Farm Tender - The daily commute is from one room to another

Rules and tools are important for managing remote teams

By Dwain Duxson

Image - My office

We have always run a remote team ever since we started Farm Tender over 10 years ago now. Farm Tender is an online Marketplace for Farmers and associated Ag businesses, so all our team need is a computer and phone, and they are in business. 

You could say we were running remote years before it became trendy during Covid 19.

So when we started out, it was just me, and then we kept growing a little bit at a time and added people along the way. And really, there was no one to follow on how to run remote teams. We had to wing it and work it out ourselves.

Over the years, we have developed a set of rules and tools to suit the way we operate. Trust plays a big part in running such a team.

Some of the tools we use are:
* We use Skype messaging to communicate, it's been around for years, and there are newer, trendier platforms out there, but it suits us because it's simple.
* We use Capsule CRM to record all the interactions with our members. This job is fast paces so we need a simple-to-operate CRM platform.
* We do daily numbers. This is where we collate the previous day's information. We put around 20 pieces of data (KPI's) into a Google Spreadsheet and send it out to each of the staff members daily. This shows what each individual has done for the day. 
* Some of the KPI's include new members, new listings, new inquiries, each sales person's commission sale totals, invoice totals, no of contracts written, no of unique visitors for the day, CRM notes, listing by staff, and how many tasks each sales per has outstanding.
* We use Xero for Accounting and Bookkeeping.
* We have a customer-built backend where we send out all the contracts and NPS invoices.
* Our backend system enables us to send out our daily email newsletter to over 50,000 members.

Some of the rules:
* Everyone team member must say good morning when they log on each day (Skype).
* If someone has to take off somewhere, they just announce it (Skype).
* We have a little team celebration if a couple of milestones are reached (Skype).
* We have a 3pm check-in where staff give a rundown of their day (Skype).
* We have a Tuesday Morning Meeting each week, and each team member gets a chance to host and ask a question (Zoom).
* There are other rules we use around family and health.

Why do we run a remote team-only strategy? There are lots of positives. Some include:
* Finding the right people. We feel we have a bigger opportunity to get the right person if they don't have to move anywhere.
* Keeping rural people rural. Often our members will ask where we are from. We like our team to be based in the bush.
* It's safe to say that our team would find it hard to mesh back into an office/shop life. I know I tried it for a while and hated it.
* It suits our business, all we need is a phone and computer, and we can all work, and work from anywhere, so much so that one of our staff has been on the road for 2 years now touring in their caravan.

The daily commute is from one room to another, this allows our team more time to service our members. And that's what we love doing.