Octolooks
As a business owner, you rely on marketing and sales to drive business growth and boost your bottom line. If you can’t find the experts you need in your immediate vicinity — or don’t need them full-time — you might decide to search outside of your company for the expertise you need. This also allows you to look further afield, opening up the possibility of remote work. Highfive explains that hiring remotely can save you money and make it easier to access top talent. This guide explains how you can find, hire, and manage external sales and marketing professionals to help you reach your business goals.
Set up a formal business entity to simplify remote hiring.
Whether you plan to hire external workers as employees or on a freelance basis, you need a business structure in place so you can legally enlist their services. A limited liability company (LLC) is one option. It’s easy to set up, has simple tax and reporting requirements, and protects your personal assets in case of business liability issues. Check your state’s regulations for LLC formation to get started. You can then use a business formation provider like Zen Business start up services to get the paperwork done quickly and affordably.
Define your sales and marketing goals.
To figure out what kind of sales and marketing pros you need to hire, first identify your goals. Define concrete objectives using KPIs, key performance indicators. Klipfolio explains that KPIs offer a measurable means of checking how well you’re meeting business objectives. A sales KPI might consist of X units sold in a set time period, for example. What type of professional will help you meet this end goal and what skills should they possess?
Write detailed job postings and vet applicants to choose the right people.
By identifying the skills you need in your team to meet your sales or marketing goals, you can write a detailed job posting. For example, you might decide that you want to boost your business’ content marketing. According to SEMrush, skills to look for in a content marketer include social media, SEO, and strategy abilities. You’ll want to include these points in your job ad. As you review applicants, read their resumes to check that they have these skills. You can then use video interviews to vet promising applicants more closely. Workable explains that video interviews tend to result in higher quality hires and has a guide for employers on how to conduct informative interviews.
Figure out what tools your remote team needs to get the job done.
Once you’ve found the sales and marketing professionals you need, find ways to facilitate their success. Nimble offers a list of project management tools that can help virtual teams collaborate, like Asana and Trello. Also, consider off-the-shelf services to support your business, including hardware and software solutions like the Microsoft suite or antivirus software. Such solutions can also support individual departments. For example, a WordPress scraper like Scrapes can help drive better content marketing results. This product is from Octolooks, which provides many other professional solutions — most of them WordPress-based — designed to empower businesses.
Set up a regular communication network to monitor progress.
While hiring remote sales and marketing professionals has advantages, it also poses some challenges. WFMDepot explains that communication is a key hurdle faced by remote teams. Towards this end, proactively implement collaboration tools to keep everybody up-to-date on projects, timetables, and deadlines. Inside Design recommends Slack as the best communication tool for quick checking in. With this tool, you can chat with your team in real-time from afar.
Sales and marketing are the cornerstones of your business success. Don’t skimp when it comes to hiring talent in these fields. With remote work, you have access to a greater pool of professionals than ever before. Make the most of it by following the above tips.
The right technology will facilitate your remote team’s work. Octolooks provides a variety of business solutions that can help your sales and marketing teams thrive. Find out more.