by Doug Gardner 
A client recently invited me into the UK Sales Operations Meetup and I attended a virtual meet up they held earlier this week. The subject was “10 Immediate Actions for a WFH Team”. It highlighted some changes that people could be making in their Salesforce orgs.
The uptake in sales teams working from home has been increasing in recent years. The current situation with COVID-19 is expected to accelerate this trend after lockdown is over, meaning that making alterations for a WFH environment shouldn’t be viewed as a short term fix. Instead, it should be seen as a possible and probable long term alteration.
The main take-homes for me were:
1. Data data data
A very interesting item that I hadn’t considered before the webinar was that sales managers, in particular, are looking to triangulate their data more. By that, I mean that they are not just relying on the salesperson’s word, but looking at data on COVID-19 impacts. One example of this is different impacts on different countries. As such, breaking up reports into regions, industries etc. is likely to give you some great insights. Especially if you introduce data from external sources to track against. However you look at it, having this information is helpful. You may even wish to link it to probability fields on Opportunities to help with forecasting.
2. Daily huddles
With remote teams, having a daily or weekly huddle can be a great chance for sales managers to make sure everyone is on track. Interestingly the suggestion was to keep these short and make sure everyone is ready to go. In order to help your Sales team to stay to time, I would recommend that you all work from the same report. Salesforce allows you to schedule reports to be emailed to people at a set time. Set up a report to be sent to the team 10 mins before the meeting. That way everyone is on the same page and not updating the report quickly before it’s their turn (let’s be honest, we have all done that).
3. Track historical commitments
Data is even more important, and we are receiving a lot more of it. Therefore it is a good time to bring in a largely under-utilised element in Snapshot Reporting. This is relatively easy to set up. It will enable you to track what was predicted by salespeople at certain times. You can control when you track this, but it is often done weekly, or daily. This is not just to keep people honest, but it is a tremendous training tool too.
4. Monthly reports are now required daily
A number of people in the meetup, as well as the presenters themselves, mentioned Sales Managers and ‘C’ level people are now wanting to see information on a daily basis, that they previously wanted on a monthly basis. As such, it would be a good idea to build your reports and dashboards to give this information. Even if this has not been requested, it is a great example of something to do pro-actively.
5. Greater controls are required regarding what can/should be sold and discounts given
As people adjust to WFH, it becomes even more tempting to try and sell everything which comes across your desk. With this in mind, it is worth considering if the system level controls you have in place for your sales team are good enough. For instance, do you control discounting or the quote documents that are sent out? If not, then it should be a priority to get this in place. It can be a simple solution such as integrating e-signatory, using Quotes or putting an approvals process in place. It might even be a good time to go the whole hog with a product like Salesforce CPQ.
6. People will rely on the system more, and therefore data will need to be populated
From my experience, getting data populated is always one of the most vital and hardest elements of using a CRM system. As such, it could be a good time to roll out training or implement in-app guidance. Either way, the likelihood is that your Users will have to get used to entering information as the company will require it more than ever.
***
I hope that was helpful. Let us know if you have any questions and check out the group; I will certainly be attending more of their events.