Having an outbound sales team that works remotely has many benefits. Access to wider talent pools, lower overhead costs, and flexible work models that boost productivity are the key advantages for brands across industries.
However, there are challenges as well, particularly when it comes to scaling the team.
Growing the size of the team means you need to hire skilled reps who understand how your company’s mission and vision translate into day-to-day selling behaviour. The outbound sales process should also be straightforward and effective to minimise training time.
Another area of growth for remote sales teams is their scope of work and strategic impact. Your sales professionals, in the modern age, are doing more than just selling. They are also involved in customer insights and market analysis, informing your go-to-market (GTM) strategy.
Scaling the team in either direction, when the representatives and personnel are distributed across locations, can be difficult.
In this article, let’s look at three foundational strategies to grow remote outbound sales teams effortlessly while keeping productivity, cohesion, and results on track.
Determine KPIs and set clear expectations
List your company’s current objectives and translate them into goals for the outbound sales team. This will help you recognise the key performance indicators (KPIs) you need to track and optimise.
For instance, if your business’ current objective is to reduce overhead costs, then you can translate it into: decrease outreach expenses.
Then, based on the available resources (budget, headcount, and tooling), you can convert the sales goal into action items. Reps can ramp up their daily outbound efforts through asynchronous outreach methods (email or social media) over synchronous ones (cold calling) to achieve the milestone.
An effective way to determine which KPIs to focus on is to look at your income statement template, which highlights various sources of revenue and expenditures. These metrics are directly tied to your profitability, streamlining the process.
Then, as noted above, you can reverse-engineer it to outbound sales efforts and share them with the team.
This will help you set tangible goals for each professional in the outbound sales team. Instead of telling them to “increase outreach,” for example, you can be more specific with “send 10% more emails.”
Also Read: How SEA startups turned remote-first into a scalable culture
Additionally, you can also explain why the representatives need to hit these numbers by correlating them with revenue metrics in your company’s income statement template. It will help team members clearly understand what they need to do and how you will evaluate their performance.
Down the line, if you increase the team size, you can easily set goals for them so the new hires can hit the ground running. Similarly, if the existing outbound sales team needs to focus on other business aspects, it can be communicated thoroughly as well.
Prioritise data security and privacy
Outbound sales teams handle sensitive information, such as prospect contact details and internal pricing strategies. The professionals often share these details with each other while running daily operations.
When working remotely, the chances of a potential data breach and unauthorised access increase. Your team members may use unsecured public Wi-Fi networks or their personal devices, which can become entry points for cyber threats.
There are two ways you can handle these challenges to avoid legal penalties and reputational damage: technology and best cybersecurity practices.
Adopt devices that are thoroughly vetted and authorised by the IT department. The hardware components, such as laptops, desktops, and servers, should have built-in security features that prevent data leakage and contain cyber threats in the case of a breach.
Additionally, professionals who frequently travel can use work computers through remote access software from any location. These solutions securely connect your team members to the company’s IT resources and monitor key data actions closely.
Beyond technology, educate your team on the latest best data safety practices to deal with evolving threats online. Phishing attempts and social engineering can still be used to extract sensitive information about your potential customers and company.
Additionally, maintain a list of approved tools and blocked websites. Explain to your team why they should avoid stepping out of that list for any purpose by outlining the potential security threats.
Finally, prepare a detailed recovery plan so you can respond swiftly in the event of a data breach.
Design a collaborative workflow
Sales is a collaborative process where team members need to frequently share feedback, knowledge, and information with each other. It is far simpler in in-office settings, where you can walk up to a colleague’s workspace and initiate a conversation.
However, this doesn’t happen organically when working remotely. When outbound professionals operate from different locations, they may have to deal with communication silos and time zone gaps, affecting productivity.
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To navigate these roadblocks, you can implement a mix of synchronous and asynchronous tools for different purposes.
For instance, daily standup calls can happen via video conferencing, where your outbound sales team can discuss goals and challenges. The synchronous channels are effective for real-time brainstorming and discussions about the company’s objectives.
On the other hand, asynchronous collaboration methods are useful for sharing feedback and monthly reports. This prevents disruptions in daily operations and gives your team all the benefits of working remotely.
In some cases, you might need a combination of synchronous and asynchronous methods.
A new employee, for example, can learn about your outbound sales process at their own pace from the existing knowledge base articles. But if they struggle while using an AI-powered tool, they might need real-time assistance through video calls.
The point is that you need to establish certain ground rules based on your sales team’s communication needs. These rules can be modified as your operations and requirements evolve.
Wrapping up
Scaling a remote outbound sales team comes with various challenges, such as communication gaps, limited peer learning, and security vulnerabilities. These roadblocks make it difficult for companies to onboard new team members and increase their sales capacity effectively.
You can overcome such hurdles by focusing on three foundational strategies.
First, identify KPIs that are important for your business and reverse engineer them to set operational goals for the outreach team. Second, adopt the right technology and security best practices to protect prospect data and organisational information.
Finally, build a workflow that facilitates collaboration, both synchronously and asynchronously.
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