The connected era we live in is pretty amazing. A huge proportion of my job can be done by phone, text, and email.

But there’s still replacement for meeting customers in-person. Even video conferencing isn’t quite the same.

If you’re a sales rep there are a lot of good reasons to travel your territory and meet your customers face to face:

Playing show-and-tell with new products is always a popular one.

The one I’m going to address is perhaps the most important of all.

I call them Wellness Checks.

Reviewing the sales numbers in your territory will tell you who’s up and who’s down.

Speaking generally, if the business one of your dealers is doing with you drops off dramatically there are a couple of reasons why that may be.

First, their business may be down, perhaps substantially.

Second, their business may be down, terminally. They may have shut down.

Finally, they may be mad at you. Not everyone will call you to complain when you’ve let them down. Some will just quietly walk away.

Maybe I’m a fatalist, but there’s only one of those three possible reasons that you can actually do anything about: you need to talk to them and find out what’s wrong.

And perhaps I’m old fashioned this way, but I believe that there are some conversations you should have in person, especially if they’re going to be unpleasant.

If you have let down one of your customers you need to hear it, and be constructive about finding a solution for them.

Trust me, being willing to do that will put you ahead of a surprising number of your competitors.