encourage people to bring ideas back from the field instead of leaving them in the truck on the drive home.
Some of the best opportunities I’ve seen didn’t come from a strategic planning meeting. They came from someone who was paying attention to what customers were repeatedly asking for.
In our industry, relationships matter. They’ve always mattered. But relationships aren’t valuable simply because they generate orders. They’re valuable because they generate understanding. When customers trust you, they tell you things they don’t tell everyone else. They’ll tell you what keeps them up at night. They’ll tell you what they’re struggling to source. They’ll tell you where schedules are slipping. They’ll tell you about projects that haven’t even been bid yet.
That information is incredibly valuable—if it doesn’t stop with the salesperson. The companies that grow are the ones that make sure those conversations reach engineering, production, purchasing, and leadership. When information moves through the organization, better decisions follow. In today’s market, products eventually become commodities. Pricing changes. Competitors come and go. Technology evolves.
But a company that learns faster than everyone else develops an advantage that’s much harder to copy. So, the next time you leave a customer visit, ask yourself one simple question: “What did I learn today?” Not, “what did I sell?” “What did I learn?”
Because sometimes the most valuable thing you bring back from a sales call isn’t the purchase order. It’s the insight that helps your company prepare for what’s coming next.
next time you leave a customer visit, ask yourself one simple question: “What did I learn today?” Not, “what did I sell?” “What did I learn?”
Because sometimes the most valuable thing you bring back from a sales call isn’t the purchase order. It’s the insight that helps your company prepare for what’s coming next.
David “Gabe” Hatfield is President and Owner of OK Pipe & Fittings, Inc., a family-owned custom fabrication company in East Texas that serves customers across North America. In addition to leading the business, he recently completed his Doctor of Business Administration at Pepperdine University, where he studies practical ways organizations can learn, innovate, and grow in rapidly changing markets.