When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, suddenly all employees were remote workers, many of whom had never worked from home before. Employers had to quickly get staff equipment and software so they could do their jobs virtually. Not only that, but they had to create an online environment in which employees could remain connected with colleagues, collaborate, and receive support.

That’s a big challenge for any organization, but for sales—whose processes have traditionally relied upon in-person collaboration and interaction—solving it was critical. If sellers can’t sell, companies don’t generate revenue.

Wealth management and technology solutions firm AssetMark addressed this challenge expertly. Using collaboration tools and sales enablement platform Allego, the sales team created a collaborative, virtual environment that enables consistent communication, new-hire onboarding, product rollouts, and coaching. 

In this Allego Customer Spotlight, Elyssa Douglass, sales training specialist at AssetMark, explains how they did it.

Allego: How were you able to shift from a collaborative in-office environment to one in which everyone worked remotely—and continue to keep salespeople feeling included, supported, and part of the team?

Elyssa: “We focused on key areas. We made sure we were strategically aligned among sales leaders. We all embraced the growth mindset. And, of course, we would not have been successful had we not leveraged technology.

“In addition, sales leaders focused on three key areas and made sure to be strategically aligned across them.

“The first is transparent, consistent communication. One way my team was able to remain in front of each other was we moved our hour-long weekly team meetings to a daily 15-minute check-in. And in those meetings, everyone would go around and talk about projects they were working on. And they would also tell us what they did for self-care that day, which brings me to my second point: We remembered consistently to respond with empathy, which was so crucial because being on camera in each other’s homes, kids and pets would be popping in and out of meetings.

“And third, of course, with a constantly changing environment, we had to remain flexible and open to responding to employees’ ever-changing needs.”

Allego: How did you help the team maintain a collaborative remote work environment?

Elyssa: “One of the awesome things that we did, to get people engaged and comfortable with the system, is post a daily get-to-know you question for the team. We were so great at consistently doing this that by the end of the year, the team said they felt they got to know one another better than when we had been in the office.

“For internal team meetings, we require that videos be turned on to get that face-to-face interaction and have that additional connection. There’s such a different feel when people have videos turned on versus just kind of chatting.”

Allego: How did Allego help your team collaborate?

Elyssa: “When we switched to remote work, we had been using Allego for sales enablement. But we’d only been using it for about four months. And we used this as an opportunity to position Allego as a hub for information and idea sharing. Allego has truly enhanced our new-hire onboarding process. They’ve made it so easy to assign our tasks and requirements. It’s been a great enhancement to all of the conversations that we’re having via Zoom.

“We also created virtual portfolios for all our employees. These are individual channels that provide each employee with a sense of ownership over their own growth and development. We hope that by creating these virtual portfolios, we’ll be able to see their progress over time. Things like call reviews, pitches, self-evaluations, and even DiSC [personality] profiles are all saved in there. So, once it comes time to apply for promotional opportunities, they can then share their private portfolio with hiring managers.”

Allego: How has AssetMark handled virtual product rollouts?

Elyssa: “Our product rollouts and enhancements also go through Allego 100%. So, at the beginning of the month, we launched a new product onto AssetMark’s investment platform. We did seven webinars in total; all of the webinars were recorded and saved into Allego for employees to come back and listen to and refresh.

“With Allego, we can see who viewed the webinars and who engaged with them. We had over a thousand views in less than a month on this channel, and out of 100 sales employees, 95 have engaged so far. We also sent out a survey after the training to get some feedback. Overall, employees were thrilled with the way we approached this session. And every single one of them said having this all housed in a central location in Allego was very helpful.”

Allego: Did you do anything in particular to encourage engagement among sales employees?

Elyssa: “To keep things fun, we capitalized on the competitive nature that comes with being in sales. For example, we used Allego to roll out what we call the ASU Daily Challenge. Each month we highlight a sales topic, and we push out a flash card each day on that subject. Employees can either log in online or use the Allego app to respond to these questions. At the end of each quarter, the top three people that complete the most flash cards win a gift card and, of course, bragging rights.”

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