Consider for a moment the following scenes:

• The overheard cell phone conversation where some sort of a contractual agreement is being negotiated.
• The business person huddled over a tablet scrutinizing numbers in an airport terminal.
• The salesperson simultaneously working a cell phone and a computer in your neighborhood coffee shop.

These and innumerable other examples serve as reminders that the virtual office isn’t something of the future — it’s here (and growing) today.

Several conversations with reps and any number of current articles on the subject serve as reminders that while the days of the typical brick-and-mortar office aren’t necessarily numbered, the importance of having a permanent physical presence in a singular location isn’t nearly as important as it used to be.

Adding some fuel to this growing conversation are the experiences of two MANA-member reps.

To begin, Tom Hayward, United Sales Associates, Cincinnati, Ohio, maintains that it’s a good idea to define what we’re talking about when it comes to discussing the traditional vs. the virtual office. According to Hayward, “A virtual office is one that is probably synonymous with a remote office. That means you can access everything you need regardless of where you’re located.”

Making the Move

Having settled on a definition, he continues that earlier this year his agency made the move to a virtual office for all of its administrative and inside sales support people who serve the seven states that the agency covers. “Years ago it was common to bring all of our people in for meetings. If we had local customers, we’d bring them in two or three times a year to meet with our salespeople. Now we make use of rep software systems, conference calls, webinars, and in-the-field-training. As it developed, the corporate office was just for inside people and administrative staff. Our outside staff hasn’t operated from the corporate office for years. In January we looked around and saw that we had more desks than we had people. On top of that we don’t inventory products and we don’t have any walk-in customers. It just didn’t make sense to continue how we were operating.”

The decision was made to vacate corporate space, sell the building and have staff work virtually. As with any change, this move was accompanied by challenges. “At the beginning I’d say it slowed our processes a bit. We had to decide where we were going to store office material, samples and literature, but we solved all those concerns. Then there is the matter of what do we do when we have to get together in person? For myself, I’m renting shared office space with a company that has satellite offices in others cities. If we have to get together as a staff, we can always locate meeting space in a local hotel and many of our customers have been agreeable in letting us use their space. It’s not all that difficult to be un-tethered from a physical office.”

Having staff work remotely raises the question of how people can/should be managed. According to Hayward, “In our profession we’ve all been ‘road warriors’ for a long time. We have habits and know all the policies and procedures that have to be followed. It’s really a talent that we’ve developed over the years. At the same time, all of us live a reasonable distance from each other. As a result, we make an effort to have as many in-person meetings as we can. Bottom line, we’re learning as we go.”

When asked about what the future holds for what appears to be an inevitable move from brick and mortar to virtual offices, Hayward notes, “When I came into the business, agency owners made sure that got themselves a building and kept it as an asset that they could make use of when they retire. Maybe that’s not in the cards for the future. For the traditional rep, the one who doesn’t have inventory, it’s going to be a challenge to justify having an office. That’s especially true as millennials enter the business and will challenge the traditional way of conducting business. I’d say that in 10 years or so, many reps are going to be asking themselves, ‘Why do I still have an office’?”

Serving the Food Industry

A bit of a different perspective to this conversation is offered by Jim Zink, Zink Foodservice, Westerville, Ohio. As reported in the September 2018 issue of Agency Sales, Zink has more than 70 associates (40 of whom are focused on sales), located in 10 office locations and four culinary centers in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, Chicago and Indianapolis.

Even with that traditional brick-and-mortar presence, Zink explains, “We have folks who have been operating virtually for more than 24 years. But in some of the major markets that we serve, we maintain a brick-and-mortar presence. That provides us with an opportunity to hold court with our customers, help them with menu development and let them kick the tires on the products we provide. The food service side of the business can be very complex, and most people find it helpful to have a spot for them to try on our products and work with our culinary team.

“For us, I think a bit of a hybrid between brick and motor and virtual is ideal. Some of our offices provide inside support for customers. Around the territories we serve we have several salespeople who work out of their homes with no physical offices. When needed, they come to Columbus a few times each year for a central meeting. But basically they are on their own and work completely virtually. It’s gotten much easier to operate that way with the advent of CRM software. You can easily manage the people you’re working with by just checking on the software.”

Zink continues that operating in a virtual environment may not be ideal for someone who is new to the industry. If they are just starting out and have little knowledge of what has to be done, then we notice that our ramp-up time takes a bit longer. On the flip side, if we get a seasoned pro onboard who has operated virtually that way in the past, then it’s a much easier transition for them to our company.”

What the Future Holds

Looking to the future, Zink notes that he doesn’t think a traditional office is necessarily a thing of the past, “But what is happening will certainly affect the size of your office, where you have an office and what your office will look like. Then there’s the issue of management type. Certain managers like control, they have to see their people face to face. Others don’t want control and they achieve the level of control they desire simply by logging into a system.

“I do see more and more companies going in the direction of virtual offices in the future, however, all someone really needs is a space to plug in their laptop.” Echoing Hayward, Zink adds, “The days of salespeople having a bunch of desks are long gone.”

Reasons to Change

Hayward and Zink are hardly expressing their views in a vacuum. In an article that appeared in Entrepreneur magazine, guest writer Mathias Jakobsen enumerated three major reason why companies might find it wise to vacate their office space.

Offices are a waste of time and money — “Even in the digital age, the rising cost of renting and maintaining a physical office has been (wrongly) accepted as a given for most companies. But few people also factor in the high costs associated with wasted time.”

On that latter point, the author cites the time wasted in commuting to work, not to mention wasted time devoted to office gossiping and needless in-person meetings.

Less office means increased productivity — Agreeing with the views expressed by the two MANA reps, Jakobsen says, “As technology has made me ever-connected and more available, I’ve come to believe that I’m as productive working remotely as I am when working from an office.”

Increased work flexibility promotes work-life balance — “Work-life balance has become a core concern of office culture and overall satisfaction. In a recent study of 1,700 employees … 75 percent of those polled also said that remote working allowed them to keep more social and personal commitments, leading to better work-life balance.”

Just as Hayward and Zink had their opinions on the future of the traditional brick-and-mortar office, Jakobsen offered his thoughts: “Office spaces may remain because we need a place to tell jokes and laugh, share food and talk about our challenges or simply because we don’t really know what else to do.

“But our core workflows have forever been altered by the rapid evolution of technology and our path to productivity and better personal lives depends on the ability to adapt to a more flexible, less-finite working process. And that might mean leaving the office behind.”

Managing Personnel

Absent from the Entrepreneur article was the matter of managing personnel who work remotely or virtually. That is a subject addressed by David Deacon, author of The Self-Determined Manager: A Manifesto for Exceptional People Managers.

Deacon focuses on eight things the best managers can do to successfully lead remote teams:

• Keep in touch — Great managers connect with their people by e-mail, Skype or phone conversations. This isn’t an occasional event either; it’s a regular and predictable conversation that they look forward to.
• Focus on more than tasks — The best managers know they need to show that they worry about everyone’s successes and challenges. It’s not only about the project or job at hand.
• Talk about personal stuff and professional stuff — Being remote doesn’t mean treating people like distant relatives. Good managers master the art of chatting and also take time to discuss and share information about what’s going on.
• Talk about themselves a little — They know that managing well is personal, and they don’t forget this just because their team member isn’t in the room with them that day.
• Listen more carefully — The greatest managers listen more when they are talking with people who aren’t in the room with them. They are more attentive, more alert for signs and clues, and more conscious of the need to understand what is really going on.
• Get really clear about what they need done — They know the goals their employee needs to achieve and what standards need to be met. They know it’s harder to course correct along the way when everyone is remote and that less time together requires more clarity up front.
• Ask more questions too — Great managers ask questions about context, about things that get in the way, about local relationships, and about resources. They make fewer assumptions that they know how things are or what would be best, so they inquire more and assume less.
• Do more coaching — They do so not because remote employees need more coaching than other team members, but because there is a ton of value in exploring alternatives and options, and that’s what coaching is. As a result, a large part of the conversation is the manager and the remote worker together coming up with great solutions given the environment the employee is working in — talking about priorities, and resources, and opportunities, and possible pitfalls, and choices.

“Bad managers do the opposite of these things,” adds Deacon. “They listen less, not more. They make assumptions and do not offer help. They gather information they need, but do not share. They give tasks without offering support. They take little interest in the person on the other end of the line. And they do not look forward to the conversation but see it as a chore.”

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].