The country has seen a massive shift in life — changes have been implemented, restrictions have occurred, and daily life and routines have been drastically altered as we work toward flattening the curve of a global pandemic. The national workforce, and that of our industry, has also seen a massive shift, and with that shift has come an increase in the use of virtual interaction. While many industries are struggling to adapt to a virtual shift, our organization is continuing to embrace it — as our award-winning sales teams maintain their selling efforts digitally and our leaders help spread our unique culture through virtual team engagement initiatives.
Right now, continuing to live out our organization’s mission of providing excellent careers for our people is of the utmost importance. While we have created dozens of resources for our sales professionals to utilize to increase their virtual sales processes, we have also put an emphasis on virtual team bonding. Below we will outline some of our best practices for hosting virtual team meetings that have proven to make a positive impact on our sales leaders and their teams.
Competition-Based
Who doesn’t enjoy a good competition? We all know salespeople love to get in touch with their competitive side! There are several ways that management can implement competitive-based exercises in their sales meetings. We see this approach incorporated into training time and time again in the traditional in-person setting and are now seeing it arise in the virtual setting as well. The most popular competitions we’ve seen amongst our national teams include setting the most virtual appointments, aiming for the most upvotes on Peer Learning through our proprietary technology platform New Home Connect™, and even some light-hearted games like charades or Pictionary!
Professional Development
While most teams are apart and working in a virtual setting, that doesn’t mean professional development has to come to a halt. In fact, we believe that more time should be spent investing in an agent’s professional development as they begin to get acquainted with all of the tools and resources that go along with a virtual sales setting. Lunch and learn sessions are a convenient solution to encourage teams to connect and learn from one another. Each week, individuals can sign up for a slot time, create a presentation, and share it with the rest of the team. It’s a time when they can showcase their expertise and provide value to others. We’ve seen our agents cover best practices for marketing to prospects on social media, tips for engaging the Realtor community, and how to provide the ultimate customer service experience through various forms of technology. Another easy and effective way to have your teams invest in their development is to begin a book or article discussion every week.
Ongoing Ideas
Many of these initiatives can be ongoing, and the options are almost endless for leaders wanting to engage their teams digitally. Our organization has always put a high priority on showing our appreciation for our team members and recognizing them for their rockstar efforts. To further this in your virtual sales team meetings, think about implementing ideas like a “morphing trophy.” Each week when you’ve given team members kudos and shout-outs, an individual will be nominated to receive the trophy. As the trend continues, the individual is responsible for adding an “element” to the trophy and passing it to the next recipient the following week — most teams photoshop different images or icons onto their trophies each week. This is a really fun and engaging way to give credit and get the team involved in recognizing their peers. Another idea that we’ve seen pop up in the last few weeks from some of our divisions are spirit days! Countless images have been shared of virtual meetings where every team member dressed in a specific theme or style– pajama day and NHS swag day has been our favorite!
This shift in digital communication, collaboration, and sales has been a very unique experience for our national team to dive into — but one that we have been embracing collectively. Through utilizing some of these best practices for hosting engaging virtual sales team meetings, our leaders have been able to continue to provide support and unite our teams in creative and meaningful ways.
As business continues to shift to more virtual interactions, the need for online sales teams has increased. For more information on continually expanding operations, check out our comprehensive guide to creating an online sales team for home builders.
