Remote Salespeople: Tips to Maintain Client Relationships

Remote work has been embraced by many sales departments, as these roles are typically on the go. Now that travel has come to a halt, you may be concerned about how you’re going to maintain client relationships as a salesperson working remotely. Transitioning to a remote sales force can certainly have its challenges. With the right strategy, tools, and technology, you can ensure that you are cultivating connections and continuing to close deals.

Lessons Learned from Working Remotely with Clients

I’ve been leading remote teams for some time, and I’ve learned a lot about how to maintain connections with clients. There are always challenges, as many have to reinvent how they work and communicate. The lessons my team and I have learned have taught us how important it is to have the right technology tools and the right mindset. We’re glad to be sharing those with you, and we’d also be happy to hear from you about your challenges and proven solutions.

Staying Connected to Clients Virtually

When salespeople work remotely, they often think it will stifle the relationships they’ve been building with clients. While you can’t be there in person to present to them or go over projects, you still have plenty of opportunities to stay connected. Remote work doesn’t put an end to interactions—you just have to be more creative. Here’s how.

Reach out to customers even if they aren’t buying: Depending on your industry, your customers may be hurting during this economic pause. Even if they aren’t buying now, you should still check in with them and see how they are doing. Offer advice and share stories about how your company is coping with the new normal. This type of communication allows you to have an even stronger rapport and shows that you care about how they’re doing.

Have everything ready for video conferences: If you don’t have a video conference tool, you’re going to need one. Video conference calls allow you to be face to face with your clients, and it’s essential to have the right tools, including a quality webcam and headset. Before you start, check to make sure your audio and video are working well. While video chatting with customers, you can also use screen share functionality to provide visuals such as presentations, proposals, or scope of work documents. If you are concerned about bandwidth when joining video conference calls from your computer, you can always use your phone to dial in.

Show empathy: The experience economy has taught us that customers care deeply about their experiences with a brand, and it impacts their buying decisions. Sometimes, even more than the quality or suitability of the product. Now, more than ever, the world needs empathy. As your practice outreach and follow-ups, start from a place of genuineness. It will mean so much to those on the receiving end.

Staying Connected to Your Sales Team to Better Serve Clients

Maintaining relationships with your customers during these times is important, but so is maintaining a sense of unity and connectedness with those you work with. If you’re going to sustain the same level of productivity and sales during this time when you’re not in the office, then making sure your team feels engaged is crucial.

Keep in touch with your team: It’s a good idea for your sales team to have regular meetings as you shift to a new dynamic sales strategy. At Intermedia, my team has a quick meeting every morning to touch base. This is a great time to share ideas and successes you’ve had with maintaining and growing client relationships.

In addition to meeting with your sales team, consider also holding meetings with your marketing group, so they can support your initiatives and things you’re hearing from customers.

Check in with your team: It might not seem like it, but this is different than the point I made above. Especially in times like these, it’s important to put yourself in other people’s shoes and ask how they’re doing on both a professional and personal level. It’s not always about making a sale or your quota for the month, we’re here to support both our customers and our employees. And someone who seems ok, might not be. 

Don’t break tradition: As a team, while we were still working at the office, we would always have monthly lunch meetings to give everyone the opportunity to catch up as people, not just coworkers. I would buy everyone lunch and we would all sit together and chat. It’s something that everyone looked forward to. Since we couldn’t be together in the same physical space this month, I instead sent $25 DoorDash gift card to everyone and we all jumped on a video call. While it wasn’t quite the same, I think everyone appreciated the effort to keep our tradition alive. 

Maintain a routine: One essential aspect for a salesperson working from home, or for anyone working remotely, is to stick to a routine. It can mimic the one you normally had, minus the commute. You should still get up at the same time and get ready for the day, even if you’re not going anywhere. Having a routine means, you designate certain hours of the day to customer outreach, internal meetings, and strategizing. Having a healthy routine also includes staying active, taking regular breaks, eating healthy, and hydrating.

Are You Supporting Your Sales Team at Home?

Salespeople will certainly be able to adapt their approach in these uncertain times. But do they have the technology they need to communicate and collaborate? If not, then it’s time to equip them with the right tools. We can help. Find out how Intermedia platforms support sales teams today.

The Intermedia Team

Intermedia helps businesses of all sizes connect better – through voice, video conferencing, chat, contact center, business email and productivity, file sharing and backup, security, archiving, and more – from wherever, whenever. And, as a partner-first company, Intermedia goes to work for our channel partners to help them grow their revenue and maximize their success.