For many B2B salespeople, attending customer meetings or events is a necessity. Being away from the office can be challenging in some cases because you don’t have access to all the amenities your desk provides. Before smartphones and WiFi Hotspots, it was much harder to stay up to speed with the days communications or customer requests. In today’s hyper-connected world, being on the road does not mean falling behind on today’s work.
Here is how to be a productive sales person on the road:
Plan in Advance
If you have time between meetings bring work with you that you can do or plan to do some networking with people in the area of your meeting. This could be as simple as some catch up reading or more detailed like working on a proposal or pulling a quote together. I have found that in many cases, this between meeting time, is very productive because there are no office distractions. It can also mean popping in to see a current customer, an old colleague or a business partner. Bottom line, make productive use of all your time.
Have a Meeting Plan
If you are on the road and planning face-to-face meetings, we always recommend doing up a meeting plan prior. Have a clear understanding of who you are visiting, why they are meeting with you, your goals and expected outcomes. This will keep the meeting focussed.
Set Goals
Don’t just attend an event, mine it. Similar to having a meeting plan, if you are at an industry event, whether you are an exhibitor or just an attendee, set some goals for what you want to achieve. Meet one new partner, get five leads and so forth. Having a plan and setting goals will help ensure you are more productive. Too many folks attend events, wander around and then leave with little to show for it.
Bring Your Laptop
Bring your laptop or tablet and if you have time between meetings stop in at places that have WiFi access. This will allow you to catch up on all electronic communications, make phone calls and so forth and not fall behind on the days workload. A lot of events today if you are attending one will have WiFi access for users, so be sure to take advantage of it if you can.
Carry a Smartphone
Have a good smartphone with your most needed sales apps on it. The great thing about today’s connected environment and the “app” is the ability to get what you need without your laptop or even being at your desk. Most reputable CRM solutions have an app you can download to your smartphone enabling you with access to your customer database. Make phone calls and follow-up. In addition, apps like LinkedIn are always nice to have too. If you meet someone, check out their profile and send them an invite to connect. The ability to stay up on emails and review documents on ones’ phone also makes being productive much easier.
Meet Don’t Eat With a Customer
When on the road, and this not all the time, but meeting with a prospect or customer can sometimes be more productive both from a time and quality standpoint when there are no distractions like food. It will depend on the situation and how well you know the customer or prospect, but I have found that sitting down with prospect, potentially if you have never done business with them before, is more productive when you have most if not all of their attention. Oftentimes, meetings will be shorter, but more productive. Going out for a lunch or having a coffee are not bad ideas but judge the situation yourself.
Bring Your WiFi With You
A lot of smartphones today allow you to connect to a HotSpot where you piggyback on your mobile device using its data connection. If not, the major carriers like Rogers, Bell and Telus offer portable WiFi solutions at a reasonable cost running over their mobile networks.
If you are in need of assistance from a sales and marketing perspective feel free to contact me. I would be happy to see if we can help. Alternatively, if you are simply looking for a source of excellent sales and marketing information, please feel free to sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Twitter.
