Key Takeaways
- Remote is now the default for sales: over half of U.S. remote-capable employees work hybrid and about a quarter are fully remote, so your sales org needs a deliberate remote management strategy-not a patchwork of Slack messages and Zoom calls.
- The best remote sales teams run on a tight operating system: clear KPIs, a set weekly cadence (standups, team meeting, 1:1s), and documented expectations around availability, handoffs, and follow-up.
- Remote and hybrid sales models can boost performance—77% of sales teams report higher productivity and 74% of sales leaders say remote work has improved overall sales performance-but only when you solve for coaching, cohesion, and visibility.
- Managers of remote sales teams must shift from 'hallway management' to data-driven coaching: use dashboards, call recordings, and snippets to coach behavior-not just hammer reps on activity volume.
- Isolation is a real risk: 33-44% of remote sales reps report feeling disconnected or isolated, so you need intentional culture, buddy systems, and recognition rituals built into your remote rhythm.
- Your tech stack either enables or strangles remote teams: modern CRMs, dialers, email platforms, conversation intelligence, and AI personalization (like SalesHive's eMod) are now table stakes for effective remote SDR management.
- If building and managing a high-performing remote SDR org isn't your core competency, partnering with a specialist like SalesHive—100,000+ meetings booked for 1,500+ clients-can shortcut years of trial and error.
Remote selling is no longer a trend-it’s how most B2B buyers want to engage and how most SDRs now work. Yet 52% of sales managers say coaching remote teams is harder and 61% struggle to maintain cohesion. In this guide, B2B leaders will learn how to design a remote sales operating system, coach effectively via data, keep reps engaged, and decide when to leverage partners like SalesHive to scale.
Introduction
Remote selling isn’t a side project anymore-it’s the main show.
Most B2B buyers now prefer virtual interactions, and the majority of remote‑capable employees work either fully remote or hybrid. Gallup’s latest hybrid work indicator shows that among U.S. remote‑capable workers, 52% are hybrid and 26% are fully remote. At the same time, Bain reports that 92% of B2B buyers now prefer virtual sales interactions. If your sales team isn’t built to thrive remotely, you’re fighting the current.
The good news: remote sales teams can absolutely outperform in‑office teams. Research on the sales industry shows 77% of sales teams report higher productivity after moving remote and 74% of sales leaders say remote work has improved overall sales performance. The bad news: managers often struggle with the shift. More than half of sales managers say coaching and performance monitoring are harder remote, and 61% report difficulty maintaining cohesion.
This guide breaks down the art of managing remote sales teams effectively-with a practical, sales‑leader lens:
- How to design a simple, scalable operating system for remote SDRs and AEs
- What KPIs to track and how to coach using data, not just gut feel
- How to keep remote reps engaged and connected (without becoming a babysitter)
- The tech stack and processes that separate high‑performing remote teams from the rest
- When it makes sense to bring in a partner like SalesHive to handle the heavy lifting
Grab a coffee-this is the playbook sales leaders wish they’d had before going remote.
1. The New Reality of Remote B2B Sales
Remote and Hybrid Are the Default, Not the Exception
We’re long past the question of if remote works for sales. The question now is how well you manage it.
A few data points to ground the conversation:
- Hybrid dominates knowledge work. Gallup’s ongoing tracking shows that among U.S. remote‑capable roles, 52% are hybrid and 26% are fully remote. For SDR and AE roles, that number is often even higher.
- Sales teams see real gains from remote. A 2025 market analysis of remote and hybrid work in sales found that 77% of sales teams reported increased productivity after adopting remote work, and 74% of leaders said remote work positively impacted overall performance.
- Outbound activity often goes up. The same research reports 60% of organizations saw increased outbound sales activity once they embraced remote selling.
- Buyers have gone digital‑first. Bain’s survey shows that 92% of B2B buyers prefer virtual sales interactions across most buying stages. SalesOdyssey’s 2025 data notes that roughly 80% of B2B sales are now made virtually.
Translation: remote selling isn’t a pandemic workaround-it’s how modern B2B sales gets done.
The Hidden Risks: Engagement, Cohesion, and Coaching
Remote doesn’t automatically mean roses, though.
Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report shows exclusively remote employees can actually be more engaged (31% engaged) than many on‑site peers (23% for hybrid and other remote‑capable on‑site workers). But other data highlights the downside of poorly managed remote sales teams:
- 52% of sales managers say coaching and mentoring are more challenging remotely.
- 58% say monitoring performance is harder at a distance.
- 61% struggle to maintain team cohesion in hybrid/remote environments.
- 44% of sales reps report feeling isolated when working remotely.
In other words, remote itself isn’t the problem-it’s the lack of a clear management system built for remote.
What got you here (wandering the sales floor, overhearing calls, quick whiteboard sessions) won’t get you there. You need a different approach.
2. Build a Remote‑Ready Sales Operating System
Remote sales teams live and die by their operating system-the combination of metrics, meeting cadence, and written expectations that replaces hallway management.
2.1 Define a Simple Remote Scorecard
In an office, you can get away with vague expectations because there’s constant ambient information: who’s on the phones, who sounds sharp, who seems stuck.
Remotely, that disappears. You need a visible scorecard that answers two questions for every SDR and AE:
- Am I winning?
- What should I do next?
For SDRs, a practical remote scorecard might include:
- Activities: dials, emails, LinkedIn touches
- Conversations: live connects or positive email replies
- Meetings set: total and by segment/ICP
- Meeting quality: show rate and conversion to qualified opportunity
- Pipeline created: dollar value of accepted opportunities sourced
For AEs:
- Pipeline coverage: by segment, with 3-4x coverage on target
- Stage conversion rates: e.g., demo → proposal, proposal → close
- Sales cycle length: by ICP
- Win rate: overall and by segment
Publish these metrics in a shared dashboard (your CRM or BI tool) and use the same view in team meetings and 1:1s. Once everyone can see the game, you spend less time arguing about reality and more time changing it.
2.2 Lock in a Weekly Cadence (and Stick to It)
Random meetings kill remote productivity. High‑performing teams run on a consistent, boring cadence.
A proven baseline for B2B sales orgs:
- Weekly team meeting (45-60 minutes)
- Wins & shout‑outs
- Pipeline and KPI review
- What’s working / not working in outbound
- Short training or call breakdown
- Weekly pipeline review (30-45 minutes)
- Focused on deals and next steps (for AEs) or meeting quality and target accounts (for SDRs)
- Biweekly 1:1s (30-45 minutes per rep)
- Scorecard review
- Call or email review
- Coaching on one specific skill
- Career and wellbeing check‑in
- Optional daily standup (10-15 minutes)
- Especially useful for SDR pods
- Yesterday’s outputs, today’s plan, blockers
Document the purpose and agenda of each meeting in your playbook. If a meeting doesn’t serve its purpose, fix it or kill it-but don’t wing it.
2.3 Write Down the Rules of the Game
In the office, a lot of expectations are absorbed by osmosis. Remotely, if it isn’t written, it doesn’t exist.
Your remote sales playbook should spell out:
- Working norms: core hours, response‑time expectations, time‑zone guidelines
- Communication norms: what goes in Slack vs. email vs. CRM notes
- Handoff processes: SDR → AE → CS, including what ‘sales‑accepted’ means
- Meeting standards: how to prep, run, and follow up on demos and discovery calls
- Escalation paths: who to ping when something’s blocking a deal
This doesn’t have to be a 100‑page PDF. A living Notion, Confluence, or Google Doc works fine-so long as everyone knows where it is and you actually update it.
3. Communication & Culture When You Don’t Share a Floor
A lot of remote sales management problems are just communication problems in disguise. The culture issues usually aren’t far behind.
3.1 Default to Async, Protect Live Time
If every small update becomes a Zoom call, you’ll burn your reps out on meetings and kill the productivity gains remote should give you.
A simple rule of thumb:
- Async by default for:
- Status updates
- Announcements
- Process changes
- FAQs and playbooks
- Live time reserved for:
- Coaching (1:1s, call reviews)
- Roleplays
- Strategy discussions
- Relationship‑building
Use tools that make async human: short Loom videos for feedback, Slack huddles for quick problem‑solving, and a central enablement hub where reps can self‑serve answers.
3.2 Design Culture Like a Process
When everyone’s remote, culture doesn’t just “happen.” You have to build it into your operating rhythm.
Tactical ideas that work well with SDR and AE teams:
- Wins at the start of every team meeting. Let reps shout out each other-not just their own numbers.
- Call‑listening clubs. Once a week, pick one call (win or loss) and dissect it as a team. It’s culture, training, and entertainment all in one.
- Buddy system for new hires. Pair every new SDR with a slightly more tenured rep for their first 60 days. It combats isolation and distributes knowledge.
- Lightweight social rituals. 15‑minute virtual coffee before SKOs, trivia after a tough quarter, or Slack channels for hobbies. Don’t overdo it, but don’t ignore it either.
Remember those Zipdo stats: 44% of reps report feeling isolated, and 61% of managers say maintaining cohesion is tough in hybrid environments. Cultural rituals are your antidote.
3.3 Fight Isolation with Visibility (Not Surveillance)
There’s a big difference between visibility and surveillance:
- Visibility is giving everyone access to the same dashboards, deal boards, and call libraries.
- Surveillance is screen recording and Slack‑checking to see if that green dot is on.
The former drives ownership; the latter drives disengagement.
Give reps real‑time access to their numbers. Encourage them to share “here’s what I’m trying” experiments in Slack. Bring them into strategy discussions when you adjust messaging or ICPs. The more they feel like co‑owners of the motion, the less they feel like remote cogs.
4. Coaching and Performance Management in a Remote World
If your reps are remote, your coaching has to be more structured and more grounded in data than when you’re sitting next to them.
4.1 Use Data to Decide Who and What to Coach
Start with the scorecard and look for patterns:
- High activity, low meetings → messaging or list quality issue
- Low activity, average conversion → time management or motivation issue
- Good meetings, low pipeline created → qualification or ICP mismatch
- Strong pipeline, low win rate → discovery, multi‑threading, or pricing issues
Instead of generic feedback like “you need to make more calls,” you can say, “You’re already at 120% of the activity benchmark, but your connects‑to‑meeting rate is half the team average. Let’s dig into your opener and targeting.”
Remote teams that skip this step end up coaching the wrong things-and frustrating good reps in the process.
4.2 Make Call Recordings Your Superpower
One of the biggest advantages of remote teams is that almost every conversation can be recorded.
If you’re not already using your dialer or a conversation‑intelligence tool to record calls, start there. Then build a simple routine:
- Each week, have every rep tag 2-3 calls: one they’re proud of, one they’re unsure about.
- In 1:1s, listen to key moments: opener, value pitch, first objection, next‑step setup.
- Give feedback on behavior, not personality: questions asked, pauses, framing, tone.
- Agree on one specific thing they’ll try on the next 10 calls.
Save great calls in a shared library by topic (cold opener, discovery, pricing, competitor). This becomes gold for onboarding and ongoing training.
4.3 Balance Accountability with Support
Remote performance management can feel harsh if it’s only about numbers and never about context.
A practical pattern:
- Clarify expectations. Use the written scorecard and ramp plans; don’t surprise people.
- Diagnose with curiosity. If someone is behind, start with “Walk me through your last week” instead of jumping to conclusions.
- Co‑create a plan. 30-60 days with specific leading indicators (daily activities, conversations, practice commitments).
- Review frequently. Weekly check‑ins, with agreed‑upon consequences if the plan isn’t met.
The key is consistency. Remote reps should always know where they stand and what happens next.
5. Equipping Remote Reps with the Right Tech Stack
Remote sales teams need tools that handle what the office used to do: visibility, collaboration, and real‑time feedback.
5.1 Must‑Have Tools for Remote SDR and AE Teams
At a minimum, a modern remote sales org needs:
- CRM: Your source of truth (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.). If it’s not in the CRM, it didn’t happen.
- Sales engagement platform: To orchestrate email, call, and LinkedIn sequences and keep reps in a repeatable rhythm.
- Dialer with recording: Power dialers and local‑presence features let SDRs maintain volume while capturing training data.
- Conversation intelligence: Call recording, transcription, and search so managers can coach at scale.
- Data/list tools: Reliable prospect data, enrichment, and segmentation for outbound motion.
- Video conferencing: For discovery calls, demos, and internal collaboration.
Gartner notes that 61% of CSOs are investing in new technology specifically to enable virtual selling, and 74% have updated seller skill profiles to reflect virtual skills. If you’re trying to run modern remote sales on a 2015 tech stack, you’re handicapping your team.
5.2 Putting AI to Work (Without Losing the Human)
AI is particularly powerful for remote teams because it scales the stuff that used to require managers sitting over shoulders:
- Email personalization: Tools like SalesHive’s eMod automatically research prospects and tailor cold emails based on public data, while keeping your core message intact. That means reps can send more relevant outreach instead of copying the same generic template 500 times.
- Call summarization: Conversation‑intelligence tools can summarize calls, extract next steps, and flag risks, making it easier for managers to review more deals in less time.
- Coaching insights: Some platforms highlight talk‑time balance, monologues, and missed questions, giving you objective starting points for coaching.
The trick is to use AI to do the grunt work-research, summarization, pattern detection-so humans can focus on connection, persuasion, and strategy.
6. Hiring, Onboarding, and Retaining Remote SDRs
You can’t manage your way out of a bad hiring or onboarding process. For remote teams, these are leverage points.
6.1 Hiring for Remote‑Ready Traits
A top‑performing office SDR isn’t automatically a top‑performing remote SDR.
In addition to the usual sales traits (curiosity, resilience, competitiveness), look for:
- Self‑management: Can they structure their own day without a manager within earshot?
- Written communication: Remote work runs on Slack, email, and CRM notes.
- Tech comfort: They’ll be living in your sales stack all day; switching tabs shouldn’t scare them.
- Coachability via async: Can they take written or recorded feedback and implement it without a live walkthrough every time?
Practical hiring tips:
- Use roleplays over Zoom to mimic real work. Watch how they handle objection, not just what they say.
- Give a small home assignment: write a short cold email or ICP breakdown. You’ll see their thinking and writing instantly.
- Involve potential peers in the interview loop-remote culture is highly dependent on peer fit.
6.2 Designing a 30‑60‑90 Remote Onboarding Plan
Remote onboarding fails when it’s just a calendar full of random Zoom links.
Instead, build a structured 30‑60‑90 plan that covers:
- Knowledge: Product, ICPs, competitive landscape, key personas
- Skills: Cold call frameworks, email writing, discovery basics
- Systems: CRM, engagement platform, dialer, internal tools
- Outputs: Activities, meetings, and pipeline targets at each stage
Layer in certifications before you turn them loose:
- Mock cold calls and objection handling
- Written email sequences reviewed by a manager
- ‘Ride‑alongs’ on live calls with debriefs
Remember, 55% of sales teams report faster onboarding with remote training when it’s done intentionally. Done poorly, it just creates expensive, underperforming ghosts in your CRM.
6.3 Keep an Eye on Engagement and Career Paths
Remote work can be a double‑edged sword for engagement.
On one hand, Gallup’s data shows remote employees can be more engaged than their in‑office peers. On the other hand, other research finds that 33% of sales reps feel disconnected from their teams and 35% report feeling more motivated when working remotely-meaning you have both winners and strugglers in the same model.
To tilt the odds in your favor:
- Talk about career paths early. SDR work is hard; reps need to see the road from SDR → senior SDR → AE or another role.
- Include remote reps in big decisions and company events. Even if you do an occasional in‑person SKO or region meetup, make sure remote voices are represented.
- Track engagement deliberately. Pulse surveys, 1:1 conversations, and retention data are just as important as quota.
7. How This Applies to Your Sales Team
All of this is great in theory, but let’s bring it closer to home.
If You’re a VP of Sales or CRO
Your job is to design the system, not fix every individual issue personally.
Ask yourself:
- Do we have a clear, shared scorecard for SDRs and AEs?
- Is there a documented operating cadence with agendas everyone knows?
- Can I see real‑time performance by rep, segment, and channel without asking Ops for custom reports?
- Are managers trained and scheduled to regularly coach using call recordings and email reviews?
- Where are we over‑relying on heroics instead of process (one killer SDR, one ‘rainmaker’ AE)?
Your next step might be to run a half‑day working session with sales leadership and RevOps to lock in the scorecard and cadence. That single move will make the rest of your remote management changes 10x easier.
If You’re a Head of SDR or Front‑Line Manager
Your world is more tactical-but you have massive leverage.
Focus on three priorities for the next quarter:
- Make numbers visible. Own a dashboard that every rep sees daily and review it in every 1:1. No more ambiguous expectations.
- Implement a call‑coaching habit. Even 2 calls per rep per week, consistently, will move the needle.
- Create one simple cultural ritual. Weekly wins, call‑of‑the‑week, or peer‑to‑peer recognition in Slack.
You don’t need a 50‑slide initiative. You need a handful of consistent behaviors your team can feel.
If You’re a Revenue Leader Deciding Build vs. Buy
Look at your calendar and your hiring pipeline.
If you:
- Don’t have experienced SDR managers who’ve run remote teams before
- Need pipeline fast in new segments or geos
- Are fighting to get budget for the right tech stack and data
…then trying to build a full remote SDR function from scratch may not be the best use of your time.
This is exactly where outsourced SDR partners like SalesHive shine. They bring:
- Trained, remote SDRs with battle‑tested cold calling and email skills
- An AI‑powered platform (including eMod for email personalization) already wired up
- Playbooks for list building, sequencing, and objection handling across 1,500+ clients
- Management, QA, and reporting baked in so your team can focus on closing
You can always build an internal SDR motion later-once you’ve validated messaging, ICP, and channels with a partner who lives and breathes remote outbound.
Conclusion + Next Steps
Remote sales is no longer something you “tolerate” because the world forced it on you. Done right, it’s a competitive advantage.
The data backs it up: most buyers prefer virtual interactions, most knowledge workers are hybrid or remote, and a majority of sales teams report higher productivity and better performance once they commit to remote sales models. The teams that struggle aren’t victims of remote work-they’re victims of fuzzy expectations, weak coaching, and outdated processes.
If you want your remote sales team to thrive:
- Clarify success. Publish a remote‑friendly scorecard and review it religiously.
- Standardize the rhythm. Set a weekly cadence of meetings with clear purposes.
- Coach with data and recordings. Stop guessing-listen to the calls.
- Invest in the stack. Give reps the tools and AI support modern selling demands.
- Be intentional about culture. Design connection; don’t hope it appears.
And if you’d rather skip a year of painful experimentation, consider partnering with a specialist.
SalesHive has been building and managing remote SDR teams since 2016, booking 100,000+ meetings for 1,500+ B2B clients with a mix of cold calling, AI‑powered email outreach, SDR outsourcing, and list building. They’ve already solved the toughest parts of remote sales management-so you don’t have to.
Whether you build in‑house, partner with experts, or (smart move) do a bit of both, the opportunity is the same: remote sales teams, managed well, can be the most efficient, scalable growth engine your company has ever had.
📊 Key Statistics
Expert Insights
Run Your Remote Team on a Simple, Non-Negotiable Cadence
Remote sales teams fall apart when every week looks different. Lock in a simple rhythm: one weekly team meeting, one pipeline review, and a biweekly 1:1 with every rep. Use the same agenda and the same dashboards every time so reps know what data matters and can self-manage between meetings.
Coach the Call, Not Just the Number
In remote environments, it's easy to obsess over dials and emails because that's what's visible in dashboards. Balance activity metrics with quality coaching using call recordings, talk-time analysis, and email reply reviews. Choose one behavior to improve per rep per week-openings, objection handling, or discovery questions-so coaching actually sticks.
Default to Asynchronous, Reserve Live Time for High-Value Moments
If every small update becomes a meeting, remote reps lose the very productivity advantage remote work brings. Push status updates, announcements, and playbook changes into async channels (Slack, Loom, or your enablement hub). Protect live time for what truly benefits from interaction: roleplays, strategy debates, and deep coaching.
Make Culture a Process, Not a Vibe
In an office, culture happens in the gaps. Remotely, those gaps don't exist-so culture has to be designed. Bake culture into recurring rituals: shout-outs at the start of standups, a monthly 'call of the month' breakdown, and a buddy system for new SDRs. When connection is part of the operating system, you don't have to manufacture morale in emergencies.
Outsource for Expertise, Not Just Headcount
If you're new to managing remote SDRs, trying to build a full function from scratch can burn a year of runway. Outsourcing to a specialist like SalesHive lets you test messaging, channels, and ICPs with battle-tested remote SDRs and AI-powered workflows, while your internal team focuses on closing and strategy instead of reinventing outbound execution.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Managing by gut feel instead of a clear remote scorecard
When reps are remote, you can't rely on floor noise or 'walking the pods' to sense performance. Without clear KPIs, managers overreact to anecdotes, miss early warning signs, and let mediocre performance linger.
Instead: Define a simple, visible scorecard for SDRs (e.g., dials, conversations, meetings set, pipeline created, show rate) and review it in every 1:1. Use the numbers as a starting point for coaching, not a stick.
Micromanaging activity instead of coaching outcomes
Remote leaders often respond to anxiety by tightening the screws on activity-hourly Slack check-ins, screen monitoring, or rigid scripts-which kills trust and creativity and eventually hurts quota attainment.
Instead: Set guardrails on activity but obsess over leading indicators tied to outcomes (meeting quality, conversion rates). Give reps autonomy in how they hit targets, and coach message, targeting, and call execution instead of hovering.
Ignoring onboarding structure because reps are 'experienced'
Even seasoned SDRs are lost without clear expectations, product context, and messaging. In a remote setup, there's no osmosis-so a loose onboarding plan leads to slow ramp and inconsistent messaging to prospects.
Instead: Build a 30-60-90 day remote onboarding plan with specific learning modules, certification checkpoints (mock calls, test emails), and activity/meeting targets. Pair every new hire with a mentor for their first 60 days.
Letting culture be optional in a remote environment
When there's no intentional culture, remote reps default to feeling like lone wolves. That erodes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and retention-especially for newer or underrepresented team members.
Instead: Institutionalize connection: weekly wins, cross-team deal reviews, call-listening clubs, and informal coffee chats. Track engagement like any other KPI and make managers accountable for it.
Under-investing in the tech stack that remote selling demands
Relying on a basic CRM and manual processes forces reps to waste time on admin, creates data gaps, and makes it nearly impossible for managers to diagnose problems early.
Instead: Equip remote teams with a modern stack: CRM, sales engagement (email + dialer), conversation intelligence, data tools, and AI personalization engines. Standardize processes in these tools so every rep follows the same motion.
Action Items
Define a remote sales scorecard for SDRs and AEs this week
Choose 5-7 leading and lagging metrics (e.g., activities, conversations, meetings, pipeline created, revenue) and publish them in a single dashboard. Review it in your next team meeting and 1:1s so everyone knows what 'good' looks like.
Implement a simple weekly operating cadence
Lock in recurring times for a weekly team meeting, a pipeline review, and individual 1:1s. Use a shared agenda template and the same reports each time so reps come prepared and you spend time on coaching, not status updates.
Stand up a basic call-recording and coaching program
Use your dialer or a conversation-intelligence tool to record calls, then pick 2-3 calls per rep each week to review together. Focus feedback on one specific skill (openings, discovery, objections) and agree on a practice plan for the next week.
Tighten your remote onboarding plan
Turn your tribal knowledge into a remote-friendly playbook: ICPs, messaging, objection handling, and process checklists. Add a 30-60-90 day ramp plan with clear expectations for training completed, activities, and meetings set.
Audit your tech stack for remote friction
Map a day in the life of an SDR and list every tool they touch. Eliminate redundant tools, fill gaps (like conversation intelligence or AI email personalization), and create short Loom walkthroughs so reps know exactly how to work in the system.
Decide what to build in-house vs. outsource
Calculate the true cost of hiring, training, and managing remote SDRs versus partnering with an SDR agency like SalesHive. Consider speed to market, management bandwidth, and the value of plugging into proven cold calling and email engines.
Partner with SalesHive
SalesHive’s model is built around elite remote SDRs in the U.S. and the Philippines, all supported by an in‑house AI sales platform. Their eMod engine automatically researches prospects and personalizes cold emails at scale, helping clients cut through inbox noise and dramatically improve reply rates. On the phone side, professionally trained outbound callers run structured, high‑volume campaigns, feeding your AEs with qualified meetings instead of raw leads.
With 100,000+ meetings booked for 1,500+ B2B clients across industries, SalesHive has already solved the messy parts of remote sales management-hiring, training, coaching, QA, and reporting. You get transparent dashboards, month‑to‑month flexibility, and a playbook tuned for your ICP. If you’d rather focus your internal team on closing deals and strategy while a specialized remote engine handles top‑of‑funnel, SalesHive is built for exactly that.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I meet with my remote SDRs and AEs?
For most B2B teams, a weekly team meeting and a biweekly 1:1 per rep is a solid baseline, with ad-hoc check-ins during ramps or performance issues. SDR 1:1s should be very tactical-review scorecards, pipeline coverage, and 1-2 recorded calls. AE 1:1s can skew more toward deal strategy and cross-functional blockers. If you're running daily standups, keep them under 15 minutes and strictly focused on priorities and blockers, not long discussions.
What KPIs matter most for managing a remote sales development team?
Start with a mix of activity, conversion, and outcome metrics. For SDRs, that typically means dials or outbound touches, live conversations, meetings booked, meeting show rate, and pipeline created. For AEs, focus on pipeline coverage, opportunity conversion rates, and sales cycle length. The key in remote environments is consistency: use the same KPIs across the team and review them in a shared dashboard so there's no confusion about expectations.
How do I keep remote reps motivated without becoming a micromanager?
Motivation in remote sales comes from three things: clear expectations, visible progress, and recognition. Publish targets and scorecards, then let reps own their day as long as they hit outcomes. Use 1:1s to remove blockers and coach specific skills instead of demanding constant status updates. Layer in public recognition-Slack shout-outs, small SPIFFs, 'call of the month'-so reps see that quality effort gets noticed even when they're not in the same building.
Is hybrid better than fully remote for B2B sales teams?
Data shows that both models can perform well when managed intentionally. Gallup finds exclusively remote workers can be highly engaged, but hybrid workers often report slightly better overall wellbeing. For sales, hybrid can help with relationship-building and in-person coaching, while fully remote can expand your talent pool and coverage. The more important question is whether you have a clear operating model-scorecards, cadence, tech stack-for whichever setup you choose.
How should I onboard new SDRs in a remote environment?
Treat onboarding like a structured project, not a series of Zoom calls. Give new reps a written 30-60-90 day plan with specific learning modules (product, ICPs, messaging), certifications (mock calls, test sequences), and output targets. Use a mix of live training, on-demand recordings, and supervised practice. Pair them with a 'buddy' SDR and schedule frequent check-ins during the first month to combat isolation and surface gaps early.
What technology should every remote sales team have?
At minimum, you need a CRM, a sales engagement platform (for email and calling), a reliable dialer, video conferencing, and some form of call recording or conversation intelligence. Data tools for list building and enrichment are critical for outbound SDRs. Increasingly, AI tools-like SalesHive's eMod for email personalization-are becoming core to staying competitive, helping reps scale quality outreach without writing every email from scratch.
When does it make sense to outsource remote SDR work?
Outsourcing is especially useful when you're entering new markets, don't have in-house outbound expertise, or need to scale faster than you can hire and train. A partner like SalesHive brings proven playbooks, tech, and trained remote SDRs so you can test messaging and channels quickly. Many teams use a hybrid model: an outsourced team for net-new outbound and list building, plus a small internal team focused on strategic accounts and handoffs to AEs.
How do I handle time zones on a global remote sales team?
Design your coverage first, then staff around it. Use a follow-the-sun model for global buyers or cluster reps by region/vertical. For internal collaboration, set a few overlapping hours where all relevant roles are online, and push the rest of your communication async. Record trainings and share written recaps so no one has to join calls at impossible hours just to stay in the loop.