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August 23, 2017

6 Tips for Building a More Collaborative Virtual Team

Big businesses aren’t the only ones benefitting from virtual teams.

Thanks in large part to freelance marketplaces, such as Upwork.com, traditional brick-and-mortars, mom and pops, and startups are now able to rapidly staff up with team members from across the globe.

Although virtual teams offer a number of tangible benefits to your business, they do have their share of distinct challenges. In particular, many companies struggle to create a truly “collaborative” virtual culture.

In this post, we’ll explore a few best practices for using Insightly to boost engagement among your virtual workers.

1. Get Everyone In the Same Place

Emails…group chats…random to-do lists…shared project documents…customer tracking spreadsheets.

Unless instructed otherwise, remote workers have a tendency to spread information across multiple systems and inboxes. Although productivity may seem high, it’s impossible to know for sure. After all, you don’t have time to dig through the many different apps they’re using. Likewise, it would be wasteful to ask each team member to manually cobble together a report. Unfortunately, you’ll just have to assume things are operating smoothly.

Solving this problem requires you to first take control of the situation. Even though your team has your best intentions in mind, reliance on overlapping systems or siloed datasets is no longer going to cut it. You need everyone working from the same system and database.

A system like Insightly can get everyone on the same page. Your sales team can hit the ground running by centralizing all of their customers, leads, and deals. Customer emails, notes, invoices, and quotations are also accessible from any web-enabled device.

Everyone else will love the built-in project and task management functionality. Since each team member has his or her own unique Insightly log in, you can create a greater sense of accountability. Assign due dates, define recurrence patterns, and indicate priority for each task. No more handwritten sticky notes or “forgotten” assignments.

Note: Insightly also allows you to configure teams, letting you assign and manage view permissions in fewer steps.

2. Differentiate Between Projects & Tasks

Some initiatives require more collaboration than others.

For example, rebranding a website involves much greater thought and coordination than scanning a stack of paper documents. Launching a new product line is more complicated than invoicing a client. Some initiatives require multiple iterations, meetings, and collaborators to achieve the greater goal. In other words, not every delegation is as simple as making a one-time request. You therefore need a process for managing the many moving parts.

At the heart of this discussion is the differentiation between “tasks” (individual pieces of work) and “projects” (larger initiatives or desired outcomes). If you’re planning on using Insightly, this terminology is natively built into the application. In fact, you can “link” individual tasks to a larger project, making it easier to see the specific steps required to arrive at your end goal.

Projects can be structured one of two ways in Insightly. For initiatives following a sequential pattern (such as onboarding a new customer), using a project pipeline might work best.

For less predictable projects (such as an expansion into adjacent markets), you might consider using one or more milestones. Milestones allow you to set goals, assign dates, and group together related tasks – without the rigidity of a sequential pattern.

With milestones, pipelines, and tasks, your team will feel more organized and less scattered. As the business owner, you’ll appreciate the enhanced visibility into your company’s work-in-process, bottlenecks, and completed work.

3. Integrate, Integrate, Integrate

Migrating your project and sales processes into a single web-based application is a great starting point. However, even the most robust of platforms can’t do everything. Your team will still rely heavily on their email inboxes, document processors, marketing tools, and other third-party apps.

A highly integrated platform, such as Insightly, can offer the best of both worlds. Insightly actually acts as the “hub” for everything else your team uses.

Take, for example, your marketing consultant who uses the MailChimp email marketing software to build and send the company newsletter. He’s doing a nice job, but he occasionally forgets to prepare the summary reports that you need. This situation reduces the productivity of your strategy sessions and creates unnecessary friction for the entire team.

How can you make this problem go away?

One possibility is to connect your Insightly and MailChimp accounts. Insightly’s innovative integration pulls in highly valuable marketing analytics into each lead or contact record. Once enabled, you’ll be able to see real-time MailChimp data without ever leaving your Insightly account, such as:

Campaign history
Click rate
Open rate
Engagement history
Opt-in / subscription date
List membership

Problem solved! Now, your marketing consultant can stay focused on the next newsletter, and you have the information you need.

Better yet, Insightly integrates with dozens of other best-in-class apps. The possibilities seem endless.

4. Build “Links” Between Internal (& External) Relationships

Organizational charts become murky as you grow your team of freelancers, part-time staff, consultants, and employees. Who reports to whom? Solid line or dashed? The questions never seem to end.

It’s time to scrap the diagram software and leverage the info that’s already in Insightly. If you’ve already added your team as Insightly users, you can easily use relationship links to track your organizational structure.

Each user can be linked to other internal (or external) team members, offering a 360-degree view of who knows whom. Insightly’s relationship dropdown lets you identify:

Boss / direct report relationships
Client / consultant relationships
Colleague relationships
Other unique relationships

This type of linking also comes in handy for tracking your customer relationships. By tracking the organizational hierarchy of your customers, your sales reps and support staff will be more equipped to deliver an unbelievable experience.

5. Free Up More Time for Collaboration (with Automation)

Just because something needs to be done, it doesn’t mean that a human has to do it. As workflow technology and artificial intelligence become increasingly prevalent, business owners are seeking ways to maximize their investment in human capital – virtual team members included.

A tool like Insightly can help you maximize ROI from virtual staff via automation.

To illustrate my point, let’s look at your current web lead management process. If you’re like many business owners, your web developer probably configured your site to send email alerts for new leads. New lead data is keyed in by your virtual assistant, the lead is assigned for follow up, and then your reps finally reach out. All of this occurs over several hours (or days), during which leads can go completely cold.

By leveraging Insightly automation, you could build a better lead management model. How does the following workflow sound?

The lead fills out a form on your website.
Insightly automatically parses the lead information and creates a new record.
Insightly immediately sends an email that “looks like” it came from your sales rep.
Insightly assigns the lead (and a follow-up task) to the correct rep.

Instead of wasting time on data entry, your virtual assistant can finally get around to organizing your backlog of game-changing ideas. In addition, your reps can engage leads with much less effort.

6. Monitor Productivity

There’s an additional benefit of using a self-contained management system like Insightly: better business analytics. Each task, project, contact, lead, opportunity, and event is a trackable piece of data that’s easily modeled within Insightly’s intuitive reporting dashboard.

Perhaps you find yourself asking these questions:

Which team members are completing the most tasks?
Who is delegating the most work to other users?
What are our bottlenecks?
How long did certain milestones take to complete?
Who has the most overdue tasks?
Which projects are requiring the most effort?
How many leads can each sales rep manage per month?

If your virtual team is using Insightly correctly, you should be able to answer these questions within seconds. Better yet, you’ll be able to sort, filter, and customize the reports to your exact specification. Just drag and drop, and Insightly gives you the data that you need.

Columnar reports can also be converted into highly engaging charts and graphs. This saves you (or your assistant) the effort of exporting and charting the data. Once again, Insightly does the busywork for you.

Get a More Collaborative Virtual Team

Your virtual team adds value to your business. No question about it. However, there’s always room for improvement. By leveraging a cloud-based business management system, such as Insightly, you can boost engagement and take their value to an entirely new level.

To learn more about Insightly, click here to compare the features that best fit your virtual team.

Matt Keener is a marketing consultant and President of Keener Marketing Solutions, LLC. Matt specializes in content marketing and strategic planning, having helped numerous Saas (software as a service) companies and other small businesses worldwide. Read more of Matt’s work, get his book, or connect on Linkedin.

February 16, 2017

Why Employee Engagement is More Important Than Ever

Your employees are the foundation upon which your business is built. Without the right people in the right places, no company can hope to operate anywhere near potential.

Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep those people on board.

We live in a buoyant, growing, hyper-connected world economy where quality employees can easily find a new home. The workers of today are less likely than ever to remain with the same company for a significant length of time; mobile careers have become the new norm.

As the boomers continue to retire and the idea of a “job for life” fades into history, businesses can no longer rely upon the automatic loyalty of their employees. If they decide the grass may be greener elsewhere, they won’t hesitate to go and find out.

The Importance of Engagement

An engaged employee is one who feels a strong emotional and personal connection to their workplace. They’re enthusiastic and passionate about their work, throw themselves into tasks with maximum effort and always want to achieve the best possible results.

They’re the people who take pride in working where they do, doing their job properly and helping the business grow and prosper; the men and women who perform at the highest level, positively impact on productivity and who are entirely content working for you.

By contrast, non-engaged employees are more likely to simply do their job and nothing more, while actively disengaged staff could even be doing your business harm. Both groups are also far more likely to leave for greener pastures – and you can wave goodbye to the time and money you spent training them.

Put simply, engaged employees are worth their weight in gold, so it’s little surprise that the country’s top business people recognize their worth.

Harvard Business Review researchers found that 71% of businesses feel strong employee engagement is a key factor most likely to influence their future success; only excellent customer service and effective communication scored more highly.

Sales and marketing capabilities, efficient productivity and innovation matter too, of course, but these were all considered less important than employee engagement, especially by those higher up their respective organizations.

Engagement doesn’t just happen on its own. Here’s how you can help engage your employees and boost their motivation.

Be a Good Boss

A large part of engagement is about making an employee feel at home within your company. No one wants to live with someone they don’t like, especially if that person is in charge

Disliking their manager is one main reason why an employee will leave their job, and even if they stay it’s unlikely they’ll put in maximum effort.

You don’t have to be every employee’s best friend, but take a moment to consider your style and think about any changes you could make to increase your popularity among those below you.

Make an effort to treat your staff as individual people rather than assets, and showing some interest in their lives outside the workplace. Small personal touches can make a huge difference to the way you are seen, and in turn increase the probability your staff will feel valued and at home.

Set Reasonable, Attainable Goals with Achievable Rewards

We all like to have something to work toward, in our business or personal lives. Having a goal focuses the mind, provides motivation and offers the opportunity to seize a reward once it is achieved.

Most businesses set goals or targets for their workers, either individually or based on the performance of a team. Unfortunately, a lot of these are little more than a simple challenge to meet an arbitrary figure.

That isn’t going to engage anyone; you need to set meaningful goals.

Instead of simply throwing out a target, set well-defined goals that give your employees a true sense of belonging in the company. Show how meeting their goals will benefit both them and the business, and how the target fits in with what the business as a whole is trying to achieve.

Make them relevant and personal, and schedule regular meetings to ensure progress is tracked and rewarded.

Focus on the Good, not the Bad

Each employee will have certain strengths. There’ll be some with a strong aptitude for communication, for example, while others may excel at analysing data or coming up with creative marketing ideas.

But no one is good at everything, and in an effort to raise overall standards, many managers end up focusing on whatever weaknesses an employee has.

Instead, those seeking to improve engagement should focus on the strengths of their staff, and on developing the areas where they are naturally strong. Where they are weak, other members of their team will be strong, and support can be given where needed.

This approach not only has a significant impact on engagement levels, it raises overall happiness too – who doesn’t like to play to their strengths?

Keep Everyone on the Same Page

If you’ve ever worked for someone else, as part of a team larger than one, you’ll almost certainly have encountered this: One employee doing one thing, while someone else is doing something entirely different, possibly at odds with what their colleague is working on.

Neither has a clue until, for example, a customer asks why they’ve been called twice and quoted two different prices. The result could be any number of unfortunate outcomes for the business.

Now consider the effects felt by workers. Everyone wants to feel like an essential cog in a well-oiled machine, but they’re not going to feel that way if they’re never quite sure what they should be doing, or whether what they’re working on will matter.

Keeping everyone in the loop and fully aware of what they should be working toward is crucial, and relatively easy.

Used correctly, good CRM (customer relationship management) software will eliminate issues such as duplicate working and mixed messages. Everyone will be on the same page, connected and able to see how what they’re doing affects the bigger picture.

And on the subject of the bigger picture – the company’s overall goals – effectively communicating with your team on a regular basis will ensure they know exactly what it is, and exactly where they fit in.

And it’s a Big Target

Less than a third of employees in the United States self-identify as being engaged at work, so the opportunity exists for every business, big and small, to make some serious progress.

Put yourself in your workers’ shoes and consider what would engage you. As Virgin Group founder Richard Branson once said, “If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple.”

It really is.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

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April 20, 2016

7 Tips for Keeping Your Sales Force Uber-Productive

Uber-Sales — Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

You don’t need to turn into everyone’s least favorite boss to crank up the productivity of your salesforce. Even if you’ve already got an excellent sales team, you can do a few things to make them more productive.

Talk to your Sales Force

Before you start making any changes, ask your team about it. Find out what works best for them. Ask them to be honest about what slows them down or complicates their work flow. Consider surveying your team at regular intervals. This lets you continually evaluate and adjust as necessary.

To keep the lines of communication open, adopt an open-door policy. Be sure to clearly define the policy to your team. Be specific about exactly what kinds of concerns they can come to you with. Also be clear that communication with you under this policy won’t negatively impact their jobs. An open-door policy can be a waste of time if you don’t stick to defined limitations. So give this one careful consideration. If you do choose to do so, be smart about how open your door really is.

Hone Your Craft

It’s not just your sales force who must stay up-to-date. You also need to be on top of the best sales practices. Read industry blogs. Check out the best sales books. Take advantage of the wealth of information available from industry leaders. Don’t forget to keep managerial training in mind, as well. Your responsibility to your team is so much more than shoving new sales techniques at them. If your knowledge gets stale, your team’s will too.

Avoid Project Snags

Keep track of every step in ongoing projects. Know who is responsible for each task. Watch deadlines to be sure things are completed on time. Using CRM with project management lets you automatically receive emails when a task is due. You can assign responsible parties to minimize overlap and encourage direct communications between teams. You can even track all email correspondence.

Set Specific Goals

Your salesforce needs more than just a number to hit. Be specific and break down goals into pieces. It’s one of the best ways to meet individual goals and it will work for your team as well. Utilize tasks and deadlines in CRM to make the small goals crystal clear. Assign responsible parties to ensure that tasks are completed by the right person. Follow through on enforcing deadlines. Make sure your sales goals are realistic. Unreasonable expectations will eventually burn out your team.

Measure Productivity

If you want your team to do more, you have to know how much they’re already doing. Collecting data on your employees doesn’t have to be creepy. In fact, it proves incredibly useful if you collect the right data. Looking to shave off wasted time, say in the restroom, is creepy. However, comparing the top reason for lost opportunities by individual is helpful. You can encourage a little friendly competition and add a layer of honesty to your data collection by making the results fair game for all your team to view.

Nix Weekly Meetings

Do you really need your whole team to meet every week or teleconference every morning? Take a hard look at how many times you’re calling your people away from their work. You could be affecting their productivity as much as any other distraction. Really need that face time? Consider shorter, more specific meetings. Meet with individuals or small teams regarding very specific issues and goals. Go in with clear objectives, stay on topic, and avoid distractions.

Reward Success, Critique Wisely

Being recognized for achievements is a powerful motivator. Likewise, helpful criticism can empower your team to work smarter. When celebrating a member of your team, make it personal and heartfelt. Be specific about what they’ve done well. Don’t draw comparisons. Whether you show your gratitude in a meeting or send a handwritten note, make it meaningful. When it comes to criticism, be kind and encouraging. Don’t criticize when you’re in a bad mood. Set aside time for critique and deliver it privately.

Managing your salesforce is hardly just about nagging and enforcing deadlines. It’s your mission to keep them engaged, excited, and wanting to work hard. Treat your team with respect, keep your approach to sales fresh, measure everything, and reward hard work and your sales force will deliver.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.