The era of the COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the trends that were already growing on us, like remote work. However, it also affected the clients, many of whom already preferred digital channels and then switched to them completely. This called for the creation of remote sales teams in many industries, including banking. But how do you manage such teams to achieve efficiency and great results? That’s the topic of today’s discussion—read this article to find out the answers!
Table of Contents
Managing a Remote Sales Team—The Challenges
Let’s begin with a brief overview of the challenges related to managing a remote sales team. After all, this will be the basis for our tips and best practices, which we will present to you later on. So, what obstacles do you need to overcome?
Collaboration and Communication
One of the main challenges related to remote sales teams is establishing effective communication between team members. Since team members are no longer in the same room together, it’s significantly more difficult to exchange views and ideas or even consult colleagues.
Overview and Accountability
From the managers’ point of view, remote sales teams are harder to oversee. This might create a sense of lack of accountability or hinder team leaders’ ability to monitor productivity.
Talent Acquisition
Finally, the virtual alternative for traditional banks comes with challenges regarding hiring new sales team members. Since the managers don’t meet candidates in person but rather via video calls, they might find it more difficult to select the best ones for the position; on the other hand, forcing an in-person interview is not always possible due to the distance between the physical office and the employee’s place of living.
How to Train and Empower Your Digital Sales Team in Banking?
So, how do you overcome the above challenges and take your remote sales team to the next level? Here are our tips and best practices that will help you achieve these goals!
Use the Right Tools
The issues of hindered communication, the lack of overview and accountability, and even the problems with productivity can all be solved or mitigated if you use the right tools. What do we mean by that?
Namely, a digital platform for workflow and case management with robust communication features. Let’s look at this from the perspective of our own solution: LiveBank.
- Overview and accountability—The platform offers different account levels. The supervisor has access to all the cases carried out by the agents and can monitor their speed, lead closure rates, etc.
- Productivity—The platform comes with numerous features that make work more efficient. From automated workflows to AI-powered personal product recommendations to boost sales, you’ll find all of that in LiveBank.
- Communication—LiveBank enables you to integrate all your data into one place, streamlining information exchange between different team members.
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Check on the Team Members Regularly
To motivate your remote team, you need to build a sense of community, a joint mission, and an atmosphere like that in a traditional office. That’s why we recommend checking on your team members regularly.
Reach out to your sales reps separately about your communication tools, but also organize regular meetings to strengthen your team’s collaboration. These could be brainstorms, team updates, or even simple get-to-know meetings.
At the same time, don’t overdo this. We all know the meme about a meeting that could be solved with an e-mail. Remote work eliminates many of the traditional office distractions, so don’t add up extra ones that could affect the focus of your sales reps.
Readjust Your Sales Process
If your team works remotely, sales remotely, and collaborates remotely, standard procedures will simply not work. Thus, if you still operate on the same procedures as before remote work, it’s time to change that.
This comes with several benefits for your business and team performance, such as:
- Streamlined communication by adjusting the methods to the nature of remote work and by adjusting the procedures to the speed and effectiveness of remote communication.
- Improved monitoring by implementing digital workflows that can be measured and evaluated (even automatically with the use of AI).
- Enhanced customer satisfaction through a faster, better, and more effective sales cycle.
Train Your Sales Team Accordingly
Working remotely means using numerous digital tools and platforms. Your sales reps need to know how to navigate them to achieve the highest level of efficiency.
That’s why you should implement thorough training on the digital tools used in your sales department. Don’t only show your employees how to use them, but also explain why you utilize them in the first place. Also, establish mentor-mentee relationships—this will encourage the more experienced/proficient sales reps to help those who struggle with the tools and help you build relationships across the team despite the remote environment.
The Takeaway
Managing a remote team in banking requires facing, taking on, and overcoming certain challenges, like worse communication and decreased accountability. This is possible with the right tools and approach. In the end, you should invest in platforms with great communication features that give you a full overview of the sales processes and let your employees organize your workflows. Don’t forget about team building as well—it might be more difficult, but it’s crucial for creating a well-oiled machine called a “remote sales team.”
You may also read: Digital transformation for your banking services
