What the future of remote looks like for Sales and Marketing professionals

“If you’re not in the office, you’re not working” is something that I have heard from all the sales jobs I have had. I bet it’s something you can relate to too, but what does that mean for remote work with the pandemic?

If you’re part of the internet, it is very likely you have consulted whilst doing your “main job” or flirted with the idea of having a side hustle. This couldn’t be more true when most of us were forced to work from home throughout 2020 and most of 2021. Although we realised we had a lot more time than we used to, we came to peace with the fact that we used to be busy instead of productive.

In the sales and marketing game, you are given quarterly KPIs and, beyond that, expected to do something every day. When things are bad, your manager will micro-manage your CRM, and when we used to be in the office, look at you making calls and writing emails. I even remember being bothered if someone was on Youtube during work.

When things are going well (tracking towards target), everything relaxes. In fact, you can even have an unorganised CRM — something is working, and we’re not going to break it. Strangely though, if you hit your target too soon, you get micromanaged again and questioned as to why you are so good. This leads to gamification, which is a separate subject but one I will share next week.

Remote work, simply, has provided us with clarity on what good talent looks like and what real effort produces. At the end of the day, no one actually needs to be micromanaging you.

Predictions

Here are some things I expect to happen in the future, and what I will be looking for anyway as I progress further into my career:

Asynchronous Work:

Offices are not productive. It’s noisy, full of movement, and not personalised. Work will rely on communication platforms like slack, collaboration tools like Notion, and project management software such as Trello. You should work however you want and meet up with the team in selected hours, not whenever the boss feels like it.

Output > Time at the office:

Being in the office to satisfy the ludicrous idea that work is being done is bullshit. Every sales and marketing role I have had has required meeting with people, whether on their turf, in a cafe, or online. The output you create will show in the user acquisition and the revenue you bring in. If there is a lot of activity in your emails, work being shared, and movement in your networks, that will count more than time in an office, right?

I also think that being in the office can give this illusion of career advancement. If you’re known online (reputation), have good engagement with your posts, and show interest in others content, it will do more for you than your boss could in the office.

More time:

With office work, it looks like this: 90 minutes to get to and from work a day + hour a day to get ready (some might take longer) + 6 hours for travelling to meetings (when I worked with Twitter, this got up to 12 hours a week at times!). There is lunch and errands, but lets keep it at that. Total is given 48 weeks: 17 days!

In summary, you get 17 days back. Do the calculation and see what you stand to gain with remote work.

More diverse teams:

With remote work you have access to more talent which means more nationalities, and because you care more about output, you could care less where someone is from. Unless, of course, you need deep cultural insights that are region-specific.

Living remotely:

People will choose to live where they want and save more money this way too. We should also see countries open up for remote work tourism where you don’t need a work permit to live there for more than 90 days (it might require tax payments or a small premium).

Life balance will improve:

With more time available and understanding of how much work you have to do, you will easily be able to pick up hobbies, spend time with friends, and keep active as well.

Overall, we will start to work harder:

If life is output focused, you will naturally seek to do more. In return, you will work harder to be more innovative or to get more bonuses. On the flip side, we might just not take enough breaks or get too much screen time — burnout will become more of reality too.

In conclusion

Sales professionals need to be moving, they need to be networking, and they honestly become better the more they do so. Keeping them in an office under close watch is not healthy.

Marketing professionals need to be inspired, spaces to share ideas, and places to test their methods. Unfortunately, doing this in one room is counterproductive.

• Having home offices with more screens, ergonomic chairs, and your favourite foods is definitely better.
• Being connected is super easy with online tools.

Having in-person meetings is key, this goes without saying. However, making it compulsory to be somewhere on a timetable is something that we all hate, and are moving away from.