How can you expand your inside sales team globally?

Absolutely agree that strategy and vision are very important as well as GTM motion. The times of “here is your laptop do the magic” attitude to sales people have passed. Sales leaders have to be experts in their field and clearly understand the market, industry and target persona. At the same time it’s crucial to choose the focus and priority as you think your product is universal and can serve anybody most probably you are not right. However balance also should take place, it’s nearly impossible to make a strategy you would not be adjusting on the way and it’s absolutely normal. Speaking from experience of building inside sales global teams from scratch ????

Virtual open house meetings with leadership: invite any and all potential candidates to attend. Engage and excite candidates by the masses / across the globe before scheduling their individual interviews. Works every.single.time.

Para expandir el equipo de ventas internas a nivel mundial, es crucial una estrategia de contratación global que considere talentos locales y regionales. Se debe establecer una cultura unificada y proporcionar capacitación adaptada a diferentes culturas. La implementación de herramientas tecnológicas para la colaboración global es esencial, al igual que la designación de líderes con habilidades interculturales. Se deben establecer metas claras y adaptar estrategias a las distintas regiones, considerando aspectos legales y logísticos. La comunicación constante y el reconocimiento global son clave para el éxito y la cohesión del equipo.

If I want to grow my inside team globally, I need to have everyone (that needs to know) in agreement with me. Assuming we have surveyed some markets and know exactly where we plan to expand to and why, we need to do the math. How much do we need to sell here to have a justification? How many people do I need to hire? How will training be instilled and is there a ramp up time? What does a cost benefit analysis look like?

Before bringing in and training your international inside sales team, it's crucial to have a clear plan for what you want to accomplish and how you'll make it happen. Think about who your customers are, where they are, and what they need. How will you match your sales approach, messages, and value with each area? Also, consider how you'll check and improve your performance. Having a detailed sales plan will make sure everyone on your global team knows the goals and what's expected. This helps prevent confusion and keeps things consistent.

You can also use LinkedIn to analyse the work market in other country (skills, experiences, organisation, etc..), contact and hire the right people and skills. This will also help you to build a network, gather knowledges ans experience for the new markets you wan to penetrate.

We need to understand what jobs we need to fill up and which jobs we need to create or hire for. Also placing people in those jobs from internal re-org means we need to understand what skills will be needed.

When growing your global inside sales team, a key factor is getting the right people with the right skills for each market. Look for candidates who understand the language, culture, and industry specifics. They should also have the sales expertise needed to effectively sell your product or service. Consider legal and regulatory aspects of hiring and paying employees in various countries, and explore effective ways to find talent. Collaborating with local recruiters, agencies, or platforms can be beneficial in identifying and hiring the best fit for your global team.

Hire multilingual salespeople to reach prospects in different countries. Provide cultural training to understand norms and etiquette in each market. Use tools and technology to connect distributed teams across time zones and locations.

Expanding your inside sales team globally requires effective training and coaching strategies. Develop comprehensive onboarding programs that cover your company's culture, products, and sales methodologies. Emphasize the importance of understanding diverse markets and cultural nuances. Implement virtual training sessions to accommodate global teams, utilizing interactive modules and role-playing exercises. Provide ongoing coaching, leveraging technology for real-time feedback and skill development. Foster a collaborative environment, encouraging team members from different regions to share insights and best practices. Regularly update training materials to reflect evolving market trends and ensure a consistent, up-to-date approach.

Will the training be the same in your host country as in your home? If not, how do you accommodate for that financially and which personnel will you need to facilitate? Can we provide training virtually or does it have to be in-person? Also, sharing a culture here will be difficult, how can we ensure we keep a unison culture or do we even want to have a shared culture with our teams in host country? What are the pros/cons of culture?

After assembling your global inside sales team, it's crucial to equip them with the essential training and coaching for success. Make sure they comprehend your product or service, your unique selling points, your sales procedure, and the tools and systems in place. Additionally, train them on the distinctive aspects and effective methods in each market, such as communication styles, decision-making processes, customer pain points, and common objections. Regularly provide constructive feedback and coaching to aid in skill enhancement and improved performance. This ongoing support helps address any challenges or issues they encounter, fostering a continuously improving and well-prepared sales team.

Conduct remote roleplay sessions to practice pitches and objections in different cultural contexts. Share recordings of exemplary sales calls for teams to learn best practices. Have managers give regular feedback via call monitoring and one-on-ones to improve skills.

This is an important step. Collaboration keeps everyone marching to the same tune right? If you have different teams doing different things at different times, what you have is chaos and sure-to-be confusion.

An essential aspect of growing your global inside sales team is nurturing a culture of collaboration and communication across diverse regions and time zones. It's crucial to foster a sense of team spirit and belonging among your global sales representatives, encouraging them to openly share insights, experiences, and best practices. Establishing clear and consistent communication channels and protocols is vital. Utilize tools like video calls, instant messaging, email, and CRM platforms to keep everyone well-informed about the progress and results of global sales efforts.

As you grow your global inside sales team, flexibility and optimization are key. Regularly monitor and analyze data and metrics, including conversion rates, pipeline value, revenue, and customer satisfaction, for each market and region. Identify successful practices and areas needing improvement, and be ready to adapt your strategy, process, messaging, or tactics accordingly. Seek feedback and input from your global sales reps. Listen to their suggestions and ideas on enhancing global sales performance and results. This adaptive and collaborative approach ensures continuous improvement and a responsive strategy to meet the evolving needs of your expanding global inside sales team.

Celebrate and share success, organise regular best practices sharing sessions to give visibility to those successes and how they were archive. Not everything that works in one country or region will work in all of them but it will gives good idea and encourage reflexion.

So this goes back to having that collaboration and being in communication regularly. This will allow you to see whats working/not working and give you runway to correct course.

Certainly! Here's an additional point to consider: Building a strong company culture that transcends borders is vital for a successful global inside sales team. Foster a culture that values diversity, inclusivity, and mutual respect. Encourage team members to embrace and learn from each other's cultural differences, creating a harmonious and collaborative working environment. This not only enhances teamwork but also contributes to a positive and unified company identity across the globe.

Article and subsequent contributions have covered the key points. One point which I believe in my experience is important is to have inside sales team and on the field sales team in synch. Many a times these teams work in isolation and interact only when told to and that can lead to lost productivity.

If the team is in different region/countries, do your best to organise time together (events, team building, work, etc..). This will helps bring the team, the culture and the collaboration to another level. This of course cost money but if done well, it will be a major point of your team success !