It’s official. More and more companies have realized that to keep up with their talent demands and stay competitive in today’s challenging business environment are moving in the direction of offering remote work opportunities. Honestly, it’s about time!
Today’s technology stacks allow businesses the opportunity to see, track, measure, and monitor as if the employee were sitting right next to them.
As a tenured CSO and sales executive, I could never understand why companies typically prefer to burn their monies by not taking their sales cycle as far as they can remotely, before getting on a plane or taking an in-person meeting. In most cases I put the blame solely on bad business practices. The whole idea of profitability is to keep direct costs down. Having a sales professional on the road is expensive, and not necessary for most sales dispositions. I know this because we’ve been involved with six- and seven-figure sales over the phone for decades. Some said it couldn’t be done, which is only true if you have weak talent. This is why author Jim Collins in his book Good to Great states that “good is the enemy of great.” By having the right people on the bus, you can do anything.
Yes, I would agree that there are many benefits to meeting in person, although not to the level and spend that most companies are willing to burn through. It’s also important to offer your talent an effective work-life balance, which most seasoned professionals will choose over the alternative, which may involve more money, but coupled with a higher likelihood of burnout. Unless, of course, an obscene amount of money is being offered, but even that may come at the cost of a healthy work-life balance.
Those companies that are already forerunners and ahead of the game in terms of best business practices that include a mix of both virtual, outsourcing stateside and modest in-person meetings, are likely already reaping a whirlwind of benefits and profitability.
With gas prices and inflation at an all-time high, who do you want to work for? Companies employing the hybrid remote work model are more likely in it for the long haul.
Here are some of the key benefits of a hybrid remote work model:
• An overall lowered cost of direct expenses to the sale;
• A wider net to cast in terms of recruiting great talent;
• Your company will no longer be held hostage by geography and the cash burn certain cities impose. In our experience, the majority of cases benefit most from stateside-based remote operations;
• Everything your company could do in a brick-and-mortar multimillion-dollar environment can be done today for a quarter of the cost in a remote environment;
• Implementing the hybrid remote work model will improve your company’s culture by establishing a lifestyle company;
• Since you are reducing cost, this will leave budget for more team building, culture improving activities; and
• When deploying a hybrid remote model, you will lower overall workplace stress.
The future workplace is upon us and it is distinctly hybrid in nature. I’m not suggesting that all companies should go 100% virtual, but those that offer a hybrid model are most likely to experience a win-win for the company, simultaneously retaining talent while strengthening the bottom line.
Ken Schmitz is chief strategy officer and managing partner of SalesFish. Learn more at salesfish.com.
