Podcast: Play in new window
In this Selling in Asia Podcast episode, Tom sits down with the Founder & CEO at Workmate, Mathew Ward, to discuss how to lead remote sales teams. Particularly how to identify the traits of great salespeople that Mat recommends looking for when hiring. Join them as we cover what it takes to build a sales team for a platform that helps companies simplify hiring and managing their blue-collar workforce.
Someone who’s had to fight for every single scrap. Not someone that has experience from this big, well-established brand where people are knocking on their door for their product.
Tom Abbott
Traits of Great Sales Professionals
A cultural fit is essential when hiring sales reps, like any other role in the company. More so, a personality that gels well with the rest of the team is vital. However, as Mat advises, there are three key traits he always looks for when hiring a salesperson, empathy, curiosity and scrappiness.
Also read:
- Asynchronous Communication: The Future Of Remote Sales Teams
- How to Identify ‘Drive’ In Sales Candidates With Dr Christopher Croner
- Hiring Salespeople: How To Find, Hire & Retain Top Performing Reps
Empathy
Always look for somebody with high levels of empathy because they will understand the customer. But, more so, they’ll get close to the customer and build that relationship with the customer where they feel that this person is here to look out for my best interests.
Curiosity
Next, being naturally curious is critical because somebody who’s naturally curious will ask the “what,” “how,” and “why” questions in those discovery situations rather than just trying to push a product or shove it down someone’s throat without understanding their needs and wants.
Scrappiness
The last key trait of a great salesperson is someone who’s got that kind of scrappiness or fight in them. Particularly someone who wants to solve that problem or get around that challenge, not somebody who’s always received everything on a plate. But, furthermore, where did they come from to have this attitude? Did they start at some startup where they pretty much had to figure out or create many things independently? That’s where you’ll find sales reps with ingenuity, resilience, resourcefulness and creativity.
Ultimately, any half-decent salesperson should be able to sell themselves in an interview. So how do you get deeper? The key is to define your business or cultural values clearly. Thus, by knowing what you want from your teams, you’ll be able to streamline your interview process and find a candidate more quickly.
Mat’s best practices on how to lead remote sales teams
Record sales calls
Before COVID-19, many of us spent much time in the market or sales meetings with the teams. We could hold role-play discussions, where you’d get a feel for how they’re doing things. Furthermore, you could read the room by their body language. However, now that’s all gone, you need to start adapting.
So how can you start adapting your leadership to these new challenges? One of the advantages is that when you’re doing sales pitches over Zoom, you can click that record button. Then, play that back and go through it with your sales team. So you can identify with your sales team where they’re making mistakes, what they’re doing well, and where they can keep improving their approach.
Adopt asynchronous selling
Asynchronous communication is now a necessary component in sales due to the large number of people consuming information about you and your competitors online. For instance, how would you feel if you had to schedule a call to get an answer to a single question? Would you be more or less likely to continue researching the product or service?
Therefore, this type of synchronous communication is focused on getting the final deal. On the other hand, asynchronous communication sets you up for the last sales call by providing information to the customer ahead of time.
So rather than trying to schedule a time with the customer and meeting to present the proposal or slide deck, record yourself and send it to them in a video format. That way, they can watch it in their own time whenever they want.
Stop asking these questions when hiring!
A challenge many of us struggle with getting away from is closed-ended questions. For instance:
- Are you competitive?
- Do you have a drive?
- Were you able to close that deal?
Instead, you should be asking questions like, “Can you tell me about a time when you had that situation, and what exactly did you do to turn things around and win that deal?” Which will help give you some clues as to their actual ability in a specific area.
Challenges of leading remote sales teams
When you’re remote, and on zoom calls, You don’t see that person’s probably struggling mentally or emotionally.
MATHEW WARD – WORKMATE
There are many advantages to companies adopting a remote working situation, such as boosting accountability, productivity and trust. However, there is also one big challenge facing us all:
Having the right support structures in place
Managing a remote sales team requires you to up your ability to support people who may find it much harder to work in an isolated environment. For instance, in an office, you can physically view or hear whether an employee is struggling; however, you don’t have that in a remote setting. So it would help if you had a natural intuition or a laser focus on picking up when someone might need a motivational boost.
More about Mathew & WorkMate
Managing a large blue-collar workforce can be difficult. Dealing with no-shows, performance issues, complex scheduling, and increasingly tight budgets can create significant challenges for modern HR and operations teams.
That’s why over the last four years, Mathew and WorkMate have helped hundreds of companies in the logistics, warehousing, F&B and hospitality sectors simplify hiring, reduce no-show rates, improve worker performance and reduce admin costs associated with managing large-scale blue-collar workforces.
Hone Essential Management Skills & Build High-Performance Sales Teams
A high-performing team is highly motivated. They take on challenges with an eagerness to exceed expectations, and they don’t blindly follow orders; they look to improve upon them.
Leading a team to new heights takes understanding your team’s unique strengths, how to navigate uncharted territory and how to inspire them to reach their maximum potential. It takes a talented leader to do that.
Join SOCO’s Management Mastery course, where we cover the essential management skills every leader needs to bring out the best of their team, whether they’re working in the office, at home, or in a blended environment.
