A Good Book About ROI Time

Keith Ferrazzi wrote a good book and his best advice is the title - Never Eat Alone .

Every salesperson must use their time wisely and consider what constitutes the best return on their investment of time. Some road warriors have to use the lunch hour to travel from one town to the next. In between bites of grilled chicken sandwiches, using a voice activated recorder you can make notes, dictate e-mails or letters that you want to go out. I know that in the name of safety on the roads, you wouldn't be making cell phone calls to clients providing them with follow - up. Yeh, I know they are at lunch but you can always leave well thought out messages or provide follow-up information .

However, if you possibly can, have lunch with a client or potential client. Help yourself and your customer by developing a relationship with each other; building trust and familiarity. There are 5 - 10 hours a week that can be used for this purpose. Take the person out that you don't have a relationship with or just don't like. Expand your contacts at the account by offering to take your customer and their boss or someone of your customers' choice.

Many times breakfast is an excellent choice for dining with a client. You beat your competitors in the door that particular day, you can plant positive seeds about your company and product that will last most of day and your client probably hasn't encountered any issues yet so there are no walls to communication that had been built that day. Plus, it is almost always a less expensive meal !

It's usually pretty safe to let your client pick the place because they will pick someplace where they are comfortable and most of the time won't try to stick you with an unreasonable bill. If the place is TOO reasonable, don't hesitate to recommend an upgrade. Remember to ask questions (work related for the tax break oh and for the business!, personal for relationship building) and listen. All the world loves a good listener!

Don't be abusive to your company's policies and if your company doesn't pick up the tab, keep the receipts for your personal tax deductions.