It should come as no surprise that the cost of a personal sales call has seen substantial increases over the past year. Given the rising costs of travel expenses (airfare, fuel, hotel) in just the past three months, travel budgets will be stressed and will require all of us to be more efficient and productive when scheduling out of town trips.Jerry Salame is a sales rep for Automotive News in Detroit, and he sent me an e-mail the other day suggesting this column. Jerry covers at least six states and has always been very efficient at planning road trips. Here are some of his thoughts and ways that he plans an upcoming three or four-day sales trip:
*Plan your travel at a minimum one month out. Set up your appointments for a week that is most convenient for the client (not you). After (and I do mean after) you have confirmed meeting dates, that’s when you should schedule your flight and hotel itinerary. If you have ever scheduled flights before scheduling appointments, you know that more often than not, the trip turns into a disaster.
*Depending on the territory and distance needed to travel, some find it best to schedule a flight that arrives mid morning. This allows time to make a lunch meeting, followed by some calls in the afternoon, and then a client dinner meeting. The next morning you can have a breakfast meeting, followed by a mid morning meeting, followed by another lunch, etc.
Most of you already know this, but if you have fallen into a rut of poor planning, it’s time to pick yourself up and start doing it the right way again.
The point here is that by confirming your meetings ahead of time your next road trip will be much more rewarding. Instead of a poorly planned trip that results in a minimum number of calls that skyrockets the cost of each call, you will certainly get more satisfaction and build better relationships with a smart travel plan. In his e-mail to me Jerry went on to write: “Even if they didn’t buy anything, the fact that you came a long way to see them will pay dividends when they do have money to spend.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Safe and successful travels. Keep making those calls,
Tony
2 comments:
Good news. The newest member of the MIN Sales Executive Hall of Fame is none other than our own Tony Merpi. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the annual Breakfast of Champions at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on June 11. More than 300 of the industry's leaders will be in attendance to salute his talents. The judges were impressed with Tony's ability to make relationships last for decades, while at the same time increasing revenues at Automotive News through an ever increasing arsenal of integrated marketing opportunities.
Even though he retired in January, we are grateful that Tony's enthusiasm and talent for selling are still being shared with the company's sales force on the "Best Get Better" sales blog and in "boot camp" training sessions being held around the country this summer.
For more details on his prestigious award, visit http://www.minonline.com/awards/seoy2008_event.html.
Congratulations Tony!
Keith and Peter
Way to go Merp!!
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