Managing entire teams remotely is a challenge. Coaching, evaluating, supporting—these all become more complicated when done remotely, especially for more junior sales roles. How do you keep your SDR team engaged and motivated?
We recently talked to Lily Youn, Director of Sales at Televet, about managing a remote SDR team.
The full conversation is on the Gradient Works YouTube channel. All quotes below are Lily’s (and may be edited slightly for clarity) and are pulled from the video.
“Coachability is one of the biggest attributes I look for. That is, if someone is very coachable, they're able to take the feedback that's given and implement it immediately.”
Building an SDR team is challenging enough, but keeping that team learning motivated while remote is especially tough. Because managers can’t meet with their teams face-to-face, they have to come up with creative ways to energize them. Making sure your team is in the right headspace is more important now than ever. A happy and healthy team is going to be more successful.
We asked Lily how she keeps her team motivated during this time.
Understand their goals. Where do they want to be in a few years? What are their career goals? Once you know what the individuals on your team want to accomplish, you can help them get on that path to success.“I want to make sure I understand what they want to achieve in their careers so I can find ways to help them achieve that.”
Talk with them daily. Whether it’s a quick 5-minute chat or an hour-long 1:1, it's important to talk with your team each day. Make yourself available to them so they know they can count on you for assistance, or simply that you are reachable throughout the day.
“I have morning sales stand-ups with the team. I've given them my cell phone number so they know that they can text me or call me at any time if they need anything.”
Get their feedback. Being a leader means really listening to your team. Your team is on the front lines, making calls and talking to prospects. They may have fresh ideas. Listen to what they’re learning.
“As a leader, you don't always have to be the person coming up with ideas. Your team is more than capable of coming up with ideas they would enjoy doing as a team themselves, and ways of communicating. Asking them is very valuable.”
Create a growth path. Designing a career path that allows for growth and developing a training program creates a determined mindset for your team. They will be eager to learn the skills they need to be successful and to move up the ladder to accomplish their career goals.
“Once you have the basis of what the SDR promotion path should look like, then you can help the SDRs learn the skills that they need to be successful once they get promoted to a full cycle sales rep. Having actually gone through that whole process, I've seen a lot of benefits in being able to have that career path set up and the training program that goes along with it.”
Know where your team is mentally. The SDR role is a challenging one, and there can be a lot of burnout due to the repetition of cold calling, emailing, and constantly being told “no.” It can be hard to feel like an asset if you’re consistently doing the same thing, so it’s important for leaders to remember that giving your team small signs of reassurance can go a long way.
“I think being really cognizant of how your team is feeling in the current situation is important to help them get through and make sure they understand the value that they have within the organization, and how they're contributing to the team.”
Have some fun. Sometimes all you need to do is create a fun way to get things done. By interjecting some lighthearted activities, you can help reduce burnout and contribute to a more cohesive team atmosphere.
“We'll just do fun games here and there. For example, this morning we had a big wheel with fun options. One of them was ‘Lily does 10 jump squats if we get this objection handled'."
You can view the whole conversation with Lily Youn on the Gradient Works YouTube channel, or listen to our podcast. And be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get more content like this in your inbox every Thursday.
