TODO install wordcount TODO - how many sales employees are there. what are some example tracks from tea time.
#How Square's distributed sales team uses Slack to feel like a family.
Square has more than TK sales people, spread across 4 offices. It's TK's job to make sure that each of these disparate teams operate on all cylinders.
A big part of that is maintaining a feeling of culture and connectedness across three timezones. For this herculean task, TK has a secret weapon in his back pocket, Slack.
Square's sales team uses Slack for productivity, they have dozens of channels where work gets done. But, they also leverage Slack to build connections between team members.
TK shared three tricks they've developed:
##1. Global routines
Every day at 3pm, the team celebrates "Tea Time." During tea time, a different person gets to choose a song from Spotify and share it with their coworkers.
TK explains that, "It makes the people in New York and St. Louis feel like they're part of HQ," because they're sharing songs and having conversations every day.
Pro tip: use Slack's /remind feature to schedule reminders for your own tea time or similar routine.
##2. Celebrate team wins
TK explains that, "[they] installed Troops to keep all of [their] sales teams in New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Arizona, and soon-to-be global, connected and help them feel like they're part of the organization"
With Troops, Square automatically celebrates the closing of big sales. Every time a deal larger than a certain threshold closes, the Troops bot posts an alert and a gif to Slack.
Teammates around the world get to feel like they're a part of a fast moving organization bigger than their office. Plus, sales reps feel celebrated when they close a deal.
Sales teams like TK's have been celebrating wins for ages, often with a big gong. With Slack and Troops, they're able to create a virtual gong that works across multiple offices.
##3. Covert surprises
When a birthday or milestone comes up for a member of the team, Square uses Slack to coordinate surprises. While the team tries to avoid private channels (TK link to public article), they make an exception for surprises.
They'll create a new private channel for everyone but the recipient, brainstorm ideas and then use [Square Cash](TK square cash link) to pool cash.
In the last few months, they've used Slack to buy a $150 bottle of Don Julio 1842 Tequila, mountains of Gluten Free pizza and more.