Early in my sales career, I fantasized about traveling for business. I imagined flying around the world, meeting with important people and becoming the next Bill Gates.
I had no idea that over the next 2 decades, I’d travel all over the United States working trade shows, meeting clients, and attending QBRs & Sales Kickoffs.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I’d rather be home.
It’s not that I don’t value in-person interaction with customers and coworkers.
I like being face-to-face with my customers. Communications is undoubtedly better. Plus, whenever I go onsite, I always ask for a tour of the “shop”. I’m fascinated to see how my customers actually get work done. My favorite onsite visits include touring a steel mill, crawling inside multi-million dollar private jets, seeing giant turbines being manufactured and exploring state-of-the-art Data Centers.
I also have had many great experiences working closely with a tight knit group of sales and tech professionals that never would have happened if we were all working remotely.
If you haven’t had these experiences yourself, I encourage you to try both Field Sales from a remote office and Inside Sales from HQ.
That said, I’ve made a conscious decision to no longer travel for work.
Here’s why:
- I despite everything about flying – the inconvenience, the delays, the total lack of customer service.
- I don’t sleep well in hotels.
- I want to see my wife every day (and she wants to see me most days).
- I miss my pets (and they miss me).
- I love not commuting.
From a business perspective
- I can service my customers very effectively remotely.
- Most of my clients like to meet in person occasionally, but 90% of my work is done offsite.
- It reduces costs for my clients and for me.
How can I do this?
Recently, I was contacted by a CEO who wants help expanding his sales team 2x. After we discussed his specific needs, he said,
“Great. Let’s get you up here to spend a few days with us onsite next month.”
Over the few days, I complained to my wife about how much I hated traveling. I whined about how often my flights got delayed or canceled, how I can never sleep in the hotel, how I have nightmares about some of my worst trips.
And then I said,
Wait – I’m the boss. I don’t have to travel for business if I don’t want to. I’m just not going to go onsite anymore unless it’s local.
This works for me because I am the owner of Inside Sales Dude and because I am willing to turn down any business where overnight travel is a requirement.
It’s a beautiful thing.