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Maximize Your Windshield Time
By Will Turner
Are you a road warrior? If you spend your days traveling from appointment to appointment, are you challenged with getting everything done? Here are five ways to use your travel and down time between calls more productively when you’re away from the office.
Use smart logistics – There is an art to scheduling appointments. Successful salespeople understand this and plan accordingly. Schedule appointments so you minimize travel time. In other words, if you have three appointments, make sure that you’re not driving back and forth unnecessarily. You don’t want one appointment downtown, followed by one in the suburbs and then another one back downtown. Instead, schedule your two downtown appointments back-to-back, so that you’re not wasting valuable time driving around town. The proper scheduling means that you’ll get more done and have even more time to get face-to-face with prospects and clients.
Make phone calls and e-mails – Have you ever gotten back to the office and found that you have a ton of messages to return? By using your cell phone, laptop or BlackBerry, you can keep things under control. Make sure that you have key numbers programmed into your electronic devices so you can easily access the numbers and information you need when you’re out of the office.
Stay up-to-date – It can be difficult to stay abreast of all your industry news and information, in addition to being well-read on product and company bulletins. Keep a “To Be Read” file of articles, memos and other information that you carry with you. In your downtime between appointments or over lunch on the road, you can pull it out your file, grab an article and stay in-the-know.
Listen to audio programs – As you’re driving from appointment to appointment, you have the perfect opportunity to feed your brain. Turn your car into a university on wheels by listening to audio programs. By listening to top-notch training programs and books, you’ll turn unproductive drive time into valuable learning time. If you just listen to tapes or CDs for 30 minutes a day, you would get an additional 130 hours of learning in one year. At that rate, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an expert in your field.
Write thank you notes – We all know that little things mean a lot, particularly when it comes to building relationships. Thank you notes are one of those little things that separate good salespeople from great salespeople. But who has time to write thank you notes? Keep a stash of note cards, complete with stamped envelopes, in your briefcase or car so you can jot a quick note to clients or prospects while you are waiting for your next appointment.
© Dancing Elephants Achievement Group 2005