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Summary: This guide provides an in-depth look at remote closing, covering everything from how to get started to the skills needed and the earning potential in this growing field.
Remote work has not just become a trend — it’s changed how entire industries function. Remote closing is a perfect example of this: it used to just be a practice for real estate, but now all kinds of businesses use it to close deals without ever being in the same room as the clients they’re selling to. If you’re looking for a career that allows you to work from home, you like interacting with people, and you’re good at persuading customers to make a purchase, becoming a remote closer could be a great option for you.
What Exactly Is Remote Closing?
In remote closing, salespeople convince leads to become clients without ever meeting in person. This requires using digital tools, such as video conferencing software, a customer service management (CRM) tool, online demos, and e-signature tools. Sales in remote closing are usually high value — in fact, you may also hear the process being called high-value closing. It is often used for inbound sales (when the lead shows an interest in the offering before anyone from the company reaches out).
As we’ve already mentioned, remote closers used to be primarily for real estate. Today, though, they work in all sorts of fields that have high-value sales, including:
- Finance
- Insurance
- Tech
- Healthcare
- Education
- Industry
There are several advantages to remote closing over a more traditional sales process. For one thing, the fact that the salesperson and the client don’t need to meet in person allows for more frequent interactions. The remote closer learns much more about the client, which results in a more personalized sales process and increases the chance of closing the deal. The lack of travel also means the process is more cost effective and less time consuming, allowing the remote closer to work on a larger number of deals at the same time.
What Does a Remote Closer Do?
Exactly what remote closers do each day depends on the industry and the company, but their work typically involves some or all of the following responsibilities:
Generating and Qualifying Leads
The process of remote closing begins with generating leads, which may involve networking, requesting referrals from satisfied customers, or researching opportunities. The top remote closers develop their own strategies to gain a steady stream leads at all times.
A remote closer also needs to qualify leads to determine which of them are likely to ultimately convert. It is only worth dedicating resources to leads that have a high chance of resulting in a sale.
Sales Presentations
The next step is to present the offering to leads. This tends to require several touchpoints, during which time the remote closer needs to address any concerns the lead has, including by emphasizing the benefits of the product or service. Frequent follow-ups also help the remote closer learn more about leads, which is crucial for tailoring sales presentations to each individual’s needs, motivations, and desires.
After every interaction with a lead, the remote closer needs to keep a record of what happened. This information is important for subsequent interactions.
Closing Sales
The end of the sales process is closing the deal. It may take some negotiation to arrive at an agreement, which again requires understanding the lead and may also mean maintaining communication with teammates at the company to find out where it’s possible to make concessions. The remote closer will often need to be persistent to arrive at this stage.
In addition to securing a deal with the client, closing a sale also requires ensuring the paperwork is all in order and the deal is legally able to proceed.
Customer Service
Many times, remote closers maintain contact with a client after the deal is complete. This is useful in cases where the company wants to retain the client for repeat business, cross-sell other offerings, or provide a superior customer service as part of its branding.
Collaborating with Team Members
Remote closers don’t always work entirely alone, even when they are independent contractors at several businesses. There are often other people involved process, such as marketers (who make users aware that they have a problem and frame the offering as a solution) as well appointment setters (who initially reach out to leads and develop their interest to prime them for the remote closer to complete the deal).
How Much Does a Remote Closer Earn?
Remote closing is one of the highest-paid sales positions. According to ZipRecruiter, the average pay is $112,891 year (around $54 hour), although salaries range from $31,500 year at the lowest to $193,500 at the highest. Remote closers may receive a flat fee or a commission based on the value of the deal. It is down to each company to how decide to pay its remote closers (although each industry does tend to have its standard practices).
Positions may pay significantly less if companies outsource work to other countries where labor cheaper.
Characteristics of a Great Remote Closer
Successful remote closers are a specific type of salespeople. Since they are usually working on high-value sales, the process of closing a deal tends to be a long one. Far from involving just couple of interactions with each lead, it requires engaging with a lead over a number of phone and video calls.
The process requires understanding a lead’s goals and concerns to anticipate objections before they come up and highlighting the right benefits of the offering to make a persuasive argument. The remote closer will need to use persuasive techniques, active listening, and nonverbal cues that translate across video chat or a phone call. This requires a good understanding of psychology to know how leads are thinking and negotiation skills to gain the best possible outcome. It is also important to have an in-depth knowledge of the company’s offerings.
Furthermore, remote closers need much more than just sales skills. Even though they are part of a team, much of their work comes down to taking initiative and being organized, as they’ll only achieve results when they put in the work. Although they may have guidance from a manager, it is up to the remote closer to stay disciplined, as they receive minimal oversight. This includes setting their own goals and ensuring they are taking the necessary steps to meet their targets.
How to Launch a Career as a Remote Closer
There are various ways to move into a career as a remote closer, as each business will have slightly different requirements. Having said that, certain qualifications and experience will improve your chances because they will show you have the necessary skills.
In addition, you’re more likely to land a job if you have a good understanding of sales tactics and if you know the right people.
Education
Many employers want candidates who have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, such as in sales and marketing, business, or even psychology. Alternatively, it may be enough to take online training courses in sales and closing.
Sales Experience
Typically more important than your educational background tends be your sales experience, including proof of your abilities to close deals. Jobs in high-value sales tend to be for salespeople who want to take their careers to the next level, to benefit from the flexibility of remote work, and to have the chance to work with global clients and increase their earnings.
If don’t have any such experience, there are ways to start a career in sales and move up to a remote closer position. For instance, it is often possible find entry-level work, particularly in telemarketing, appointment setting, and customer service. Any of these positions will teach you more about the sales process and help you develop your skills.
Familiarize Yourself with Sales Techniques
Consume as much content as you can about sales tactics. Read books and articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and follow sales experts on social media. Learn how to persuade, negotiate, handle objections, and close. You’ll likely find that certain techniques resonate with you more than others do — this is fine. Remote closing is all about developing your own method to finalize the maximum number of deals.
Develop Other Skills
As you’ve seen, remote closing involves a wide variety of skills beyond selling that you’ll also need to develop. In particular, it’s important to become comfortable using digital communication tools, CRM software, and prospecting tools to be able to hit the ground running.
Choose a Niche
Since remote closing requires a deep understanding of the products or services you’re selling, it’s important to have a passion for the field you work in. Choose a niche based on your interests and background — it’s also worth considering which industries have a high demand for remote closers (and are likely to still do so in the future) and will provide you with the salary you want. Use the niche you choose to create your personal brand.
Network with Professionals
To ensure you hear about opportunities, it’s important to network with sales professionals, particularly people within the niche you’ve chosen. As well as leading to job opportunities, your network may keep you informed about possibilities to participate in further training and attend webinars. Plus, you may gain a mentor who will give you guidance and practice mock sales calls with you to help you develop your sales tactics.
The Challenges of Being a Remote Closer
Finally, before deciding that you do want to become a remote closer, it’s important to reflect on the challenges that come with this work.
A big one working remotely. It may sound appealing, but you’ll need to consider whether you’ll be happy spending most of your day alone — some people find the arrangement isolating and struggle to connect with teammates they never see in person.
You may also face distractions, which may make it harder to meet your targets. Alternatively, you may end up working longer hours than you would in an office setting, such as if you find it difficult to switch off from work because the environment never changes and you lack clear schedule — this is especially likely if you’re selling to customers in other time zones.
In addition, remote closers are responsible for ensuring their technology functions properly. If you face problems with software or hardware, it’s often up to you to find a solution — which could result in losing valuable time and potentially missing a meeting with a lead. You must also ensure you follow cybersecurity best practices to prevent a breach that could put customer data at risk.
Finally, there is the fact that remote closing is unsuitable for some deals that require notarizing. For instance, although the majority of states do allow online notarization, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi have currently only adopted temporary Remote Online Notarization (RON) laws. This means online notarization is only allowed under specific conditions.
Do You Have What It Takes?
If you possess the right characteristics, are willing to put in the work to improve your skills, and are not dissuaded by the challenges, becoming a remote closer could be a great career option for you. Bear in mind, though, this is just one option for remote work — there are numerous other opportunities to work from home.
If you’re more interested in HR, consider joining the team at Remote People. You’ll be helping businesses recruit and hire talent across globe. Reach out to let us know what you bring to the table.