Back on the Road

One of the many impacts of the pandemic has been the salespersons forced to #WFH, and any seasoned salesperson would endorse, its like swimming with your legs tied. The last 1 year, 6 months and 12 days have made me feel like driving a nascar with a speed-governor. Boy was I glad to get an opportunity to meet up with @Mohammed Zohaib and @Sameer Bhaldar from #TCS today, actually I was over the top, trust me. Ever since my last meeting with @Sathish Manickam from #Cognizant, along with my then colleague @Tamara Kempf at #Oxford, I had been feeling that I am losing my sales sheen and street sharpness. And then today's meeting made me feel all that passion and conviction coming back. It was (well almost) like the old times, chatting, smiling, sharing experiences and having lunch at a restaurant. Well, all felt great, except while expressing the lows experienced while working from home, all these months and the struggles with things like getting the parents vaccinated etc.

Although I struggled a bit with keeping the time for the meeting (was delayed by few minutes), and the time management needs to be reskilled. Also, the back-to-back virtual meetings need to be restructured to accommodate the travel times to meetings, as well as potential meeting over-runs too. Sharing my experiences from my "Back on the Road" experience today :

• Prep a bit more for the meeting than you used to earlier (remember you are doing it after a long gap)
• Reconfirm the travel duration as it could go up drastically during school timings (as I experienced today and it delayed my schedule)
• Keep the participants informed if you are running late, early enough, to let them tick off any other tasks from their todo list for the day
• Keep a buffer for meeting over-runs as sharing experiences might take longer than you anticipated
• Be prepared to take the subsequent (virtual) meetings on your mobile device, if the return travel takes longer (or if you have not factored the return travel in your calendar). Keep the device charged, carry headphones and battery-packs.
• Keep a face covering (mask) and sanitiser in your office folio / bag and use it appropriately and where required. Please follow the safety norms of the new world we are all in now, to keep yourself and other safe.

I am pretty sure lot of you would resonate with my experience, if you have already started in-person meetings. For those you are yet to, there is no better feeling than meeting your customer / partner in-person.

Be well, stay safe and happy selling !!!