Meetings with clients are the bread and butter of field sales reps. You already have the convenience and flexibility of a tablet and an electronic product catalogue so take it one step further with some tips on how to schedule those all-important sales meetings to achieve maximum productivity.

Location, location, location

Travelling can become a burden if you don’t schedule meetings effectively. If you know that certain clients are located in close proximity to each other, visit those clients around the same time and on the same day to avoid driving back and forth. The less travel time you incur, the more time you have to focus on one thing for a solid period of time.

Schedule meetings consecutively

Having one meeting after another can be tiring. However, if you schedule them too far apart it can break your overall focus. Scheduling all of your meetings within a certain time block helps you to more easily switch your attention to another area for a longer period of time. Also, if your meetings occur consecutively you have the time to put yourself in that mindset without being distracted by admin, emails or in-office meetings.

Take your own schedule into account

The client always comes first so oftentimes meetings are scheduled according to what the client needs. If you can help it all, rather look at how meetings fit into your regular workflow and find a compromise. If you tend to feel more productive in the mornings, schedule meetings during that time. If you know traffic messes up your schedule then look at avoiding travel during times when cars are bumper to bumper.

Keep deadlines

Time is valuable, we all know that, and by letting meetings drag on and on can impose on your valuable time. If you want a meeting to run for 45 minutes and no longer, make that known to your client by putting it in the meeting request or mentioning it right before the meeting starts. Have a plan when you go into the meeting and make sure you stick to it.

Include travel time

This seems like a no-brainer but it can be easily forgotten. Planning an hour meeting at 10 in the morning and another one at 11 doesn’t leave you any leeway for travelling in between the two meetings. It is imperative to allocate enough time to get to and from meetings, otherwise your finely tuned meeting schedule will fall apart quite early on. To make it easier to plan around travelling, make notes on how long it usually takes you to travel at that specific time of day and in that area, or use a clever app for even less hassle.