Building the virtual sales office
Published: October 9, 2007
Summary: Learn about a new generation of online tools that can help companies collaborate across disparate locations efficiently without breaking the bank.
Chalk it up to the rise of commoditization – today’s customers are demanding responsiveness and speed, but without having to sacrifice quality or face higher prices. To remain competitive, sales teams need to be able to work together quickly and efficiently regardless of time zone or location. A tall order indeed, especially for smaller sales organizations that often have tight IT resources, yet still have to deliver the same level of quality as larger enterprises. However, there is a new generation of online tools that can help companies collaborate across disparate locations efficiently without breaking the bank.
In Summary:
| • | Sales teams need to work together easily, regardless of time or location |
| • | Virtual workspaces can help teams be more productive without having to hire additional staff |
| • | Meetings can be transformed into virtual, real-time collaborative sessions that replace endless email chains |
Twenty years ago, conference calling services and fax machines were on the cutting edge of collaboration. But Web technologies have changed how companies do business. With online collaboration technologies, workers are no longer tethered to the office. More sales organizations are abandoning traditional bricks-and-mortar offices in favour of real-time “virtual” workspaces. These online hubs allow field representatives to store documents, share meeting calendars, instant message customers and even track these online.
“Web-based collaboration tools offer businesses the best opportunity to increase productivity without adding staff,” says Elisabeth Vanderveldt, vice president of business development, Conamex International. “Field representatives can connect with customers and colleagues from wherever they are – all they need is a mobile device or laptop and an Internet connection.”
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The right tools make all the difference
Online collaboration tools come in a range of flavours, from wikis, blogs and instant messaging to groupware applications. Before choosing the tools for your virtual office, evaluate what you can realistically do from an IT perspective. A review of your current operations and the tools already in place will help pinpoint where the pipeline is getting stuck. Is your customer relationship management (CRM) system currently living up to your expectations? Do internal sales need greater visibility into inventory levels? Is it possible to virtualize sales training as a way to cut travel costs? Would your sales reps benefit from having secure, real-time access to company forms and documentation to boost your closings? It all comes down to choices that fit your budget, mobility requirements and the needs of the team.
“In many cases you already have the technology and it comes down to being aware and then properly implementing it. The benefits can be mind boggling in terms of productivity and profitability,” says Vanderveldt.
Meetings. Regular meetings are a staple of any sales organization, but with field agents dispersed in different territories, it’s difficult to get time in person. As a workaround solution, many companies rely on conference calling to keep in touch but miss out on the interactivity of traditional gatherings. Virtual meetings provide a level of engagement that rivals the in-person experience. With peer-to-peer applications such as Office Live Meeting and Vista’s WMS (Windows Meeting Space), users can host meetings online, share, edit and annotate documents, chat via instant messenger and post ideas on a virtual whiteboard and then have the updated notes automatically dispersed to all attendees.
Sharing information. A portal solution provides organizations with a common online workspace where virtual sales teams can publish project documents and collaborate securely and easily.
“Many smaller organizations believe they cannot afford a corporate intranet,” says Vanderveldt. “What they don’t realize is that efficient use of this technology will always produce results far beyond the initial dollar investment. Using templates, Portal servers can be easily retooled different departments, making it easier to recover the initial cost of the technology investment.”
Collaborating. Traditionally, workers use email to share project updates with clients or colleagues or collaborate on a document. Collaboration software, such as Microsoft Office Groove 2007, blends the best of instant messaging and portal technologies in a secure virtual workspace. In Groove the alerts, for example, are outside of your email system so using it for highly important projects will provide for a separate and very visible notification process. These tools enable salespeople to publish all correspondence and documents to a common online location, interact with others via instant messenger, update documents and notify others of the changes the moment an item is added, changed or deleted. Groove then can interact dynamically with more robust collaboration tools such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Mobility. Typically, sales organizations are scattered throughout the country with salespeople spending a significant time travelling to their assigned region. With information accessible from virtually anywhere, workflow no longer needs to be limited to the desktop. Cell phones and Pocket PCs can come equipped with mobile versions of common productivity applications such as email word processing and spreadsheets. This enables salespeople to stay connected to the office and remain productive while on the move. And using Groove or MOSS technology on a laptop, while travelling anywhere in the world, means that your productivity is never suppressed, people can keep in touch instantly and synchronization requires nothing more than signing on to the laptop.
“These days, salespeople cannot afford to be disconnected from email for more than a few hours. With “push” mobile technology like Windows Mobile 6, users don’t need to carry anything but their mobile device to get work done. There’s never any reason to ever be out of touch” says Vanderveldt.
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