5 Ways To Keep Your Digital Sales Team In The Loop About Major Business Process Updates

For your digital sales team to thrive, you need to keep them in the loop about everything that’s going on within the business. Any major process updates need to be addressed on time, to allow your staff to prepare and make the necessary adjustments to the way they work. 

When you align your sales and your customer service team make sure sales are informed about all the key business details. This way you eliminate a lot of potential errors and can spot any bottlenecks and potential issues on time. This will ensure that all of your employees are working towards the same goal, and more importantly, that they are working together, sharing the load, and exchanging ideas. 

Here are 5 effective ways to keep your digital sales team informed about your major business process updates.

Write Each Process Update Down 

Every business needs to have a written record of all of its processes, with details of every task involved. The purpose of this document is to improve efficiency and effectiveness, reduce human error, and improve overall productivity. 

If you have not yet taken the time to write out your business processes – now is the time to do so. Be as clear and succinct as possible, and store your files in the cloud, where they can be accessed remotely at all times. 

Having a process documentation database ensures your staff work in the same way, and eliminates a lot of doubt. Whenever an employee is unsure of what to do next, they can simply refer back to the database. 

Don’t forget to regularly update your process files, even for the tiniest tweaks. An out-of-date process file can quickly impact both; productivity and sales results. 

Send Email or Video Updates 

When you need to share a major process update, always send out an official email to all members of your digital sales team. Mark the email as important (ideally, establish a specific subject line for these emails), and list all the key information in the email. 

Don’t go too much into detail: highlight the changes and updates, and link out to the process document that provides more details, which your staff can read at their leisure. 

You can also add a video message to these update emails. This way you can explain the most important points, especially if some truly major changes are being implemented. Hearing your voice will help your sales staff retain the information better, and you will be able to explain your key points in more detail – providing further examples or takeaways. 

Hold Regular In-Person Meetings 

The key issue most employees have with regular meetings is the inclusion of monotonous and unnecessary status updates. Instead, make your business process update meetings short and informational. 

Ask your sales team for their opinion. Certain process updates can make their job more difficult, so it’s important to address these roadblocks before you implement them. These kinds of meetings are also one of the best employee engagement strategies you can conduct.

To make these in-person meetings effective and productive, define their clear purpose beforehand, and share the agenda with all attendees. Encourage participation, and eliminate all judgment from the room. 

Don’t schedule in-person meetings unless you need your team to discuss issues. If you only mean to talk to them, do so over a video or in an email. 

Have Daily Virtual Calls 

Daily standups (even if they are virtual) are a great way to share minor updates and exchange news with your sales team. This way, you ensure they stay aware of the bigger picture, and remind them of the latest developments and process updates. 

They also give you the chance to catch up with everyone and impart important information for that particular day. For example, if you’re migrating your business’ website to a cheap dedicated server hosting, the team should know it will be down for the rest of the day. Sharing this kind of information upfront will eliminate unnecessary questions and speed up the process. 

To be the most effective, these meetings need to be no more than 15 minutes long and need to be held at the same time every day. They also need to have a clearly defined purpose and agenda, so don’t let anyone go off on a tangent. If you need to, schedule another call to address that specific issue. 

Use a Chat App on the Go 

You should make sure that you use a chat app for the daily back-and-forth. It will allow you to exchange information quickly and effectively, and it will be documented, so your team can access it later in the day, should they need to. 

However, the chat app should not replace the daily call – it’s merely a way to foster both a team spirit and to provide an avenue for those smaller daily updates that your digital sales team needs to be aware of. 

Don’t share major updates via this channel. Reserve it for more immediate information, and to celebrate your wins or share status updates. Make sure the chat doesn’t get too cluttered as well. 

Create separate channels for sharing different information. Make one of them your emergency broadcast system, where the crucial and immediate news can be shared. Don’t forget to also provide a channel to be used exclusively for chit-chat, as every team needs one, both to let off some steam, and to feel like a part of the community. 

Conclusion 

Communication is the key to sales: not only between customers and your digital sales team but between every single element of your business and your sales staff. Timely and effective communication will not only ensure a less stressful work environment but also provide room for growth.