment of remote employees is carried out in the same way as in the office. An advertisement is placed on the job portal, but you should specify that the work will be online, very often employers do not write about it. On the other hand, not all employees know how to work “online” and how to organize themselves.
You can be considered as candidates for classic sales managers and already at the interview to find out if they are ready to work “online”. Conduct the interview on a platform such as Skype or ZOOM – the candidate and the employer need to see each other as if they were meeting in person. You need to observe the reactions of candidates, give them the opportunity to do some task right now, fill in a test, etc.
Transition to a new format of work: what awaits us
First of all, when moving to remote, managers lose the “illusion of control”: it seems that when employees sit in the office, they work. On-line, via CRM, you can always see what the manager has just done.
Secondly, not all “offline” employees will want to switch to remote, because for this they will have to master new programs such as Trello, CRM, IP-telephony.
Give people a choice whether or not they want to study it. Today the labor market is filled with specialists who have already been trained and know how to work “online. The owner or manager himself will also have to learn the tools to manage remote employees.
In conclusion, we would like to mention the advantages of going online. You will have significant savings, as there will be no need to maintain an office. When you work remotely, you will have access to employees with the right skills, not just those who live in your region. To be competitive in the market, you need to meet the demands of customers, be able to “fit in” with new realities. remote work format is a great opportunity for business to earn and save resources.
