It’s almost been a year since most industries, including the sales industry, were forced to work remotely. As the early stages of 2021 move forward and there’s still uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, the virtual office has become the “new normal” for many. Even after a year of working from home, sales leaders are struggling to motivate and inspire their teams while building a sales culture that drives company success. The best solution to this problem: sales coaching and gamification.
After almost a year of remote work, many sales professionals are getting easily distracted on calls and suffering from “Zoom fatigue.” Gamification can help cure this issue by creating an environment that makes sellers feel like they’re back in the office while working at their kitchen table.
Most importantly, sales gamification coaching and goal tracking, lets teams highlight successful individuals, create a sense of healthy competition and coach those who may be struggling on areas of improvement. The virtual office isn’t going anywhere for the time being, so the benefits of sales gamification and coaching are more valuable than ever.
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Utilize Personalized Features and Alerts To Boost Activity
A sales gamification and coaching platform allow teams to track and broadcast key metrics to personalized dashboards, allowing reps to keep closer tabs on their goals and how they’re measuring up to the rest of the team. Additionally, these types of solutions give teams data synced in real-time and automated sales alerts, making it easy for teams, whether you’re on the sales floor together or in different parts of the country, to stay on track. This tool is especially useful when sales reps are working remotely, allowing the team to stay on the same page by syncing alerts through Slack and email.
Alerts can be automated so that every time someone makes a sale, the whole team will immediately be notified –– offering the ability to congratulate them or reach out and ask questions. If someone isn’t meeting their set goals, sales leaders will be able to easily identify the areas of improvement and ensure that everyone has the tools needed to succeed. Sales managers also have the capability to track performance and productivity no matter your location, and set issue-detection alerts for calls, meetings or other KPIs.
Easily Coach Your Team
A sales team’s success is greatly dependent on reps being able to voice what they’re doing well and the resources they need to make more sales. This is when sales coaching comes into play. In sports, even the most successful professional athletes require coaching – the same is true with sales.
Whether you’re at the top of your game or struggling to meet your set goals, every sales professional can benefit from sales coaching. Instead of using spreadsheets and separate call recordings, sales coaching allows managers to integrate every metric and call to coach everything from pitches to general skills development.
Another way sales managers can up performance and help team members learn from others is through healthy competition with sales gamification. Contests can bring out the best in sales reps, allowing them to reach new potential. Sales gamification can not only help sales teams close more deals, but most importantly, improves company culture and sharing of best practices. In a time where over communication is key, sales coaching and contests are the perfect tools for sales teams to step up their game.
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Boost Sales and Remote Fun
Sellers should have some type of fun while making sales. The workplace culture shifted dramatically when sales teams moved to working from home. When you’re in the office, you can enjoy fun things like joking in the breakroom, having holiday staff parties and bringing in dishes for a potluck. Not only do these activities break up the day, but it brings you closer with your co-workers and keeps the team happy and motivated. These activities don’t have to stop just because you aren’t seeing your team face-to-face — it just means you have to be more creative.
If you work in sales, chances are you’re competitive. Sales gamification tools enhance a sales team’s culture by creating a steady amount of healthy competition. This competition will help increase both the amount of sales won and promote fun within the team. No matter where your team is located, gamification transforms sales initiatives into contests and competitions that will bring out the best in everyone. In a year as challenging as 2020, something as simple as having fun while working can make a huge difference in a person’s well-being.
Manage and Meet Goals
Amid the pandemic, many sales professionals have found that it’s more difficult to complete goals when you don’t have someone or something actively helping you track you and your team’s progress. The best way to hold a sales team accountable is using a platform that helps you do so. This type of software tracks and manages sales goals, no matter where your team members are located. From individual and team goals to organization-wide goals, being able to nail down activities that produce desired results will directly drive goal alignment and attainment.
Having helpful information like sales KPIs from the first activity to the final results is beneficial for every team. Without knowing how each sales rep is performing quarterly, weekly and even daily, it’s hard to keep track of goals let alone properly manage your team. Goal-tracking software, along with other solutions like coaching and gamification, will surely prepare any sales team for the challenges brought on by remote work.
Building a good sales culture is not an easy task, especially during COVID-19. Over the past year, “culture” has become more than just a term used when describing a business and its employees during an interview. No matter the size of their team, every sales leader wants to feel hustle, buzz, and energy from their team, and if everyone on your team has those characteristics, then the sales culture is right where it needs to be. This pandemic has caused many twists and turns and bumps in the road, creating many lessons to be learned. For the sales industry, one of the most important lessons is the need for sales gamification and coaching while navigating this hybrid workforce.
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