The majority of my career has been in business-to-business sales. While I have worked in more than one industry, the one constant has been a continual evolution of how we interact with our prospective and current clients.
While face-to-face contact was historically the only manner in which a prospect was engaged, it has become more common to leverage technology at some point of the process. This same evolution happened internally as well, with customer service, HR, and finance becoming a semi-remote or hybrid model. When I joined Blue Marble, it was the first time I worked for a company that was truly remote and set up to function as such. This transition has been fulfilling, but working remotely comes with some challenges. These are some of my biggest takeaways:
- Working space is essential – having an area where you have a space for work, separate for your business versus your home.
- Schedule – personal business and work can overlap, so having clear time allocated to work is a must. The nature of our business means I don’t always work traditional business hours, but I still need to be focused on work during the time I have scheduled
- Planned collaboration – using zoom chats to discuss ideas with co-workers helps you feel connected instead of just a phone call
- Dress for the office – not everyone will agree with me, but I get dressed as if I am going to “the office” every day. My family is also participating during the current shelter-in-place orders. They may not like it, but it definitely sets the tone for each day
- Meeting with partners and prospects with video conferencing – this is new. We at Blue Marble have been acclimated to working remotely, but using video conferencing to interact with external clients and partners has enhanced the interaction and experience
Wherever you are in the process, using technology and new resources can help you manage the current work from home orders, but can also lead to new discoveries and connections in your business and in your own daily routine. Managing daily operations from home is not always the ideal situation, but learning to adapt and making changes to your daily schedule can open up new opportunities for growth in the future. We won’t be stuck at home forever – use this time to learn something new about yourself, your business, and how to make improvements when the world goes back to “normal” again.
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