Survival Tactics for Traveling Salespeople
Sales and travel often go together. However, nowadays the glamour of air travel is gone--even driving can be tedious.
Being on the road doesn’t have to be a source of sales frustration. There are ways to manage your travel so that you actually sell more instead of feeling worn out.
Eliminate steps.
The need to travel starts when you have to make an appointment with a prospect or customer. Too many salespeople think that the time to make the appointment is after their last sales call. Why not schedule your next appointment when you’re concluding your current appointment?
You know how much time you’ve allocated to each of your major accounts. You should also know if you plan to make a sales call monthly, quarterly, or annually with that account. What I’ve found is that availability doesn’t often change--hopefully your business experience is the same.
Think about it. Do you know when you are going to take your vacation? Isn’t it already on your calendar? In the same way, regularly scheduled meetings should be already blocked off on your calendar. Your customers are the same.
At your next sales call, ask your customer to get out his calendar before you leave. Suggest when the next meeting should be; schedule it right then and there. You've just saved yourself some time by not having to call later to schedule the next meeting --and you’ve saved yourself the frustration of trying to reach someone later on.
Simplify your preparation.
You should already know what items you need to take with you while you’re on the road. They can range from chargers to sales materials to clothing and toiletries. Put duplicates of your chargers in your suitcase that you use to travel. Why waste the time having to look for a charger? Yes, it costs more to buy the chargers, but it’s simpler to avoid having to pack and perhaps forget what you need.
Write a clothing checklist. You know what you need for a road trip of two days, three days, or more. If each item is listed on the checklist, you can use the checklist to avoid forgetting the most important items. Yes, I left for a trip without my suit jacket once. A checklist would have eliminated that problem.
Think of a travel wardrobe. Most customers aren’t looking at your clothes and they certainly won’t remember what you wore if it was clean and neat. Dark clothes (think slacks and skirts) don’t show dirt as easily. Try to find separates that can be worn in multiple ways. A dark skirt can be paired with a blouse, a suit jacket, or a sweater. For women, bring the shortest, simplest jackets that you have--they take less room to pack. If you know that these are the items you’ll wear on the road, fold them and store them in your suitcase. Now you’re already packed.
Toiletries should always be packed. Get duplicates or fill smaller bottles with the liquids you need and keep them filled. Send yourself a text or reminder to fill any items that you use up while you travel. That way when you return home you will immediately replenish what you have used. Your next trip will be more pleasant when you haven’t forgotten something important and have to go out and buy it.
Travel less.
This needs to be said: Do you really need to take that trip? Could you accomplish your objective on the phone? Sometimes people travel just because they’ve always done it that way. Always be vigilant about making trips to customers who are respectful of your time and where you have a valid sales objective to accomplish. Perhaps the trip isn’t even necessary. You need to make that decision.
Road travel isn’t going to get any easier in the near future unless you consider TSA PreCheck. Regardless, it's always important to do planning so you don’t make your travel any more difficult than it needs to be.
