Written by 
Last week I was on a business trip in Austria. On Monday morning, I drove from my home to Wels, a town near Linz. I had a successful meeting with a big DIY-Chain at their headquarters there. After that, I headed east to Vienna. I spent a comfortable night at the Plaza Inn hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel is located in the industrial/trade fair area. I ate butter chicken but found the value for money disappointing. The next morning, I skipped breakfast because it was simply too expensive for my allocated travel budget.
My first meeting was a get to know you meeting with a distributor. The first impression was good. Next, I dropped by some existing customers unannounced. In the late afternoon I drove north to Gmünd close to the border of the Czech Republic. Gmünd is somewhat small and nondescript.
My hotel was a catastrophe (tiny rooms, uncomfortable).
I had dinner in another hotel. It was typically Austrian (warm and cosy interior, friendly service and good food). Wiener Schnitzel, dumplings, and beer
I spent the next day training employees of one of our biggest distributors. I presented our complete product portfolio. It was my first training and the feedback was positive. That evening, I had dinner in another restaurant. I chose roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut. The dessert was fantastic, brownie with vanilla ice cream. As you can see, the atmosphere was idyllic.
The next morning, I started the five hour drive home.
Hi Alexander,
waouhh you had the possibility to travel through Austria ! Unfortunately it is not the right time of the year, otherwise you could have gone skiing after your trainings.
I’m glad to hear that your first training was a success. I’m happy that I no longer have to process travel expenses.
@Ralf what do you think about the food ?
Best regards,
Sylvie
Hello Sylvie,
I worked for a Tyrolean company for 16 years.
And every time we were in Tyrol with customers, there were delicious delicacies, such as ‘Kaspressknödelsuppe’ (cheese dumpling soup), a dumpling made from stale bread with cheese and onions, which is very tasty.
A Wiener schnitzel always goes well with a delicious cucumber and potato salad.
Furthermore, nothing beats Kaiserschmarn with delicious stewed plums.
I hope I’ve made your mouth water?
Have a nice weekend.
Best regards,
Ralf
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Hello Ralf,
you forgot to delete “Translated with DeepL.com (free version)”
It never happens to us when we use it
Hallo Ralf,
du hast vergessen, „Übersetzt mit DeepL.com (kostenlose Version)“ zu löschen.
Das passiert uns nie, wenn wir es verwenden.
Übersetzt mit DeepL.com (kostenlose Version)
“Kaiserschmarrn” makes our mouths water.
Do you have a secret recipe?
Best regards,
Brida Swimming Club
Hello @sylvie,
thanks for your kind comment. Your idea sounds good but when I travel to Austria I have no time to go for an excursion to the mountains. Let me explain my working day to you. It starts at 9 am with the first appointment. We have different types of appointments:
– New customer
– Existing customer
– Cold calls
– End user visits
– Shop visits
And then it depends who my contact person is. Normally I speak with
– Product Managers
– Purchasing Managers
– Branch Managers
– CEO´s
– Production Managers
What does an appointment look like?
When I visit the contact person from a big company we speak about the last year´s sales, new products, how we can increase sales, bonus agreements.
A typical meeting lasts between one to two hours. I try to have two to three meetings per day. In between I make cold calls, which last 20 to 45 minutes. In the evenings, during dinner, I do my follow-up work.
Do you have an idea when I could go skiing? 😉
Best regards
Alex the dealmaker
Hi Alexander,
congrats we are proud to have you in our company:)
Best regards,
Sylvie