Why a fully remote company ditched Gather for Kumospace

Founded by Sasha Stanojlovic and co-founder Jovan Stojanovic, Phonesales.com has grown from two people to 45 employees worldwide. This 100% remote company helps clients close more sales and generate more revenue.

Problem: Employee isolation = less feedback & team collaboration

With many employees in different countries, the Phonesales.com team was experiencing a strong sense of loneliness due to a heavy reliance on asynchronous communication. This struggle to build cohesive cross-border company culture was having a negative impact on team communication and collaboration. Meanwhile, managers were struggling to provide productive real-time feedback due to a lack of visibility.

Solution: Discovering virtual office software

As COO, Sasha had become aware of these challenges. So he started looking for a solution to unify his team. This lead him to discover Gather, (referred to as Gather Town), a company offering virtual office software. This kind of software provides users with a virtual work environment where team members can show up, work together, and build bonds. 

But quickly Sasha and the Phonesales.com team ran into issues using Gather Town. 

The Switch from Gather to Kumospace

Phonesales.com’s core challenge with Gather centered around the product feeling like it was more built for gamers and less for workers. Sasha and the team found visibility was an issue with Gather. 

One of the core benefits of a virtual office is the ability to have a sense of what is happening around you. Employees see colleagues' faces, and statuses, and generally have a sense of what’s happening at the company in real-time. This is especially important for a virtual sales organization. As Phonesales.com services new clients selling a new product or service, rapid feedback between team members helps the team get up to speed quickly and generate more sales opportunities faster.

These challenges with Gather Town made Sacha want to find a product with the same concept but better suited to business. After searching for Gather alternatives, Sasha found Kumospace, one of the leading providers of virtual office software.

Finding a Gather alternative meant switching to Kumospace

Since its inception, Kumospace has been focusing on building its software for business people. This means being laser-focused on providing remote teams with software that builds culture, provides visibility, and speeds up team collaboration. 

Visibility enables real-time feedback

With Kumospace, Sasha can now more easily step in, provide feedback, and help the team succeed. “For me to be a successful leader, I have to have a sense of what is happening in real-time,” says Sasha. This visibility gave Sasha the ability to quickly provide feedback on specific projects and campaigns as well as mentor junior team members.

Popping into offices to connect with employees

Sasha starts the day off by popping into random offices to check if anyone needs support. “People often forget, sales is a team sport,” says Sasha. Helping team members solve objections or brainstorm through cold outbound campaigns is how he shares his experience with his fellow team.

But this isn’t limited to managers. Sasha now sees peers often getting together and collaborating. The heightened visibility allows employees to brainstorm together and learn from one another like they would on a physical sales floor.

Daily One-on-One Meetings

Every day around 10 am, Sasha watches his team start their day with one-on-one meetings in Kumospace. In these brief meetings, they discuss their goals and review the previous day's performance. These meetings are also a chance to build interpersonal relationships, help team members understand the goals of their work, and foster a culture of collaboration and helping one another.

Call shadowing goes both ways

At Phonesales.com observing each other’s call goes both ways. Sasha and his managers don’t just show their sales reps, they also have their more junior team members shadow them talking to clients and making sales calls. 

“This is how we mentor our team members”

Collectively the team together makes one another better at our job. These sessions don’t just create moments of professional learning, “they have helped us build our company’s culture,” says Sasha.

A vibrant and equitable company culture

For Sasha, he had always hoped to build a culture of collaboration and transparency. With Kumospace, he has been able to do just that by providing everyone on the team with an equal opportunity to succeed, grow together, and know what is going on at the company.

Sounds like a closed deal

One team member's win no longer feels like an individual victory. When someone on the team closes a deal, they ring the virtual Kumospace gong, and the whole team celebrates. This is just one way Phonesales.com motivates teams. An added benefit is that it also creates a sense of unity within the organization.

Water-cooler moments that just happen naturally

Nothing beats the feeling of watching your employees chatting and laughing with each other after a sales power hour. For Phonesales.com this practice has organically created a sense of camaraderie. Team members have begun to build friendships outside of formal work, leading to an even tighter team dynamic.

Implementation of Kumospace

Sasha was ecstatic to learn about Kumospace and immediately got to work on implementation.

Tested It On Leadership First

The implementation process was seamless. First, the CEO tested the features and confirmed that the team would benefit in the long term. He then added the managers, who also found Kumospace convenient and enjoyable. Gradually, the top leadership introduced the tool to assistants, closers, and the rest of the team.

People Choose to Use Kumospace Now

Kumospace has now become an integral part of their daily routine. Half of his company now uses it; he doesn't force anyone to use it or remind them to log in.

Try Kumospace Today

Kumospace has completely transformed Sasha's work experience. Learn how it can also improve your company's operations. Bring better company culture, team collaboration, and visibility to your remote or hybrid organization today. 

Try Kumospace and see the difference it makes for your business. You can try it for free or schedule a demo today!