Coronavirus Accelerating Need for Remote Sales Technology

With the threat of Coronavirus spreading worldwide, more companies are urging workers to stay home and work remotely. However, this does not mean that sales team performance has to suffer.

This includes giants such as Google, JPMorgan, and Twitter – with the third “strongly encouraging” its 5,000 global employees to not come into the office. Further, IBM – which ended remote work for some U.S. employees 3 years ago – asked workers in coronavirus-affected areas to work from home wherever possible. These concerns do not go unwarranted, as the Center for Disease Control has declared that taking basic precautions of infection control and prevention, including staying home and practicing hand hygiene, are becoming increasingly important.

Nonetheless, as the fear of Coronavirus affecting workforces looms, it raises the question – is your sales team equipped with the tools needed to productively work remotely and maintain performance goals?

Management Visibility Faces Threat from Coronavirus

Already, it seems that companies are adjusting as Coronavirus enters the United States. Investments in Slack and Zoom have risen in the past month, even with the declines the stock market faced last week. Zoom in particular added 2.22 million active monthly users two months into 2020, while in 2019 it added 1.99 million.

Sales tools that allow teams to be just as productive out of the office as they are in the office are becoming ever important, as 66% of companies allowed remote work in 2019.

Traditionally, sales is one department where remote work is minimal. Teams may connect from various branches, but most reps are making calls from their office so management can properly keep track of their teams’ performance. Now, that doesn’t have to be the only way.

Remote Sales Performance Management

Sales enablement tools exist to provide management to track phone conversations, see how effective they are, and what resulted from the call. Even if you have a centralized team, it can be difficult to track phone activity without the help of one of these tools.

Sales performance management tools in particular provide sales managers with the information they need to track team activity, ensure rep accountability, and make data-driven decisions – no matter the location or device used. 

Dispersed teams, or reps having to work from home, can make calls from their personal phones just as easily as they can make dials in the office. Performance dashboards are accessible in real-time on mobile, eliminating any visibility gap that management might face when their reps need to work from home.

Additionally, with the risk of Coronavirus spreading rapidly, a tool like Gryphon offers ease of use, set-up, and implementation that is virtually unmatched by other software solutions. With the virus already in the U.S., time is more valuable than ever for sales teams to get onboard.

Coronavirus Advances the Growth of Remote Work

Despite Coronavirus, for the 34% of companies that do not allow remote work there is a real risk of losing top employees. The Remote Work Report found that 95% of workers want to work remotely, yet 31% are currently employed by companies that don’t allow it. Further, 74% of those not allowed would be willing to hand in their notice to work for a company that allows remote work.

However, remote work does not solely benefit the worker: 

• In 2018, there was an estimated $5 billion in cost savings for U.S. companies with employees who worked remotely
• Figures from OWLLabs in 2019 show that people who work from home at least once a month are 24% more likely to report feeling happier and more productive at their jobs.

More productive employees can only benefit the goals of your organization. Given that a sales performance management tool makes it easier for employees to work remotely, and with the data insights provided can make them more productive, adopting one of these tools can be a 2-in-1 benefit for reps and managers alike. 

Don’t let Coronavirus set your sales team back and cause your organization to miss revenue goals. 

If you are looking for a solution to maintain productivity and visibility as your team may need to from home, Gryphon has a solution.