According to our previous State of Sales report , 60% of people changed their workplace. What was more interesting was that 41% were working from home, more than from any other location.
But those weren't the only changes. People who worked from home were 5 percentage points more likely to work at least one weekend than those who worked from another location.
In Latin America alone, 23 million people were forced to work from home due to the Covid-19 crisis. That means 25% of the region's workforce was teleworking at the height of the crisis. Before the pandemic, that figure was less than 3% .
The problem is that not everyone has been able to balance work and personal life. It was vital to maintain performance and adapt to the new conditions. As a result, many people found themselves having to work at night and on weekends.
What is interesting is that there is almost no difference overseas chinese in uk data between working from home or the office when it comes to performance. This demonstrates the ability of salespeople to adapt to new environments, expectations and needs.
apting to new situations
Focus on results and not on time online
With remote work, bosses began to doubt whether their employees were being honest about the time they spent on their tasks. What was stopping them from lying about it?
Faced with this uncertainty, some bosses asked their employees to always be online. There were even bosses who used programs to spy on members of their remote teams.
More hours worked does not mean more productivity
There is a myth that the more you work, the more you produce. But the reality is that a work culture that prioritizes working hours is less likely to achieve its goals.
Studies show that working long hours does not increase productivity . In fact, working so many hours is detrimental to health. It is worrying that, according to our State of Sales report, 25% of salespeople are working more than 50 hours a week.
Tobi Lutke, CEO of an e-commerce company, says that you don't have to work so many hours a week to be successful . According to Tobi, a company's productivity depends on:
Relationships between colleagues.
A balanced life between work and family.
There are other studies that support Tobi's point of view. For example, Stanford professor John Pencave published an article in 2014 in which he claims that working longer hours does not lead to more productivity.
Erin Reid , a professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, also published a similar study. According to her, managers could not differentiate between employees who worked 80 hours a week and those who pretended to do so.
Employees who work overtime perform less
According to a study by Harvard Business School, predictable time off has a positive effect. Employees are more productive when they know they will have evenings and weekends off.
The good news for sales managers is that with a CRM, it's easy to know whether or not your sales people are meeting their goals. Salespeople have to have meetings and close deals. No matter how much time they spend at the desk to do it.
Set clear goals and communicate expectations clearly
If you want to build trust and avoid over-control, set clear goals. Remote sales teams need to know exactly how their work and performance will be measured. Every sales team member needs to know.