Many organizations that didn’t offer this mode of working before COVID are now seeing its economic and flexibility benefits.

In addition, many professionals now believe that remote working will be a big part of corporate culture, even in the post-COVID world.

As a remote-first company we know that even though remote working has many proven benefits, it also has its downsides.

Our project managers have been facing many challenges when leading a fully remote engineering team.

Let’s look at some of those issues and what steps we took to avoid them.

Challenges of managing a remote engineering team

According to a recent report, 74% of the surveyed individuals felt happier working remotely than from the office.

“Like it or not, the pandemic has forever changed how we see work and how we carry it out. Thus, making the necessary adjustments to your corporate culture appears as a must-do when moving forward.” – Nacho De Marco, BairesDev CEO

Here’s how we managed to prepare our company for remote working and established a positive remote team culture so our engineers can keep being productive.

Measure productivity

This is one of the most difficult challenges in a remote software development setup.

Many remote team managers are anxious because they can’t physically see how hard their team members are working or if at all.

At BairesDev, we solve this problem through the use of productivity metrics, i.e., metrics that track how much work an employee completes in a day.

They allow managers to summarize team productivity through KPIs and predictability of work.

Managers can then monitor their software developers for these metrics and determine their productivity.

Furthermore, our surveys show that 40% of people feel that they are more efficient when they are working from home. It positively impacts productivity and provides a better work-life balance to employees.

Enable easy communication and collaboration

Communication is a crucial aspect of software engineering. Managers need to know the status updates from each team member before creating a project completion timeline and responsibility assignment matrix.

They also need to know details such as who’s working on which task, what’s the timeline for a particular ticket, and if their time is facing any blockages.

In a traditional setup, this can be done easily via one-on-one conversation and team meetings (managers can call everyone in a meeting room for a quick chat).

However, due to time and distance constraints, these are difficult to fully implement in a virtual working environment.

At BairesDev, we understand the importance of communication. That’s why our teams use communication channels such as chats and video conferencing to address issues, suggestions, and all kinds of project-related information.

Our managers also conduct daily status meetings to clearly convey project goals and expectations to the whole team.

Pro tip: Level up your online meetings with an interactive and engaging video conferencing solution especially build for remote engineering teams.

Approach cultural differences

It’s common in remote teams that people from different geographical locations and cultures come together to collaborate on a single project.

Even though this improves the overall diversity of the talent pool, it also highlights some cultural differences during the work process.

These cultural differences can lead to problems such as unclear understanding of goals, wrong expectations, nonadherence to deadlines, etc.

A cultural mismatch can also cause good employees to leave the organization.

Solving this issue requires strategic planning on the employer’s part.

At BairesDev, our leaders understand that company culture is a dynamic creation built with the values and contributions of the team.

It’s the remote team manager’s responsibility to realign their team’s culture and values to make sure that people fit into the new way of doing things.

Engineering managers can also use online cross-cultural training sessions to educate their team members about each other’s beliefs and working methodologies.

Overcome the lack of social connection

Remote working can sometimes lead to social isolation and loneliness and negatively affect morale and productivity.

It is difficult to replicate the feeling of belonging and community in a remote working environment, where you’re not able to physically see your team.

To counter this issue, BairesDev managers encourage employees to build social connections outside of work.

They also encourage casual conversations, relationship-building exercises, and virtual team-building sessions to cultivate team spirit.

Build trust

Trust is an important part of software development.

Employers must trust their employees with confidential project details, requirements, and infrastructure access.

They also need to trust their employees to get the job done and this can be difficult when managing a remote team.

Building trust and commitment can take a very long time but our managers are always up-front with their employees ready to discuss any matter.

They understand the importance of empathy and appreciation, so they make a conscious effort to recognize their team’s contribution.

Schedule regular meetings

Oftentimes, remote teams are spread across different time zones. In such situations, tracking productivity and efficiency can become challenging especially if the manager is not working in the same time zone as the rest of the team.

Scheduling an impromptu video call is also difficult since people who aren’t online won’t be able to attend the call.

Furthermore, if there’s a critical issue or a production bottleneck, you want your on-calls to reply immediately. This can be difficult if your respondent works in a different time zone and is not logged in.

To fix such issues, our engineering managers can use tools such as 3veta for remote meeting management and scheduling.

Set boundaries

When people work from different time zones, it sometimes becomes difficult for employees to set personal boundaries.

This can lead to the overutilization of resources.

It’s essential for virtual team leaders to identify signs of overworking and exhaustion since disconnected and exhausted team members make it difficult to complete work goals on time.

To counter such issues, BairesDev managers have regular check-ins with their subordinates to understand project direction and resource utilization.

They use project collaboration techniques to make sure that there is no mismatch of expectations between the employer and employee.

We believe personal boundaries should be accepted and encouraged in a corporate environment.

Remote work for the future

Managing a remote team is very different from managing a traditional one.

However, at BairesDev, we understand that the core principles of remote work remain the same: communication and trust.

If there’s adequate communication and trust between the team and our management, the management can efficiently identify project shortcomings and fix them before they affect productivity and deadlines.

Remote work is here to stay, so we need to make sure we are well-prepared and ready for what lies ahead in the business world.

The post Top 7 Challenges of Managing a Remote Engineering Team appeared first on 3veta.

All of the nuances of the job could be noticed a little bit easier when you talk in person with everyone.

However, that’s not the case anymore.

Remote-first teams and hybrid work schedules are becoming more and more popular, meaning that managers need to be aware of new challenges and come up with new tactics to overcome any issues.

Our 3veta team is also working remotely, so we know first-handily the struggles and we’re here to advise you with our guide to remote team management.

But first…

What is remote team management?

Remote team management is the glue between the company’s aspirations and the individual tasks and experiences that take place virtually.

It is the ability to know what your business needs and be acquainted with your team members’ professional skills well enough to guide them despite any technological difficulties.

Why is remote team management important?

The answer to this question is quite straightforward.

We’ll explain it a bit more figuratively. Imagine that you are going on a road trip with your friends. You have a clear idea of your destination, so the place where you’re headed is your goal.

You also have a vehicle that will help you get there, that’s your company’s structure and resources.

You also have your friends, each one of them with an assigned role – a driver, a DJ, a snack provider, etc. They are your team members with expertise in different fields.

However, each road trip needs one more essential thing to be successfully completed.

A map.

The map is the team manager. And if it’s a GPS then you can call it a remote team manager.

The ‘GPS’ gives everyone a direction to follow and makes sure that your team doesn’t get off track.

It also sends reminders about what the final destination is, notifies if there’re any obstructions on the road, and suggests an alternative route.

Remote team management provides the guidance and support that team members fundamentally need to achieve their goals.

But what else?

Boosts productivity (meetings, time management, communication)

Good remote team management boosts employees’ productivity, which results in greater efficiency and benefits to the company.

Some signs that you are doing a good job are:

• When your online meetings are meaningful and with active participation.
• Everyone in the company is excelling at time management and keeping deadlines.
• Employees and employers feel equally open to communicating with each other, sharing what’s on their minds, offering feedback, and suggesting new ideas.

Builds company work culture

Remote team management ensures that everyone is familiar with and integrated into the company’s work culture.

Because the company’s work culture is one of the most fundamental aspects of every business. It is the values and goals of the company, it promotes a certain way of thinking, behaving, and working.

And if you are just at the beginning of your career, work culture is what builds your character as a professional.

What are the challenges of managing remotely?

Forbes states that two of the major challenges that companies face when they hire international workers are overcoming language barriers and having to deal with training logistics.

However, we’d like to add to the list. Our goal is not to scare you but to fully prepare you.

Team communication

86% of executives identify ineffective collaboration and communication as major causes of failure in business.

When you speak to people indirectly – via email, skype, or another text messaging platform, misunderstandings will occur.

You have to master various remote communication techniques to eliminate the risk of ineffective collaboration.

Tracking work and productivity

Another challenge is ensuring that everyone is engaged with the task and dedicated to its completion.

When you are in a physical office it’s easy to spot when someone is not at their desk. However, working from home offers no guarantee that your teammates won’t fall victim to all the distractions.

Meeting scheduling

International remote teams are all fun and games until you reach that point where you all have to coordinate your schedules and set the time and date of your next meeting.

Time zones, different schedules, frequent traveling, and many other details have to be taken into account so that everyone could be present.

Building trust

Last but not least, this remote-work challenge is related not so much to logistics but to our human side. Teammates must build trust!

Because trust is what gets you out of the pit when times are tough, deadlines are approaching, clients are complaining, bosses are nagging, and work is not going so well.

And it is kind of difficult to build trust with just a name, a picture, and a few text messages per day.

What remote team management skills do you need?

According to HBR, a team manager’s job is to make sure that “every person feels like they are one part of a larger, unified team”.

But how do you achieve that? What type of skills and abilities a good remote team manager should possess?

Here are our top picks.

Communication

You have to be communicative.

This could be a struggle for introverted people, but you have to be the one who approaches all the others and asks for updates, reports, asks if they need something, if everything is going well.

You cannot wait to see if someone will raise their voice. You have to be the one pushing for and promoting open communication.

And talking about communication in a remote environment, your number-one best friend will be your video conferencing software.

For instance, 3veta not only allows you to create instant meetings fast and seamlessly and share the link with anyone, but you can also arrange a permanent meeting room that you can use repeatedly.

You are also welcome to organize a booking page where team members can schedule an appointment with you.

Problem-solving

Even if you don’t expect it, issues will arise. And you have to keep your cool and face them consciously.

Your job is to find a way out no matter how deep in the mud your team is.

There’s always a solution, you just have to join forces, find the roots of the problem and decide on the best way to uproot it.

Decision-making

With the manager’s title comes a lot of responsibility.

Sometimes you’ll find yourself in two minds about something. It could be minor, or it could be huge, but what happens next will be up to you.

You have to be mentally prepared for making decisions that could affect the future of a project, a campaign, or even someone’s career.

Self-awareness

Now, this is probably one of the most important qualities every leader should have.

Leaders hold power and often power makes their vision blurred and prevents them from taking the right path.

Being self-aware means that you know your strengths but you also know your weaknesses and you can look at a particular situation and assess it realistically.

Empathy

Being empathetic is yet another quality that managers should have because it gives them the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes and be understanding.

This is crucial when it comes to handling difficult situations, offering a piece of advice, and making decisions.

How can you improve your remote management skills?

The truth is, there is not just one correct answer to that question.

You have to experiment and see what works best for your team’s needs.

Here are a bunch of tips that could help you level up your remote team management game.

Educate yourself on the struggles of remote management

You might already feel like you’ve crossed that one off the list but in this article, we only presented some of the challenges.

You have to do your research in order to tackle the issues successfully.

Also, keep in mind that those struggles will vary from one field of work to another.

So, even if you are familiar with the most basic ones, go the extra mile and educate yourself on that matter.

Be flexible

If you want to be there for everyone you have to learn how to manage your time efficiently and be flexible.

Although it would be nice to have a structured remote work plan, don’t follow it blindly just because it makes you feel more organized.

Prioritize what’s going on at the moment and leave some of the not-so-urgent tasks for tomorrow if there’s an emergency.

Build relationships

We’ve already mentioned how important is to trust your colleagues.

It is even more important for employees to trust their manager.

This gives them hope that they are following the right person and that they’re going in the right direction.

Building relationships with team members and colleagues from other departments facilitates communication and increases the levels of motivation within the organization.

Know your team

 Know your teammates’ capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, and use them wisely.

This way you’ll be able to distribute the workload fairly and everything will be done more efficiently.

You can either pair up a few people for the completion of a particular task or ask another department for help in time.

Set expectations

The setting of expectations is crucial to make sure that everyone is performing well and that the results are of the same quality.

Make sure to let everyone know what you want them to achieve and how you want them to get there.

This is particularly important because remote teams are usually composed of people coming from different backgrounds that are used to different work models.

You have to provide a common ground for everyone.

Create clear communication guidelines

Since communication is one of the biggest challenges for remote managers, it is not a bad idea to create clear communication guidelines for everyone to follow.

This could be the bare minimum, the foundation of everyone’s work conversations.

Those guidelines will ensure that misunderstandings are avoided, people are behaving professionally, and everyone is equally responsive.

Gather feedback

Feedback is intrinsic to every organization’s structure and work process. It has numerous benefits.

Firstly, it shows employees that you care about their opinion and you are willing to listen.

Secondly, it gives employers and managers insights into some smaller but equally important details that might’ve been overlooked previously.

And lastly, it’s the wheel of progress. You’ll be able to change things that don’t work way faster if you ask those who speak from first-hand experience.

Provide the right tools

Remember the analogy we made with the road trip? How would you get to your final destination if you don’t have the right vehicle?

And how would your team members achieve what you’re asking from them without having the right remote work tools?

Remote teams require communication platforms, collaboration tools, meeting management software, and different devices in order to fulfill their true potential.

Provide emotional support

And even though you will rely mostly on machines to get the job done, don’t forget that there are humans on the other side of the screen.

Provide them emotional support if they need it and do your best to prevent them from experiencing burnout.

Get your team together physically once in a while

It might not be always possible, but gathering the team in person from time to time is extremely important for forming bonds and building trust.

Team-building activities could be also organized virtually but let’s be honest, they are way more fun offline.

Be visible and approachable

Ensuring that you are easily reachable by everyone is a must. As a team manager, you’ll be your team’s go-to person at all times.

Make it as easy as possible for them to contact you or book a meeting with you should any concerns arise. After all, you are not only your team member’s boss but their mentor as well.

Maintain constant communication

Constant communication means that you and your team keep each other posted regularly.

Regular stand-up meetings can help you check on all team members and see if everything is going smoothly or not.

Communicating with your team on a daily basis, even if you’re using the asynchronous model, will allow you to keep an eye on every work process and save money from having to do corrections.

Prioritize one-on-one time

One-on-one meetings are also recommendable because team managers usually won’t be able to pay attention to the needs and concerns of each individual during team sessions.

That’s why it’s a good idea to have your booking page where you can submit your availability for your employees to see. In case they need to ask something, seek assistance, or simply talk, they can easily reach you.

Stay lighthearted

It is also crucial for you to maintain a positive attitude no matter what happens. Of course, sometimes things won’t go as planned but being grim and short-tempered won’t change the situation for the better.

Controlling your emotions is a key skill that every professional should develop early on in their career.

Conclusion

Remote teams are the new normal in the business world. So, team managers and leaders are also slowly but surely adapting to the changes.

Although remote teams do not differentiate much from regular on-site teams, there are some tricks that managers should appropriate to compensate for the lack of in-person interactions.

We hope that this guide has inspired you to learn more about the topic and improve your management skills.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Remote Team Management appeared first on 3veta.

Even if your company is using the hybrid work model, most employees would want to learn virtually. It saves time for all involved and facilitates the whole learning process thanks to automation and easier distribution of information.

However, engaging remote employees, keeping them motivated, and retaining their attention could be very challenging because of all possible distractions.

In this article, we’ve prepared a list of 8 simple but very effective training ideas for remote employees.

1. Gamification

One of the main issues of remote training is the feeling of isolation that remote employees usually experience and the inability to reach and interact with their instructors.

One possible solution to these issues is the gamification of learning practices.

Brendan Roarty says that “video games reinforce and reward players for behaviors that get results and allow them to constantly test and grow their knowledge by offering a safe space to fail and experiment”.

One of the biggest benefits of online training through playing games is that your employees could be immersed in simulations of future situations or long-term goals. And that provides a better understanding of how each subject fits into the bigger picture.

2. Friendly competition

Another successful virtual training tip is to create a working environment that allows employees to enter into a friendly competition.

It would be a smart move to implement leaderboards in your virtual training program as well because some people perform way better in competitive conditions.

You can create a ranking system that stimulates employees to complete as many learning activities as possible.

The good side of competition between workers is two-folded because the underperforming employees are motivated to level up, while top performers are stimulated to continue with the good work.

3. Video learning

When talking about training ideas for remote employees, we can’t forget about video conferencing as an educational tool.

As you may already know, ever since the Internet boom occurred our attention span has drastically decreased.

Hence, many people struggle to concentrate during a long presentation or while reading an extensive paper.

In these cases, YouTube saves the day because there’s at least one tutorial or educational video on every subject that you can think of.

Why would a student want to waste an hour reading 20 complicated pages when someone could explain it to them in a much simpler and faster way?

You can simply copy-paste the YouTube link that you wish to display before everyone and click the Share button.

4. Implementation of interactive tools

When it comes to interactive training ideas for remote employees, they can be as wild and diverse as your imagination would allow.

If your remote training process is predominantly in a form of a presentation, we encourage you to implement interactive tools at least once per presentation.

They not only engage the audience but can also show you to what extent your remote employees have comprehended the material.

There are some popular interactive training examples like Quizziz and Kahoot that you can use to create your own multiple-choice or trivia quiz.

All of the platforms’ contents are user-generated, so you can also get inspired by the creations of other teachers.

For example, with Kahoot you can create a quiz, and share it on your screen during a video call There will be a unique game PIN that allows your remote employees to participate.

They can see the question and possible answers through the video meeting and use their phones to answer by clicking on the corresponding color they deem correct.

5. Make a list of previous common questions

Another clever training idea for remote employees is to make a list of frequently asked questions.

“Prepare reference documents for new employees based on common questions or concerns employees have had previously. It’s actually a form of supplemental training on the job. When working remotely employees might not always be able to get a hold of you when they have a question. If people have to stop working until they can reach you every time they’re unsure of how to proceed it can cripple the efficiency of your business.” – Tom Scarda from the Franchise Academy says.

That list of Q&As would serve as a guide for your employees in case they stumble upon something confusing or challenging.

They won’t waste time by trying to contact you or by trying to figure it out on their own and you won’t have to repeat yourself all the time, answering the same questions.

It’s a win-win situation.

6. Pair up an experienced employee with a newbie

As for the matter of how to train new employees, our best advice is to pair them up with someone more experienced.

There’s nothing better than learning all the tricks of the trade from a person who’s had their hands on the field for long enough to know all the details.

It is also a perfect team-building activity.

This practice is also called “the buddy system” and it’s mostly used in universities, high schools, and colleges.

New students have a dedicated 2^nd-year person from the same program to guide them around the buildings, help them with all the logistics, and even provide support during their first classes/exams.

The same idea could be applied to virtual training in the workplace where new employees have one well-trained worker at their disposal to ask questions and seek help if needed.

7. Apply spaced repetition

The spaced repetition method is one of the virtual training ideas that will help you jog the memory of your remote employees and improve their ability to retain information.

It could be as simple as making short summaries at the beginning and end of each session of the topic discussed during your previous virtual team meeting.

Or you can ask simple questions related to the material covered last week in relation to the new topic.

Also, you can use the interactive tools we talked about a minute ago to create fun quizzes and stimulate your remote employees’ memory.

The goal is to not let them forget the key concepts simply because you’re mostly relying on passive teaching methods.

If your remote employees know that you won’t ask questions on previously taught material, they won’t bother to remember it for long.

8. Introduce podcasts

Training remote workers through podcasts is another way to make the usual learning methods more fun.

There are many content creators for educational purposes on Spotify and affordable podcast recording software that could help you present the material in an audio format.

It is simple, convenient, and low-cost because they are usually made by experts in the respective field and distributed for free to the larger public.

Since they come in a format of a radio show, they can be accessed from any device as well as downloaded and listened to without access to the Internet.

Podcasts are a perfect way to educate busy workers since they are one of the few learning methods that works even when multitasking.

Final thoughts

These training ideas for remote employees could spice up your workers’ learning process.

However, our recommendation is to choose from the vast variety with consideration of your remote employees’ needs and struggles.

And don’t forget to take advantage of all the technological affordances – more engaging presentations, video calling software with all the extra features, interactive tools, podcasts, documentaries, and so on.

And if you are looking for a reliable video conferencing and scheduling tool, look no further – 3veta is right for you. Start your free trial today!

The post 8 Training Ideas for Remote Employees to Try in 2023 appeared first on 3veta.

It is a complicated endeavor because meeting management requires handling your team’s schedule, preparing for the meeting beforehand, and securing the right virtual environment to meet.

In order to be successful in managing remote meetings, you’ll have to acquire facilitation skills. You have to make all team-related practices easier and more accessible.

Your teammates should feel at ease when there’s an upcoming team meeting because they’d be well-informed and aware that your organization is on point.

So, if you wonder how to improve your facilitation skills, we’ve prepared a list of 5 meeting management skills that will get you there.

1. Combine time management with team management

Managing a remote team meeting means navigating through different schedules in order to find the most suitable date and time for your meeting.

Usually, it also means sending back-and-forth emails to all involved so that you can arrange all the details.

We recommend you skip that phase and use a shared team calendar instead. This way, you’ll be able to combine both time and employee management.

A shared calendar can help you in many ways – you know your colleagues’ availability at all times, you can follow their progress and productivity, and you can easily reschedule your plans in case something happens.

3veta’s shared team calendar can even help you manage time zones in case your team is international. And, thanks to the automated reminders and notifications, everyone will be invited to join the meeting when the time comes.

You can also select different calendar views.

We have a daily calendar with your upcoming meetings and tasks. The weekly calendar looks a bit further and gives you a better overview of your plans for the following few days. And the monthly one is the most extensive one that you can use to re-evaluate your meetings and rearrange to-dos.

2. Tech-savviness but make it easy

We already highlighted how important your facilitation skills are for the organization of productive team meetings and the performance of your team.

A good video conferencing software can help you out by making the actual process of meeting up online much easier.

Here are a few features that you should look for.

Top quality on all devices

Every remote meeting might be held under different conditions. You should be confident that your software runs equally smoothly on all devices.

Don’t let traveling or limited access to a computer stop you from looking and sounding professional while doing your job.

Meeting rooms

There are so many different types of online meetings — stand-ups, staff meetings, client meetings, weekly catch-ups, etc.

To have a separate link for each meeting and remember which one is the correct one when you need it should be considered as a talent.

Meeting rooms systemize and organize all types of meetings so that you and your team can easily access them with no confusion or frustration.

Engagement

Almost every article that touches upon the question of how to run meetings effectively will tell you that engaging your attendees should be your number one priority.

By engaging, we mean creating polls, using reaction buttons, and interacting in the chat.

Recordings

Creating recordings of your meetings is also a key feature that will allow team members to follow the discussion even after it has ended.

3. Prepare beforehand and make others do the same

In order to host productive team meetings, you not only have to prepare for the conversation but also let everyone know what the meeting is about.

Whether it is a routine or a strategic meeting, you have to clarify your objectives. If you are unable to summarize the purpose of your meeting in a couple of sentences, then you cannot justify hosting a meeting.

The first step is to identify your goals, the second is to create a team meeting agenda.

By systematizing your main arguments/concerns/issues/questions into bullet points and sub-points, you’ll never drift away from the main topic, you won’t forget what follows next, and your attendees will know what to expect.

You can share it with the meeting participants beforehand and encourage them to get familiar with the topic in question.

Such topic communication skills will contribute to the productivity of your session since other people will be able to add more arguments to the conversation.

The agenda is your compass toward achieving the goal of the meeting. Also, it helps you determine the duration of the session.

Make it too short and you’ll be left hanging with a couple of undiscussed issues or you’ll have to prolong it and, let’s be honest, nobody likes that.

4. Think strategically

To make the most out of each meeting, you have to think strategically about who you invite to participate.

There’s this popular saying that time is money. And meetings can sometimes take up a lot of your time. Therefore, it can cost you money.

So, don’t invite people who are not needed for the achievement of your objective.

Firstly, they won’t feel useful and their time would be lost because they could’ve used these 30ish minutes to do something else.

Secondly, they’ve taken the place of someone else who could’ve truly helped you during the meeting.

So, if you’re wondering whether someone should be there or not, we suggest two approaches.

Assign that person a role.

Every attendee should have a role or a task to complete during or after the meeting. If you can’t think of a role, you shouldn’t invite that person.

Or you can use the meeting cost calculator offered by Harvard Business Review.

You can take the number of people you’re planning to involve in the meeting, set the time limit, and roughly guess what each person’s salary is.

The calculator will tell you how much that meeting would cost.

That way, you can see for yourself if it’s worth it and check if you can save up by removing or replacing someone.

5. End with a clear overview of your discussion

By the end of your remote meeting, the most important thing you have to do is summarize.

Especially if your meeting was 30+ minutes long, people might have forgotten what you talked about in the beginning.

Therefore, when you prepare your agenda, highlight the most essential points and repeat them to your audience before you end the meeting.

Also, if your meeting was about solving an issue or distributing workload, make sure that everyone is well aware of all decisions that you’ve come to.

For instance, if you’re discussing the progress of a project you could say something along the lines of:

“Before we get back to work, I would like to quickly wrap up what we all agreed upon. The new deadline is Monday, 7 November, 3 pm. Mike will be your contact person in case you stumble upon any major issues. Joanne is responsible for X and Y. Zoe will take care of Z. The rest of us will continue as usual. Should you have any questions don’t hesitate to email me. And don’t forget to submit your weekly progress update each Friday morning.“

Providing clear actions, timelines, and owners means that you’ve stated what actions are to be taken, when, and who is responsible for their completion.

By summarizing your main points, you leave zero space for misunderstandings.

Another tip is to discuss when your next meeting will be unless you meet on a regular basis and you already know the answer to that question.

Meeting management skills in a nutshell

We might have covered the main meeting management skills and tricks but, honestly, there’s much more to cover.

Meeting management is a complex task that involves a lot of skills and practices, some are the foundation, and others are complementary.

But to ensure that everything runs without a hitch, stick to the basics and in the meantime try to perfect the details.

The post 5 Meeting Management Skills to Run an Effective Meeting appeared first on 3veta.

Businesses do one out of these three things on LinkedIn:

1. Look for a new hire
2. Build their personal or business brand
3. Book appointments with their ideal prospects

Well, out of these, the third one sounds promising if you want to accelerate your business conversions, right?

In this article, we’ll give you 6 on how to use LinkedIn to get booked and we’ll provide you with 4 customizable templates to book appointments with your prospects.

Let’s roll in.

Optimize your LinkedIn profile

First things first. In order to get booked on LinkedIn you need to make sure your profile looks as professional and as informative as possible.

Craft a catchy headline

Headlines are a great way to attract your ideal target audience by pinpointing their problems.

How to craft a compelling headline?

Focus on answering these questions:

1. Who is your ideal customer?
2. What services do you provide?
3. What is your designation?
4. What problem does your target audience struggle with?
5. What solution do you provide?
6. What is your big promise?

Answer at least 3 questions to write your headline.

Here’s an example:

What is your designation: Co-founder & CEO
Who is your ideal customer: Remote teams and business owners
What is your big promise: Achieve your full potential

Craft a super-targeted About section

Write a crystal clear About section that sums up your professional journey.

This section includes two questions—who you are and what you do. Moreover, this section should be an amalgamation of professional and personal life.

Make sure to add your credibility while showcasing your expertise and skills.

Here’s an example of how you can write your About section using storytelling.

Add featured section

The featured section displays your achievements and credibility to your prospects.

When they scan your LinkedIn profile, you can hook them with your featured section.

• Add content like interviews with you, projects you are involved in, and case studies to intrigue them.
• Embed an appointment scheduling tool to make it easier for prospects to find the time to get on a call with you.
• Prepare a series of questions to ask your prospects and send them along with an appointment booking link.

Craft LinkedIn posts

Not every time will a prospect book a call with you through the featured section. You need to tell them to do it. And the best way to do it is to create engaging and practical LinkedIn posts.

The cycle of booking appointments by publishing content looks something like this:

You create content to educate the prospect → You add the booking link at the end → Prospect reads the content and finds it helpful → Prospect books the call with you

But this 4-step framework depends on the kind of content you are putting out.

For example, this LinkedIn post explains the transaction from the ‘Organization Man’ era to the ‘Unbundled work’ era to the ‘Your Own Platform’ era.

It educates prospects about a new opportunity on the horizon — to not only offer their services as independent professionals but to build their own platform.

The post ends with ‘We at 3veta help people do that.’ followed by a catchy CTA in the first comment to motivate prospects to get in touch with 3veta.

Here are a few call-to-action examples that you can use in your LinkedIn posts next time:

• Pick my brain with this 15-minute call
• DM me to know more
• I’m inviting you for a 1:1 call with me

Types of content you can post on LinkedIn

Here are some smart LinkedIn post ideas you can try:

Text: Text posts are heavily supported by LinkedIn as they are reader-friendly.

Wondering how to create text posts that strike your audience’s cords?

Here’s how:

• Create a hook: Capture readers’ attention with the first three lines of your post. It could be a question that triggers them. A mind-boggling statistic. Or a story that sparks their interest.
• Use White Spaces: Include space between your texts. The LinkedIn algorithm picks up the easy-to-read and scan posts.
• Organize with bullet points: Use them to organize your posts and make them easy to read.
• Create informative, connecting posts: Craft LinkedIn posts that offer either information or entertainment. This could be talking about customers’ pain points, client stories, recently completed projects, or personal stories. However, thought leadership content is effective when booking calls.

Poll: Polls are great to ask your audience for their opinions.

You can count the number of votes and see who voted.

This works well when you are looking to understand your audience better.

Video: Create bite-sized videos ideally between 1-3 minutes long to give your audience the inside scoop and connect with them.

LinkedIn Articles: These are similar to the articles you see on Google.

However, LinkedIn articles are published on LinkedIn and indexed by Google. It is a simple way to repurpose your short-form posts into detailed ones.

One go-to strategy is analyzing your best-performing posts and writing a detailed article.

Inside the article, plug in your services and a booking page for prospects to call you.

LinkedIn Newsletters: These are similar to LinkedIn articles but these can be shared with all your followers and connections.

Meaning? A larger reader base.

You can also repurpose your LinkedIn articles or write exclusive articles as newsletters with a link to schedule a call with you.

Add people to your network

You need to expand your network to get your prospects to notice you.

Start by adding people to your network.

Decide who your target audience is and send them a personalized connection request.

A personalized connection request increases your chances of getting the requests accepted. Make sure personalized notes highlight relevance.

How to send a connection request?

1. Search for keywords in the LinkedIn search bar. Like “Founder.”
2. Filter down the list to People and add other relevant filters. Some of the ideal ones you could use include locations and industries if you are looking to target niche-specific businesses.
3. Choose from the list of people you want to send a connection request to. Click on connect and add a personalized note before sending the connection requests.

Wondering what a personalized connection request looks like? Here’s an example:

Hi Jennie,

I read your recent post and really loved the tips you shared on editing. I have been using the basic tips, but your post provided me with some more great insights to incorporate into my writing. It would be great to read more of your insightful content.

Cheers,
Nidhi

Many people make the mistake of including a personalized note for its sake. Or they would send a sales pitch in the message. Avoid doing that. And if you send a sales pitch, make sure you warm the prospect first.

Here’s another example of how you can send a sales pitch that doesn’t look sales-sy at all:

Hi Leslie,

I have been reading your work on LinkedIn for quite a long, so I went to your company website and noticed you’re not actively leveraging long-form blogs. What are your content plans for 2022? I would love to hear from you.

Cheers,
Nidhi

Your idea of sending a personalized connection request to make the first interaction and adding them to your connection list. Once this happens, you can move forward in your sales cycle and convert them to book a call in the next stages.

Using the LinkedIn search bar

A LinkedIn search bar is no less than a hidden treasure.

If you are a service provider looking for new clients, leverage the LinkedIn search bar.

Simply, go to the search bar, type in a keyword, and filter it down to posts and time periods as per your preference.

The next step?

Send them a cold email or a personalized connection request with a link to book a demo call with you.

Use cold DM outreach

Cold messages are similar to cold emails. You send a message to your ideal prospect on LinkedIn who has no clue about you.

So how do you make them curious about you and hit the booking link you attached in your first message?

You can leverage LinkedIn Inmails or a personalized connection request (again!).

When doing so, focus on delivering value through your cold message—tell the prospect why you are messaging them, and give them a solid reason to click on the booking link.

How to do it?

Either appreciate them and tell them what you like about them, a tip on how they can improve, or describe how you noticed the gaps in their business.

Add the booking link to schedule a call with you at the end. What if they don’t respond back? Simply, send a follow-up email after 3-4 days.

Use networking

This one is effective when you have built a meaningful relationship with your prospect by sending them a lead magnet, nurturing them through emails, or regularly commenting on their LinkedIn posts.

Once done, slide into their DMs and ask them for a networking call. End your message with a booking link.

Remember, the tone of your message needs to be friendly and not sale-sy.

Useful networking templates

For networking

Template 1:

Hi {first name},

We have been in touch for quite some time but never connected over a call. I am keen to know my connection beyond LinkedIn to know them better over call. I was wondering if you are up for a call to discuss interesting things.

Template 2:

Hi {first name},

Thanks for being a valuable connection and reading my content here. I would like to invite you for a networking call to exchange ideas. A little about me: I’m a {your designations} who specializes in {services}. Would {date and time} work for you to get on a call?

For cold outreach

Template 1:

Hi {first name},

I have been using your product for the past 6 months and really love it {appreciate/ give reason to them to care about you}. But I observed that your website is not actively leveraging the blog as a content asset {highlight the loopholes}. A blog can really benefit your customers and you both. Ask me how? Your customers will understand your product better, they will understand how to use it better and by doing so, you’ll improve your relationship with them plus rank on Google {Give them a reason to opt-in for the services}.

I’m Nidhi, a full-time freelancer specializing in writing blogs for Marketing Agencies and Martech brands like yours {position yourself as the solution to their problem}.

Would you be interested in discussing this further over a virtual coffee? If yes, here’s my Calendly link to book the call {put the booking link}.

Template2:

Hi {first name},

I saw that you are hiring freelance writers to work with your team {insert the icebreaker}. I’m a freelance writer specializing in writing for blogs. I have worked with clients across India, Dubai, and the USA {highlight your credentials}. You can see my portfolio here {attach portfolio/ relevant documents}. Does this sound interesting? Just pick the time at your convenience and we can hop on a quick call {add booking link}.

Wrapping up

No doubt LinkedIn is scalable after especially when you run a B2B service business.

However, you need the above 6 strategies to hear a ‘yes’ from your prospects.

But doing so requires nerve-wracking efforts.

You can choose and customize from the above 4 templates shared above or create a template from scratch by distilling these strategies.

Ready to buckle up your appointment scheduling? Start a free trial with 3veta.

The post How to Book Appointments Using LinkedIn [+ 4 Templates] appeared first on 3veta.

Let’s be honest: cracking the code of converting prospects during virtual sales meetings is not easy.

In fact, a survey conducted by Rain Group confirms that 91% of sales reps find it challenging to gain а buyer’s attention and keep buyer engagement virtually.

A good sales manager knows the strengths and weaknesses of their sales team.

And to be a great remote sales manager, you need to know how to get the most out of your sales team.

In this article, we’ll teach you the exact virtual sales ideas and techniques that our sales team at 3veta has applied to enable the growth of our remote-first company.

6 virtual sales meeting activities to grow your company’s revenue

Imagine each sales rep has a target of closing 50 new prospects per month and only 60% of your sales team meets the target.

The results are shocking.

This is a big problem when your monthly goal is to get 250 new customers. Out of 5 sales reps, 3 are closing only 30 prospects.

If you do your maths right, the sales reps, in this scenario, close 190 prospects. Clearly, your sales team is not able to meet the set monthly target you have set. And it’s leading to a bigger problem—reduced revenue flow.

As a remote sales manager, you need to find a solution. Execute these six virtual sales meeting ideas in your team discussions.

Make sales reps contribute

The bigger problem with your sales team: they are focusing on hitting the targets without educating themselves on how to meet these targets.

This happens because of a lack of information on how to do it. So, feed the sales reps with relevant information to find new ways of selling while working from home.

When you enable your sales team to come up with innovative ideas, they are making efforts to improve their ongoing performance and increase the chances of converting the prospects virtually.

A simple way to get started: come up with the concept during an online team meeting, ask the sales reps to come up with a few ideas, and give feedback.

Here are a few ways to suggest ideas:

• Initiate a brainstorming session and share your input—e.g., “how to make prospecting emails engaging”
• Ask them to do their research and come up with resources and then discuss the discovered strategies—e.g., a case study that reflects actionable selling strategies
• Ask your sales teams to research and create templates to improve their virtual selling skills, discuss them and collect feedback to finalize them—e.g., taking inspiration from bigger brands like Hubspot to create a sales meeting playbook to close more deals

Involve the sales reps in your sales process

Involving your virtual sales team in the entire process—from pre-sales to client onboarding—motivates them to work.

It’s important for sales reps to see the practical work in action—they’ll learn prompt ways to improve their skills and understand the loopholes in their virtual selling process.

This also instigates a sense of ownership in your sales reps in every task they perform.

Here are two approaches to achieve this:

Approach 1: Let your reps lead a section of the team meeting every week

Assign your sales reps one task every meeting. For example:

• Meeting 1, Member 1 – share their week’s best deal.
• Meeting 2, Member 2 – give an update on the sales pipeline.
• Meeting 3, Member 3 – share one strategy they learned.

Approach 2: Assign problems in groups and seek solutions

Divide your sales teams into smaller groups and assign every group a specific problem/idea to discuss. Ask them to brainstorm and share their solutions, and give detailed feedback.

Use 3veta’s breakout rooms to allow your sales reps (in groups) to brainstorm and discuss the solution.

Once each group is done with the brainstorming session, ask them to present their ideas in the meeting room and give feedback.

Lead teams with inclusive decisions

Incorporating new ideas from your sales reps is the foundation of an inclusive environment. 48% of senior executives strongly agree that diversity and inclusivity in a company’s workforce are crucial to innovation.

Here’s how you can make inclusive decisions involving your sales team:

Approach 1: Ask your team to note down their ideas

When you assign a topic, allow your reps to jot down their ideas on sticky pads. Once done, let them share their ideas with the team.

Note the similarities between your team members’ answers and translate them into a cohesive solution.

Approach 2: Encourage a vote

Your team members may have different opinions on the new idea or strategy you shared. So, how can you deal with this?

Your best option: Create a poll and ask your sales reps to vote. Give your team 4 to 5 options to choose from.

When you conduct an online meeting with your sales team with 3veta, you’ll see the option to create a poll and share it with your team members to take their vote.

How to do it: start the video call with 3veta → open the chat box → click on Polls → select create a poll → enter the question and options → click on Send.

Have sales roleplays

A sales roleplay helps your reps learn and practice sales enablement content and prepare for unexpected meeting situations.

When you enact the sales conversations during such situations, your sales team watches the experience in action and learns on the go. With every play, you allow your sales reps to learn new skills and implement them in online sales meetings.

For example, Toolfetch shares a tweet where their CEO consistently dedicates an hour to roleplays with their sales team.

Here’s how you can do roleplays with your sales team:

Step #1: Enact pitches

Show sales reps how to deal with argumentative prospects and advance the conversation by enacting a scenario with a fellow sales leader or team member.

Once you deliver the pitch, ask your sales reps to share what they’ve learned and feedback.

Step #2: Assign roleplays to your team

Divide your sales reps into teams of 2 and assign each team a scenario to enact.

When they enact the pitch, listen to their conversation and take notes to give them feedback later.

Step #3: Ask the reps to share scary sales stories

Invite your sales reps to share their scary experiences with prospects. Listen to their stories and then share a tip or two on what they could have done better. This does two things:

• Your reps will know what exactly can go wrong in prospect meetings, and
• Your sales team will learn how to deal with similar situations.

Invite subject matter experts to share expertise

Your sales reps know about the product very well, no doubt.

But they might not be well-versed in different industries.

That’s where inviting subject matter experts to share their knowledge with your sales team comes in.

With insights from SMEs, your sales team can seal the deal with the right tactics and subject intelligence required to convince the prospect.

For example, you sell a mental health tracker, and the sales team knows how it helps people keep their mental health in check. But they might not know the science behind mental health monitoring and why it should not be ignored

That’s where healthcare SMEs come in.

They can share their knowledge on mental health and illnesses, which helps the sales reps address the exact pain points of their prospects with your product.

Provide support and training

Your sales team needs continuous upskilling to keep up with the existing trends and evolving prospect demands.

To help them achieve this, ensure they have learning arsenals.

Three ways to do this:

• schedule monthly online training—e.g., webinars, SME sessions, and virtual ride-along
• provide training material—e.g., sales enablement content, books, courses
• sponsor courses—pay for the courses and training your reps are interested in

Take a peek at this LinkedIn post by Geoffrey B., the CEO, and owner of Reflex Mediagroup who sponsored a MasterClass training to help his sales reps upskill. The best part: he attends the training with his team.

While providing continuous training sessions helps your sales team upskill, they still need your support and motivation to perform well.

Keep checking on your virtual team members to understand their challenges and provide feedback so they stay motivated and scale their performance throughout their journey with your organization.

3 virtual selling best practices from experts

Here are three best practices that experts preach and your sales team can use next time they go virtual to conduct a meeting with the prospect.

Send virtual sales meeting agenda

A virtual sales meeting agenda keeps the sales rep and the prospect on track with clear expectations.

Sam Feldotto, Chief Revenue Officer at SalesHive, has shared how impactful sending a meeting agenda can be:

“The most impactful change we’ve made as a Sales team has been to set a basic agenda for the meeting, include it on the calendar invite, and send a confirmation email to the prospect the morning of the meeting reminding them of the agenda.”

By making these simple changes to their sales strategy, Sam notes, “Our show rate for meetings increased by 20%, which has converted to significantly more opportunities for our sales team and has been a major contributing factor to our 60% growth in new business revenue.”

Record the sales meetings

Recording a sales meeting allows your sales team to:

• refer to the meeting to take notes
• review prospect concerns and use them in future conversations
• improve communication skills
• find out ways to improve the next meeting

Cayla Thurman, the Business Reputation Consultant at Rize Reviews, agrees on the importance of recording and reviewing the sales meetings too:

“One routine to get more beneficial at conducting virtual sales meetings is to record yourself and then review the tape.

By studying your arrangement after every virtual sales meeting, you can continuously find paths to make the following one sufficiently.”

Most sales teams rely on Zoom for conducting sales meetings, but there’s a drawback—it doesn’t let you download the recorded meeting and review it later.

When sales reps conduct and record a video meeting with 3veta, the meeting is automatically transcribed. And they have two options: to download the recording directly to their PC and save the recording on the cloud.

Conduct prospect research

Before you get on a virtual sales call with your prospect, it’s important to know the ins and outs of their company, and the pain points they are struggling with, and then offer them the right solution with your offer.

Sales Readiness Group CEO Ray Makela emphasizes the importance of prospect research and how it contributes to relationship building too.

He says, “I think the age-old relationship building, rapport building, really doing our research and understanding that person and the organization and making that connection, finding a way that we can demonstrate our expertise and show trust.”

Some best practices to conduct prospect research:

• Check out their company website and study their products and offerings
• Go through their company’s social channels and find more information about their brand and achievements
• Check the prospect’s social media accounts—LinkedIn and Twitter to know them better

What’s one mistake you should avoid while doing a virtual sales meeting?

Simple answer: focusing on creating presentations.

Virtual sellers prioritize presentations so much that they forget the importance of the natural conversation required to make a decision. Even the prospect gets distracted by the heavy animations and visuals.

Result: the primary goal of the meeting is sidelined.

So, to avoid this blunder and use presentations effectively:

• Showcase what you want to explain—use a whiteboard for illustration or show the product in action
• Keep your presentations minimal

How to follow up virtually after your sales meeting?

The art of following up with your prospects is a must-have virtual meeting etiquette.

In fact, 80% of sales need 5 follow-ups, and 60% of people reject your pitch 4 times before signing up for your product or service.

Approach 1: Share meeting notes with your prospect

Review the recorded meeting and highlight the prospect’s exact words they used during the meeting. and use them to make a point (position your solution).

Approach 2: Add a clip of the meeting to the email

Use the recording to create a bite-sized video that captures meeting highlights. And in your follow-up email, say:

“Joe, We had a great conversation. Our discussion touched on these three points, and I look forward to sending you the proposal tomorrow.”

Conduct virtual sales meetings with a bang!

The “perfect ingredient” to spice up your virtual sales meeting is a balanced combination of selling skills and using technology.

Your selling skills set the stage, and the right technology—the virtual meeting platform—helps you close the deal.

So, invest in a platform that aids you throughout your sales cycle—from sending a prospecting mail to onboarding a client.

And what better than 3veta to smash your sales goals?! Sign up for a free trial today.

The post Virtual Sales Meetings: 6 Ways to Train Your Sales Teams to Grow Revenue appeared first on 3veta.

“Appointment scheduling is more important than many other factors!”

No matter what kind of business you’re running, your daily routine and meetings must be planned effectively.

Otherwise, your clients, “the heart of your business,” will be miserably ignored or left alone while you’re working on another critical task like hiring employees or running a social media marketing campaign.

Let’s dive in and see why appointment scheduling software is essential for your business.

How can appointment scheduling software improve your business’s performance?

Appointment scheduling software allows business owners to manage bookings and online meetings with much less frustration.

You can also track upcoming meetings, send notifications to customers, schedule appointments on your own booking page, and share meeting details with employees and clients in one go.

Let’s have a look at some of the biggest benefits of appointment scheduling tools:

Allows you to manage everything like a pro

Booking appointments via traditional scheduling is a daunting task.

Businesses need to hire a specialized team to take care of the whole process. From checking the vacant slots to assigning slots to the clients and from sending reminder messages to managing customer calls, the team has to handle everything!

Still, there is a good chance you will lose customers who have been waiting for your callback for many days.

A traditional scheduling system can slow down your pace and ruin your profits, which in turn can adversely impact your online reviews, SEO, and other important factors.

On the other hand, with online scheduling software, you can manage everything without hiring a team of experts.

Further, automated scheduling allows you to get booked on weekends while your team is enjoying their free time.

Elevates your sales and boosts customer retention

The more happy customers, the more sales!

Research conducted by GetApp proved that 60% of consumers like to schedule bookings online. This means your potential clients might also be using online scheduling for the same purpose.

Image source

Online scheduling plays a vital role in building good customer relationships.

In other words, such automated meeting management software can increase your retention rate and online sales!

Furthermore, having online scheduling software for booking appointments can help you stand out in the market.

Reason being that not all of your competitors might be using scheduling tools.

This would signal to your audience that you’re going above and beyond to deliver top-notch services to your customers.

Promotes data-driven decision-making via insights

The best part of having an online booking option is that it offers detailed insights into your customers.

This helps you discover your clients’ most popular booking hours. Plus, it also provides data regarding customers’ rescheduling behavior, preferences, and dislikes, allowing you to make smarter decisions to improve your business.

You can gather customer insights from the online scheduling tool to:

• Develop new strategies that work well for your clients
• Choose what type of additional services can advance your business
• Send marketing emails to specific potential customers
• Learn which services need an update by observing the clients’ behavior

Takes customer satisfaction to the next level

Customers are the backbone of every business, and so are yours!

Not keeping them happy means killing your sales.

Using online scheduling is the most amazing way of letting your customers know that you care for them and that you’re always available for them no matter what time or day.

Research proves that 89% of customers return for another purchase or service from the same company if they had an excellent first experience.

So, make every possible effort to make your clients’ experience memorable.

With automated scheduling, your customers can:

• Book online meetings on the go
• Look at the available slots and pick the slot that suits them the best
• Reschedule without endless back-and-forth calls
• Save a lot of time and effort

Tempts the audience to sign a deal with you

You’ll be amazed to hear that 90% of the clients are more likely to buy services from a business that has an online scheduling tool on their websites or mobile applications.

Image source

Having an automatic online scheduler can attract your potential customers and further tempt them to buy your services regardless if you run a sales consulting business, offer chess coaching services, or have an online tutoring website!

Saves money and improves business efficiency

Booking appointments via calls demands a lot of time, effort, and paperwork.

This increases the cost and the chances of errors, i.e., double bookings.

On the other hand, online scheduling software cuts down costs and requires no paperwork and a telephone system.

Furthermore, appointment scheduling can increase your cash flow.

The payment functionality of scheduling tools allows you to collect payments during the booking process.

Customer satisfaction is also improved as the clients don’t have to walk through the different processes again and again just to schedule one meeting.

Increases employee performance

Another great benefit of online scheduling is that it boosts employee productivity. Hence, helping your remote team focus more on important tasks rather than writing appointment dates by hand, sending reminder notifications to each customer, and so on.

This is why businesses should focus on developing a perfect virtual scheduling system. Especially if they have got international remote employees on board and want to create a productive online workplace.

The automated online scheduling system allows all employees to keep track of upcoming events and appointments on one platform.

Ultimately, helping you easily manage your remote sales and marketing teams.

Reduces “no-show” risks

The no-show clients can reduce your sales and directly attack your business’s performance.

You can’t restore the time you spend scheduling meetings with such customers. Plus, you won’t miraculously receive the final payment you waited for days.

In short, all your efforts spent on no-show clients would go down the drain!

So, why don’t you send reminders to these clients?

Well, 3veta has a built-in automatic notification feature that can help you send pop-up reminder notifications to customers – one 24 hours before the meeting and another one 1 hour before the meeting.

Sending reminders will also help you reduce appointment cancellations.

Wrapping up

Appointment scheduling tools have the power to manage meetings, bookings, and appointments very effectively.

Remember, customers are the soul of your business, and without taking good care of them, you’ll probably end up with poor sales!

So, consider picking up good appointment schedule software that offers personalized calendars and many customizing options.

With 3veta, you can increase your team’s performance and satisfy the customers’ needs by offering them the best available user experience. Start your free trial today.

The post 8 Ways Appointment Scheduling Tools Can Level Up Your Virtual Business appeared first on 3veta.

And while the primary driver of remote work setups’ recent rise has been attributed to necessary health and safety measures, a majority of these professionals just really prefer the remote setup.

The reason for this growth is simple: advances in technology have made it easier for employees to stay connected with their colleagues and bosses no matter where they are in the world.

This flexibility is one of the key benefits of working in a virtual office.

It’s more important than ever for organizations and remote team managers to cultivate a sense of community in their remote teams.

And the best way to do so is by making sure that everyone in the team feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas with their colleagues. It also means creating an environment where people feel free to ask questions and give and receive feedback.

11 ways to cultivate a welcoming culture in a remote team

Whether you’re an enterprise executive, small business owner, or remote team manager, you need to maintain a welcoming culture within your virtual work environment in order to keep your team(s) happy and productive.

Now, let’s find out what are the best ways to achieve this.

Provide hybrid work options

Basically, what this means is that you give your employees the option to work from home or come into the office, depending on their preference.

This way, they can still feel like they are part of the team even if they’re not in the same physical space.

If your organization already operates a physical office in the same state (or city) where most of your employees are located, it’ll be relatively easy to set up a hybrid work schedule.

In case your organization is fully remote, make sure you often schedule in-person or virtual team-building.

Co-working spaces are also an option to consider if you want to give your team a place to work together outside of their homes.

Focus on employee mental health and well-being

When you manage a hybrid or remote team, it can be difficult to tell when an employee is struggling.

Therefore, it’s important to make sure that you’re focusing on their mental health and well-being.

Make sure that you check in with them regularly and offer resources that can help them if they’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

It’s also important to create a safe space for employees to talk about their mental health.

There has been an increase in the number of organizations that are focused on employee mental health and well-being, primarily driven by the increasing awareness of its importance.

As a result, there are now more resources available to help employers create a mentally healthy workplace as they continue to work from home.

Evaluate if “bossware” is needed for your remote team

“Bossware” is a term used to describe software that allows employers to track their employees’ work on their computers.

While this might be helpful for some organizations, it can also create an environment of mistrust and make employees feel like they are being monitored all the time.

If you’re considering using bossware, take the time to evaluate if it’s really necessary and if it’s something that will benefit your team.

Furthermore, make sure to communicate the reasons why you’re doing it and what the benefits are for your team. This way, your employees will be more likely to accept it.

Send an organization starter kit

When an employee starts at a new organization, they usually receive a welcome kit that has all the information they need to know about the company.

However, when you have a remote team, it can be difficult to send out these kits.

Being difficult doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t send them. On the contrary, sending an organization starter kit to every new employee can make them feel like they’re a part of the team from the very beginning.

Your organization starter kit should include:

• An introduction to the company and its culture
• A list of the company’s values
• A welcome note from the CEO or another senior leader
• A list of relevant resources (e.g., the company website, intranet, etc.)
• A list of contacts (e.g., HR, IT, etc.)
• A small welcome gift (e.g. T-shirt, notepad, mug, etc.)

Mailing out an organization starter kit is a great way to make every new remote employee feel welcome, so make it count.

Schedule regular online meetings

When you have a remote team, it can be difficult to stay in touch with everyone.

But remember that it’s important to schedule regular online meetings. This way, employees can still feel connected to the team and stay up to date on what they need to be aware of (deliverables, project scopes, and meeting resolutions).

When scheduling online meetings, make sure to:

• Schedule online meetings during office hours so that everyone can attend
• Send out a meeting agenda in advance so that everyone knows what will be discussed
• Make sure that the meetings are focused and relevant to everyone who is attending

Hold debriefing sessions after projects

When a project comes to an end, it’s important to hold debriefing sessions.

Debriefing sessions offer an opportunity for employees to give feedback and suggestions on how the team can work more effectively together in the future.

When holding debriefing sessions, make sure to:

• Schedule them soon after the project has ended
• Invite all employees who worked on the project
• Lead the session with questions that encourage reflection and feedback
• Encourage employees to be honest and open with their feedback

Also consider how remote debriefing sessions can also be accompanied by virtual drinks, some snacks, and socializing to build team morale.

Empower self-paced working habits

When you have a remote team, it’s important to empower self-paced working habits. This way, employees can work at their own pace and still be productive.

There are a few things you can do to empower self-paced working habits:

• Offer flexible working hours
• Encourage employees to take breaks
• Allow employees to work from home
• Provide opportunities for continuous learning and development

Allowing employees to work at their own pace is a great way to promote productivity.

It also shows that you trust your employees to get the job done.

What this does to your office culture is that it builds a more trusting environment for employees to feel like they can openly communicate with their team and not feel micromanaged.

Assign a mentor or peer relationships

Having a mentor or peer relationship allows remote employees to feel connected to the team and have someone to turn to when they need help or advice.

Mentor relationships are helpful for newer employees as they can learn from more experienced colleagues. Meanwhile, peer relationships are helpful for employees who are at the same level and can freely offer support and advice to each other.

When assigning a mentor or peer relationships, make sure to pair people who have complementary skillsets and personalities. This way, they can help each other grow and develop professionally.

Here are some easy ways to gauge if an employee can benefit from a remote mentorship or peer-to-peer working relationship:

• Do they seem to be struggling with the transition to a remote work environment?
• Do they seem isolated from the rest of the team?
• Do they have difficulty communicating or collaborating with others?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then assigning a mentor or peer relationship can help the employee feel more connected to the team and improve their overall work experience.

Engage your team via social media platforms

When you have a remote team, it’s important to engage them via social media platforms. This helps most remote employees feel like they’re a real part of the team.

When engaging your team via social media, make sure to:

• Post updates often
• Encourage employees to like, comment, and share
• Make sure the content is relevant and engaging
• Use hashtags to promote team morale
• Don’t make it just about work

Let me emphasize that last point – it’s imperative for your organization to completely distance work matters from your social media engagement initiatives.

Social media should be a fun platform for team members to connect with each other on a personal level.

This will help build team morale and make everyone feel like they’re part of a workplace community that is more than just transactional.

As an organization, you can hold social media contests and challenges, or even have weekly themes to make things more interesting.

There are various social media management strategies that can help you keep your remote team enthusiastic about being part of the organization.

Here’s an example of how to do this via Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform with nearly three billion users:

1. Create a Facebook group for your team and have everyone join and be a member.

2. Each week, post a question or topic related to the theme of the week.

3. For example, if the theme is “Movies,” you can post a question like, “What’s your favorite movie and why?”

4. Encourage employees to answer the question and engage in discussion with each other.

5. Make sure to Like and comment on each employee’s answer.

6. Provide a prize for the employee with the most likes on their answer.

This is just one example of how you can use social media to engage your team. There are endless possibilities and it’s up to you to get creative!

Enable quality work with the necessary tools and equipment

If you want your remote team to be productive, you need to give them the right remote tools for the job. This assures you that your employees are equipped to do their best work, and feel like they have what they need to be successful.

There are a few things you can do to enable quality remote work at home:

• Make sure each employee has the necessary tools and equipment
• Encourage employees to use the best tools and equipment
• Make sure the tools and equipment are top quality
• Provide a budget for employees to purchase the necessary tools and equipment

Ensuring that each employee has the necessary tools and equipment not only promotes productivity but also shows them that they are supported and trusted by the organization.

Nurture your remote team starting from day one

When you have a remote team, it’s important to nurture your team starting from day one.

Here are a few things you can do to nurture your team:

• Make sure each employee feels welcomed
• Get to know each employee on a personal level
• Encourage employees to get to know each other on a personal level
• Make sure everyone feels like they belong

Wanting to uplift team morale for remote teams begins at the very start – even before new employees are onboarded.

It all starts with the culture of the organization; the desire to nurture, cultivate, and grow a team designed for success should already be there the first day remote employees step inside your digital workplace.

Making your remote employees feel welcome doesn’t have to be stressful

Building a remote team is no easy feat.

It takes time, effort, and a lot of patience.

But it’s worth it when you see your team come together and work towards a common goal.

Now that you’ve read our tips on how to create a culture of openness and welcome in a virtual workplace, it’s time to start putting them into action.

3veta provides the perfect platform for companies who want to embrace remote work and cultivate strong company culture. With our free trial, you can get started right away and see the benefits for yourself.

So, what are you waiting for? Start your free trial today!

The post 11 Tips to Make Everyone Feel Welcome in a Virtual Workplace appeared first on 3veta.

Because we’re a remote-first company, not only can everyone in the world work for us, as long as they have a stable internet connection, but we’ve also closed deals with clients who are based on different continents.

All of this became possible with sales video calls.

That said, if you’re not used to using them or haven’t had much success with them, it can be tough to know where to start.

In this blog post, we’ll give you some tips on how to make the most of your sales video calls and improve your sales performance.

What is a sales video call?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to use sales video calls more effectively, let’s quickly go over what they are and why you should be using them.

A sales video call is a meeting between a lead or a prospect and a salesperson that takes place over video conferencing software. The purpose of these calls is to build relationships, establish trust, and eventually close deals.

Nevertheless, it’s not easy to get to that point.

In order to close a deal, you need to first establish a good rapport with the prospect, understand their needs, and offer a solution that meets those needs.

This is where most salespeople struggle.

However, if you use sales video calls correctly, they can be a powerful tool for your sales team and help you close more deals.

What are the benefits of sales video calls?

Sales video calls are an excellent way to connect with prospects and increase B2B sales.

They’re promptly equating in-person meetings with prospects, in fact, in a recent McKinsey study, around 60% of salespeople say that they get the same value via video conferencing as they do from in-person meetings.

That said, sales video calls offer many other benefits, including:

Ease of use

Sales video calls are easy to use when you’re working remotely.

Your sales call can connect with customers all around the world in minutes. We can attest to this since 99% of our onboarding happens via video calls and not actual in-person meetings.

Convenience

Sales video calls are convenient for both parties.

Imagine being able to meet with a customer without having to leave your office or home. Video calls make this possible.

Increased sales

Close rates have increased for over 50% of salespeople who use video as part of their sales cycle.

Video calls help build relationships and establish trust, both of which are essential for closing deals.

Reduced costs

Sales video calls can save your company money.

They eliminate the need for travel and/or recurring commutes, costly business lunches, and all other associated expenses.

5 tips to improve your close rate with sales video calls

Now that you know how to set up a sales video call, let’s dive into some tips that will help you and your sales team improve your success rate.

Tip 1. Get to know your audience

The first step is to get to know your audience.

What are their needs? What are their pain points? What are their goals?

You need to understand your audience and their pain points before you can offer them a solution.

The best way to do this is to research them thoroughly.

If you’re in the B2B sector, you can use LinkedIn to research your prospects.

Look at their profile, see what kind of work they do, and try to understand their needs.

If you’re a B2C company though, you can use social media to research your prospects.

See what they’re talking about, and what they’re interested in, and try to understand their needs.

Tip 2. Use an engaging opener

Once you know who your audience is and what their needs are, it’s time to start your video call.

The first few seconds are crucial.

This is the first “M” of what Forbes calls “The 3 Ms technique”: Magnetic, Mesmerizing, and Memorable.

You need to make a good first impression and engage your prospect right from the beginning.

The best way to do this is with an engaging opener.

Your opener should be something that captures your prospect’s attention and makes them want to hear more.

It could be a question, an interesting fact, or anything else that can pique their interest.

If you’re selling a new type of software, you could open with a question like: “Do you know what the number one reason businesses fail is?”

With this question, you’re trying to get to the fact that most businesses fail because they don’t have the right tools.

This will get your prospect’s attention and make them want to know more about what you have to say.

You can then follow up with how your software can help them avoid this and achieve success.

Tip 3: Build rapport

The next step is to build rapport.

This is where video calls have a big advantage over phone sales calls.

On a video call, you can see the person you’re talking to. This makes it much easier to build rapport than on a phone call.

There are a few things you can do to build rapport on a video call:

• Use their name(s): Many pieces of research have shown that using someone’s name is one of the best ways to build rapport. It makes the person feel special and appreciated.
• Smile: Yes, it seems quite obvious, but smiling is another great way to build rapport. It makes you come out as friendly and approachable. Qualities that everyone looks for in any salesperson.
• Make eye contact: Though this is a video call we’re talking about, making eye contact is still very much crucial in the conversation. Keep that camera on you and make sure you’re looking into it as often as you can as if you would the person’s eyes.
• Listen to them: Active listening is key in any conversation and one of the best practices in video conferencing. People can start talking over each other very easily on video calls, so make sure you’re really listening to what the other person is saying.

Tip 4: Find common ground

Finding common ground is another great way to build rapport.

To find common ground, you need to look for something that you have in common with your prospect.

It could be something as simple as “We’re both from the same city” or “We both went to the same school.”

In this case, instead of hard selling your product or discussing payment right away, you let your prospect talk about themself, something that all human beings love!

Once you’ve found something in common, you can use it to start building rapport.

For example, if you’re both from the same city, mention how you know the best places to eat there.

This will turn into friendly banter and make the prospect feel more comfortable with you.

When you’ve found common ground, you can use it to transition into the selling part of the call.

For example, you can say something like “Since we’re both from the same city, I’m sure you know how tough it is to find a good job there.

That’s why I’m excited to tell you about the new software I’ve been using to help people find jobs.”

Tip 5: Overcome objections

The last tip is to overcome objections. This is one of the most important skills you can have as a salesperson and something you need to communicate with your sales team.

There are two types of objections:

• When the prospect doesn’t want to buy your product or service.
• When they do want to buy but have a specific concern that’s holding them back.

For instance, going back to the new software example, a common objection would be “I don’t have time to learn a new software.”

To overcome this objection, you need to address it head-on.

In this case, show the prospect how your software either doesn’t need that much time to learn or how it will save them time in the long run

You can also overcome objections by offering solutions that address the prospect’s specific needs and make them feel special.

For example, if the objection is “I don’t have enough money,” you could offer a payment plan because they joined your call today.

This will have your audience feeling like they’re getting a deal that’s too good to pass up.

Conclusion

When it comes to video calls for sales, the key is to be prepared and use every opportunity to build rapport with your leads.

Sales video calls can be an extremely effective way to increase sales, but only if they’re done well.

That said, always remember to ask for feedback and continue to improve your sales skills. The more you practice, the better you’ll become!

And in case you are wondering how to reduce no-show appointments, have a look at this article.

The post Sales Video Calls: 5 Best Practices to Improve Your Performance appeared first on 3veta.

It’s Tuesday morning. You’re sitting beside your laptop with your formals on. 10 minutes later, you open the browser and start typing “how to reduce no-shows appointments.”

Backdrop: You scheduled a sales call with a prospect. You did your research and prepared for the call. But your prospect didn’t show up.

Situations like these make you feel terrible—all your time that went into preparing for the appointment is wasted. And if this happens to you multiple times in a row, you resort to self-doubt and start searching for answers.

But guess what?

You can break the no-show loop with the 4 proven ways we curated for you.

What are the different situations where you are likely to face no-shows?

While no-shows can be observed in every industry and business model, you’ll find them prevalent in sales, consulting, coaching, and telehealth, to name a few. It’s because meetings are at the core of these businesses.

Though, you must have experienced mostly three no-show situations:

• Client no-show: you schedule a meeting with an existing client—maybe for a project discussion, progress report, or feedback—but they don’t show up.
• Demo no-show: you schedule a product demo with a potential customer to help them understand your product better, but they miss the meeting.
• Sales call no-show: when you schedule a sales call with a qualified lead to introduce your product or service, but they don’t attend the call.

4 ways how to reduce no-show appointments

A study revealed that 56% of sales no-shows occurred because the prospects were “overwhelmed by internal events.” Some other reasons were:

• invited to another meeting (10%)
• stuck into an emergency (6%)
• faced technical issues (5.2%)

So, to prevent these no-shows from creeping into your sales call strategy, treat the root cause. Let’s see how.

Limit the days of meeting

Your prospects will likely lose interest in the meeting if you keep a long gap between the initial conversation and the call.

Why? Because prospects usually respond within 1 to 2 days to demo/call requests. And, if you schedule the meeting beyond the first week of your interaction—they lose curiosity.

Here’s how you can decide the time frame to keep them interested.

• Inbound leads: schedule a call within 2-3 days because they are the ones to knock on your doors and are unlikely to miss the meeting.
• Outbound leads: schedule a call within 5 days because you reached out to them, and they need time to nurture.

Why this works: The prospects feel a sense of urgency when the time frame window is open for a limited duration. Result: they don’t have second thoughts while scheduling the call.

Also read: 10 Schedule Coordination Tips for Remote and Hybrid Teams

Send the high-level meeting agenda

A meeting agenda puts you and the prospect in a timebox—both parties know what to expect from each other in a particular time frame.

This piques the prospect’s interest, and they look forward to the call.

So share a bulleted meeting agenda with your prospects with the meeting invite (or a separate email), including the following points.

Prospect’s challenges

What is your prospect’s biggest challenge?

Emphasize the pain points your product or service addresses in the meeting.

Talking points

Share your talking points—what will you discuss in the meeting?

Here’s how Dooly sent a detailed meeting agenda to their prospect.

Source

Why this works: While Ronald shares his list of talking points, he asks the prospect to email his expectations from the demo call, leaving a blank space at the end.

The flow of the meeting

Specify how you’ll transition from one talking point to another with proper time slots. It ensures your prospect you have a fixed schedule in place and won’t take extra time.

Here’s an example.

Source

Next steps

After the meeting, should they book:

• another meeting with you to discuss this further, or
• a free trial of your product

Clarify your expectations, so they know where they are headed after the call.

Onboarding details

Share onboarding details upfront because it reflects your confidence in your product/service. These details include:

• Sign-up process
• Welcome email
• Login and password management
• Integration support
• Product walkthrough

Follow up instantly

If the prospect doesn’t come to the meeting within 5 minutes, follow up with them on the platform you last interacted.

In your follow-up message, mention how long you’ll wait for them and offer them an option to reschedule.

Aastha Duggal, a freelance social media manager for eCommerce brands like Userinput.io, preaches the same.

Also read: How to Effectively Schedule Appointments: A Step-By-Step Guide for Business Owners

Send email and text reminders

To add an additional layer to your question “how to reduce no-show appointments”—send appointment reminders.

Why? If a prospect has scheduled a meeting far before the first conversation, they will likely forget about it. But sending reminders keeps them informed of the meeting.

Usually, two reminders—one 24 hours and the other 1 hour before the meeting—do the job well.

• 24 hours before the meeting: This reminds prospects of the meeting, increasing their show rate.
• 1 hour before the meeting: This informs them of the meeting and urges them to prepare for it.

People use emails daily for most of their business communication. So, it’s likely they’ll check the appointment reminders first over this channel.

You can send these reminders manually, but you shouldn’t. Here’s why:

• What if you forget to send the reminder, even after marking the date on your calendar?
• You probably have 3+ meetings scheduled weekly, so how many prospects would you send reminders to each day?
• Wouldn’t it be irritating to leave the task at hand to write and send these reminders?

Your best option is to automate the process.

Also read: How Small Business Scheduling Software Can Help You Thrive

Create a no-show appointment policy

A no-show appointment policy is a set of guidelines that signing parties (you and the prospect) must follow if they fail to attend a scheduled appointment.

It assures you and the prospect that necessary steps will be followed if either of you fails to attend the meeting, reducing no-show rates.

Here’s how to outline a no-show appointment policy for you and the prospect.

If the salesperson doesn’t show up, mention how you’ll cover up for the delay.

For example, Give a 20-50% discount on your product subscription for a limited time frame.

If the prospect doesn’t show up, mention:

• the time frame beyond which they can’t cancel the meeting
• if there’s an option to reschedule the meeting (consider sickness and emergencies while adding this clause)
• the no-show appointment fee if they don’t show up at the rescheduled meeting either.

Here’s how you can set up the fees for no-show appointments:

Ask for a fixed amount of payment

Take the payment upfront when the prospect schedules the appointment ($100, for example). If it’s a no-show, keep the appointment fee and refund the rest.

Set up paid meetings

Make your appointments paid. Keep these appointments open to all the prospects—qualifies highly interested prospects and saves time.

3veta lets you book paid appointments and allows you to refund the amount partially or fully based on the no-show appointment policy.

What to say to no-show clients and prospects after a missed meeting

So now you know how to reduce no-show appointments. But, there are still chances you you get a no-show.

In such scenarios, you must know how to respond to these prospects.

We have been through similar no-show appointment situations and have spent ample time writing the right messages to prospects.

Steal our templates to refer them whenever you are confused about what to say to your no-show appointment prospects.

Template 1: Demo calls

Hey [Name],

It looks like you were not able to make it. If it was a mistake, feel free to schedule another call here: [Your calendar link with 2-3 time slots open within a specific timeframe.]

You can also email us at [email ID], check our help center, and watch tutorials on our YouTube channel.

Thanks,

[Your name]

Why it works: This allows the prospects to make up for their first no-show by giving them another yet last chance to reschedule.

Template 2: Client onboarding

Hey [Name],

Will you make it to the meeting today? If not, is there a better time we can meet?

Let me know, and I will reschedule for your proposed time.

Thanks,

[Your name]

Why it works: This helps you know in advance if the prospect will make it to the meeting to save you time and avoid a no-show.

Template 3: Feedback from an existing customer

Hey [Name],

Hope you are doing great.

We missed you on the call today. But we understand you must be busy.

The reason we scheduled this call is [state the reason for the call + its benefit to your customer + its importance for your company].

We would urge you to reschedule the meeting and share your concerns with us. Attached is the calendar link with available time slots. Please, book a call at your preferred time.

Thanks,

[Your name]

Why it works: This response shows empathy and shares the agenda of the call to help the prospect understand everything that would go into the call and encourage them to reschedule.

Break the no-show loop

Asking yourself how to reduce no-show appointments is always a bummer.

Make them intentional—send detailed agenda along with your email and text appointment reminders. Follow up and offer instant rescheduling to avoid wasting time over no-shows.

3veta lets you schedule meetings, send email appointment reminders, and instant rescheduling—everything that saves you from no-shows. Sign up for the free trial.

The post How to Reduce No-show Appointments: 4 Ways to Improve Show Rates appeared first on 3veta.