I work at PatientPop as Senior Sales Development Manager.

How big is it?

I manage a team of 12 reps and I oversee the field SDR program which consists of 30 reps.

Where are your teammates located?

All over the country.

What does your team do?

Cold outreach to private practices all over the country. I am responsible for making sure they have absolutely everything they need to get the job done at a high level.

I think it's important to have a healthy combination between competition and support. In other words, I need them to want to beat each other but at the same time be each other's biggest fans.

Non-work related activities are more important than ever in a remote environment - this can be 1 on 1's that turn into conversations about Monday Night Football or team icebreaker meetings where we discuss ideas bigger than ourselves.

We don't have the luxury of having conversations in passing, in the kitchen, on the way to lunch, etc, so we must be intentional about it.

I ask them. That's the first thing... I find we often try to disguise what we want done in different ways which just leads to confusion. There is so much power in just simply asking directly. 

The next thing is trying my best to take the pressure off them when it comes to outcomes. We are playing a game of negativity, which means even the best in the world will “fail” more than they “win”.

In the office, if I see that someone is down, or had a bad call, I would be able to grab them and talk it out. When working remotely, I need them to be proactive about it, but I also need them to not put too much power into things they can't control.

Honestly, I am a huge in-person guy. I struggled a ton early on with the remote stuff before getting my footing.

When I was in the office I probably spent 15% of the day in front of my computer - now it’s 100%. Switching from Zoom call to Zoom all day, every day gets tiring.

Icebreaker meetings (during calling hours) where we come prepared with an answer to a question like “what do you think is the secret to a good life?”. 

I actually hired a virtual gaming company to come in one time called Steamed Egg. It was pretty awesome!

We used to do trivia a bunch! I would google trivia questions and answers. I’d ask the team jeopardy-style, where the first one one to say "got it" would get to answer. If you get two questions wrong you get removed from the Zoom call. First to get three questions right wins a free lunch, an hour off on friday, etc.

We haven't done this in a while, but we used to start days like this; it always leads to some laughs and good vibes.

Just taking everything in. I try and learn something from everybody I speak with. Everyone has something to offer. EVERYONE.