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Long-Distance Teambuilding
November 27, 2007
Geography needn't pose a barrier to managing your people
By Michele Marchetti
Building an esprit de corps when salespeople are spread throughout the country has always been a monumental challenge. But in today's cost-conscious culture, impromptu sales rallies are luxuries, putting even more pressure on managers to use phone calls and emails to fill in the gaps between face-to-face meetings.
When Evan Cowitt assembled a team of national account sales managers in key cities throughout the country this past spring, he worried how his teammates would thrive working in their individual offices, away from the mothership. "Sellers by nature like to be in a team environment—they want a high-five and a talk around the water cooler," says Cowitt, vice president of national advertising sales for Freedom Interactive, the Internet division of Freedom Communications, a media company in Irvine, Calif. So Cowitt implemented a daily phone call, which lasts about 15 minutes, to allow salespeople to exchange ideas, successes and challenges.
At first, to generate conversation, he asked salespeople to come prepared with discussion points, such as a summary of a particular category. But eventually the talks became more organic. For example, after one of Cowitt's salespeople heard from one of his teammates that a buyer was looking to move to a smaller city, he called one of his own clients, who was looking to make a hire.
But what if a salesperson is stumped by a question from a client in the middle of the day? Cowitt insists that everyone is logged on to instant messaging. That free-flowing exchange of ideas works to everyone's benefit.
Online communication can be a great supplementary tool, but most managers mistakenly use e-mail as the primary means of keeping in touch , says J. Tillman Douglas, Jr., founder of Douglas Sales Company in Atlanta. "You can't get that voice inflection," says Douglas, who acts as an outsourced sales manager for clients. "My feeling is that you've got to use the telephone. It takes a minute-and-a-half to call someone and ask, 'What can I do for you?'"
Douglas suggests reserving e-mail to record and track results, such as sending out a chart that lists everyone's monthly performance against key metrics. As he explains, "What you'll find is the guy at the bottom of the list is probably going to reach out to the person at the top and ask, 'What are you doing?' It creates that competitive environment and spirit of teamwork."
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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