Clip: Sales Travel Tips

Clip from Episode 1: #1 LinkedIn Account Executive – Mike Dudgeon:

Try to do a first flight out and then the first flight coming back what I’ve learned in the years is that getting that last flight out which may seem good for the family typically results in a delayed flight and you’re getting home at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and exhausted and not good for work or for family. And so the ability to get a good night’s rest and conserve energy because when you travel you can just wear yourself down pretty quick. And so I won’t do more than two nights either. That’s just more of a commitment to my family. I think I learned that from Mike Gampson who’s our V.P. of sales here globally for LinkedIn and that you know the commitment to the family is you know I’ll only be gone for two nights. Now there are going to be some outliers where I’ll be gone for a little more but you know for my wife just for her to know that I’ll be gone two nights out the week is good for her and so it becomes predictable and something as a family we can manage around. And then I try to jam pack the schedule as much as possible because both from a cost standpoint for the company. You know don’t want to waste their dollars to a belief. You know these when you travel and see clients I see them as just like huge leverage for momentum. And you don’t want to waste your opportunity especially when you’re calling within these enterprise companies where you have a lot of different contacts that you can meet with. There’s really no excuse for you not to have a set schedule. And then if I’m you know preparation is huge and obviously making sure that there’s an agenda laid out and that there’s quick follow up like I have a rule for myself 24 hours and you know I asked the my own AEs to to follow up within 24 hours because you know if you don’t you are going to lose that momentum because there’s so many different competitors calling and there are so many agendas floating around and you know there’s so much attention that you’re battling for and if if you lose kind of that again they’re recency theory with your clients then it’s going to be gone. And then at night like again I believe that people like to work with likeable people and so getting clients out and hopefully entertaining them or doing something with them outside of work I believe pays off. So I try to have something scheduled post 5 with clients as much as possible and if not I see it as a great opportunity to bond and connect with the team as well. So we’ll try to do some something something fun outside of work when we’re traveling and exploring a new city.

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