The Route Salesperson

A route salesperson does something that's very important in the sales process: keeps in contact with customers on a regular basis.  A route salesperson sometimes gets a bad rap.  But he performs an important, essential function for some companies and something that all companies need to put into their repertoires.  The route salespeople that immediately come to mind are SnapOn and Matco tool sales folks.  This group also includes liquor salespeople, potato chip distributors, soft drink distributors, etc.  The lesson we can learn from the route sales folks is that we need to keep in constant and regular contact with the customers who order from us again and again.  Do NOT neglect your good customers, thinking that they'll always be with you.  There's another salesperson lurking in the background who wants your customer's business.  Beware of taking customers for granted.