The outbound power hour is every remote SDR manager’s secret weapon.
It’s where sales teams get together to book more demos by shadowing each other’s calls, sharing valuable insights and learning what works — just like they would in a physical office.
But if you want your power hours to be super efficient and highly effective, there are some rules to keep in mind.
- Get a virtual sales floor. Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms just don’t have what it takes. There’s no way to get immediate feedback or listen to each other’s calls. There’s no way for managers to coach in real-time. And celebrating wins together? That’s not happening. If your reps don’t have a tool that has all of those features and more, they might as well smile and dial alone — minus the smiling.
- Set an incentive. To state the obvious, most sales reps (SDRs included) are hyper-competitive. That’s why it’s important for managers to define the goal of the power hour up front (most calls made, most meetings booked — whatever) and create a competition around it. The reward doesn’t have to be huge, either. It could be a small but meaningful cash bonus. Or a gift certificate for lunch. Or even a goofy trophy of some sort. Make it fun and your reps will bust hump for the win.
- Do some dialing. Too often managers just sit back and watch as their reps do the dialing. But reps learn best by osmosis, and you’re their manager for a reason: you’re good at this. So lead by example and show them how it’s done. Or how it’s not done. You don’t need to succeed every time as long as you teach them how to recover quickly and keep going. And make yourself part of whatever contest is going on. Inspire your reps to beat you. But if you lose — and ideally you will lose — do it gracefully. At some point the student should surpass the master or you’re not doing your job right.
- Coach on the spot. Encourage reps to listen to each other’s calls. Maybe they dial for 45 minutes and listen for 15. And when you coach them on calls, it’s crucial not to nitpick everything you hear that’s wrong or needs improvement. For new reps, pick one thing for them to fix before the next power hour rolls around. More experienced reps can handle two or three points of constructive criticism. Any more than that risks diluting your insights or having them misinterpreted.
- Customize your power hour. It can be focused on inbound calls instead of outbound ones. Or emailing instead of dialing. Or connecting with leads on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Whatever works best for your team.
- Hold regular power hours. That means every day or every other day — frequently enough that your team starts building up its power hour muscles, kind of like athletes. Sales may be a solo endeavor, but it’s a team sport.
Give these things a try at your next power hour to rev up your reps and help them succeed. Trust us, they really work!
Check out Teamflow’s virtual sales floor: https://www.teamflowhq.com/salesfloor
