How does one navigate a new norm?
“I’d be lying if I said it was easy,” Datamax Texas Director of Service Steve Kennemer said. “When this all started, my managers and I were immediately on the phone. The question was: What are we going to do? How are we going to keep our guys comfortable, confident, and safe?”
As the next few weeks unfolded, it’s apparent that Datamax is more prepared than many for this new norm. As Kennemer, and many other executives and managers began plotting the course for the foreseeable future, they set expectations and provided necessary tools for technicians and account representatives (the main two parties working remotely) to do everything they could in the field and at their home.
They began navigating a new norm – one that was undoubtedly remote in nature.
Remote Territories
The first realization the Dallas service team came to was that traditional territories would simply go out the window.
“What we began to analyze was, who lives closer to this area that we had that last call,” Steve said. “If I’ve got a technician living in Keller, I want to have him stop in on a customer near there. The idea was, we didn’t want people passing each other out on the road.”
Remote Learning
If there wasn’t a service call, there was remote learning. Technicians in both Texas and Arkansas have been using any downtime to take on online education courses on a variety of topics: Canon model-specific training, accessory training, uniFLOW advanced training and Universal Log in training, to name a few.
“I’ve got over 100 hours’ worth of training input into the system,” Steve said nearly two weeks ago.
Remote Support
There are certainly tools available the enable technicians to remotely support customers and guide them over the phone over potential issues (read more about that here). But remote support also came from service managers lending their expertise in any way needed.
“Supervisors been doing a lot of remote help. I’ve got my managers here at the office guiding guys out in the field with multiple issues, maybe it’s a network issue the tech isn’t really confident with,” Steve said. “It’s saying ‘let me do a screen share with you.’ They’ve got the knowledge in their ear.”
Vice President of Sales Clay Mills says, when assessing a remote workforce, there’s a challenge of management in keeping the sales team as productive as possible.
Step no. 1 was to provide as many tools as possible so reps could remain in contact and remain effective.
Remote Hardware
VPNs were set up for reps to work at the house. Cisco Softphones were placed on their computer, so their office phone could ring through their laptop. They also provided the GoMeet virtual meeting software so that virtual appointments could be set up.
Remote Reviews
“We’ve done a number of Partnership Reviews virtually,” Clay said. “They’ve gone excellent, people are very receptive to this form of meeting right now. They’re on lock down, they don’t want people tracing through their office… having these tools gives us an advantage.”
Remote Contact
The biggest challenge right now is to maintain customer contact. That becomes difficult when you can’t meet face to face.
“So the bottom line is it’s going to require a much more concentrated effort by sales management and the sales force themselves to maintain a level of activity,” Clay said.
From cold calling, to checking in customers in creative ways online, maintaining contact will be crucial in the weeks and months ahead.
Remote Activity Entry
Arkansas Vice President of Sales David Holzhauer says that the mission for sales is to get the activity we need in an unsupervised, unseen role. Entering all activity into Compass is of upmost importance, David says.
“We expect the same work from home that we would here,” David said. “The real key to us is, we’ve got to keep prospects in the pipeline for the months ahead. Keep pace on the prospecting.”
Much like Steve, Clay concedes that the past few weeks have been anything but easy. But with the right navigation, and careful execution, the future lays out nicely for Datamax.
