What is a Virtual Salesfloor?
Introduction to Virtual Salesfloors
Remote sales teams are on the rise, with a significant portion of the workforce adapting to non-traditional work models. As reported by Forbes, 12.7% of full-time employees currently work from home, and 28.2% are engaging in a hybrid model. With advances in virtual sales tools, these teams maintain a high level of synergy and accessibility, akin to being physically present in the same room.
The importance of collaborative selling within hybrid and remote work structures is underscored by stats from Zippia, revealing that 74% of U.S. companies employ or plan to use a permanent hybrid work model. The adaptation to virtual sales floors allows for:
- Enhanced team collaboration
- Streamlined real-time coaching
- Augmented sales process effectiveness
Resources such as CallCloud serve to foster a connected sales culture. These virtual environments simulate the dynamics of physical sales floors, enabling remote sales teams to thrive.
Having a virtual sales floor brings distinct advantages, such as a significant increase in the productivity of sales teams due to increased camaraderie, morale, and coaching opportunities. Salesfloor allows remote sales teams to collaborate and share best practices, regardless of their location.
In addition to its benefits to sales culture and productivity, the shift to remote work offers financial incentives for companies. A switch to remote or hybrid work models can result in approximately $10,600 in savings per employee annually (Benefitnews). These savings come from reduced overhead, including office space and utilities, travel expenses, and more (LinkedIn; Officernd).
Empowering remote sales teams through virtual sales tools and spaces not only aligns with the growing trends towards remote and hybrid work models but also yields significant benefits in employee productivity and cost savings for businesses.
How Salesfloor Works
Remote environments are reshaping the way sales teams operate, with fewer opportunities to interact with team members given current techstacks. Salesfloor keeps teams connected through video conferencing built around the needs of a sales team. Sales representatives can choose to stream their video to maintain a sense of presence and facilitate spontaneous team interaction, share their screen for live coaching, give kudos to others reps to increase camaraderie, and more.
Virtual salesfloors are equipped for:
- Making calls with visibility on call status for real-time interaction.
- Live transcription so managers can jump in and coach at any time.
- Gamification to increase togetherness and involvement.
To support their reps, managers employ video coaching for live call training. Here, they can instantly share insights and techniques to immediately put into action. This immediate feedback mechanism is crucial for fostering a learning culture within the team.
Salesfloors are integral in maintaining high-performance sales teams, ensuring ongoing skills development and real-time strategy sharing, particularly in remote or mixed work setups.
The Benefits of Adopting a Virtual Salesfloor
Sales development managers have embraced the concept of live coaching to boost sales productivity. By leveraging a virtual salesfloor, reps have immediate access to their managers and colleagues for on-the-spot guidance. This accessibility:
- Speeds up the learning process
- Enhances team unity
- Turns each shared success into a collective celebration, reinforcing a dynamic sales culture
SDR training becomes more effective on a virtual salesfloor, where outbound calling sessions are revolutionized. Teams can:
- Converge for strategy sharing
- Provide mutual support during challenges
- Learn by observing seasoned professionals, thereby adopting best practices efficiently and enhancing overall sales productivity
Benefits of using a virtual salesfloor encompass:
- Live coaching
- Instant access to team support
- Engaging in collective celebrations following a booked meeting, maintaining high morale in a remote work setup.
Choosing the Right Virtual Salesfloor Platform
To maximize sales team motivation, it's essential that the selection of a virtual salesfloor platform be suited to the team's needs. An intuitive platform streamlines the focus on sales and minimizes technical distractions.
Here's how to ensure a well-rounded virtual sales strategy through effective virtual team management:
- Virtual Collaboration: Use a platform that fully supports virtual collaboration, that allows your team to engage with each other entirely online. This facilitates achieving common goals with improved communication and strengthened team relationships (source).
- Increased Productivity: One common criticism of virtual salesfloors is that the focus is not on productivity. However, the right platform will come with the tools to increase coaching effectiveness, boost participation through gamification, and efficiency with automated dialing
- Cost: The right virtual salesfloor should be cost effective and therefore drive a higher ROI.
Keeping these elements in mind ensures that your platform choice not only aligns with your team's workflows but also supports a collaborative environment for optimal results.
Implementing a Virtual Salesfloor: Best Practices and Tips
For sales development managers aiming to boost sales performance improvement, SDR training for a robust virtual salesfloor is fundamental. Here are steps to ensure that the sales team operates effectively in a remote environment:
- Promote SDR training that equips team members with the skills to navigate and excel in virtual sales settings.
- Create a culture that encourages active collaboration and knowledge-sharing. This involves:
- Aligning the team around a shared vision (Karbon HQ)
- Setting clear communication expectations (Vantage Circle Blog)
Facilitating a structure that allows for mutual support and transparency (Indeed)