No matter what sphere of business you are in, there will always be opportunities to learn from the experts …the people who are leaders in their respective fields, who not only are at the cutting edge and are doing it every day but are prepared to take time from their busy schedules to share their knowledge with others.

Conferences and Seminars abound throughout the business world in every conceivable niche and I suppose when you are starting off or perhaps experiencing difficulties in your Business then attending a seminar can lift the spirits and give you further encouragement to press on.

Taking time out from your own busy routine is sometimes a gut wrenching decision and can create more than a little stress but I have found that invariably it is often just the right thing to do no matter how busy you are! Here's a little true story of my own rude awakening and introduction into the heady world of Sales and Marketing and the importance of taking time out to investigate what is happening on your patch!

Twenty Seven years ago, just after getting married and buying And selling my first house in a matter of months, the company that I worked for sent my new wife and me on a journey that continues to this day. Half way across the country to a strange City with no family nearby or friends for that matter…definitely a journey into the unknown, where very few motorists drove on the left hand side and everyone that you passed gave you a wave! (Not conducive to road safety I might add which, as most of you know, who are reading this, is a subject close to my heart!)

After several months of backbreaking work (wife-less during the week!) and a daily routine that was reminiscent of a chain gang on steroids, our Sales Director (and my first real Mentor) announced he was coming down the next day and I was to take him on a tour of the New Branch's Territory. Imagine… the Boss coming all that way to see how we were getting on…what a thrill and of course the prospect of a good lunch didn't escape me! How wrong I was and the next day taught me a valuable lesson which everyone in Business needs to take on board.

Naturally, I was chauffeur and we toured the City and Industrial Estates all morning. Every few seconds, or so it seemed, a voice bellowed "who have we there?” which roughly translates to "how many customers in that stretch of street” to which the reply, from an increasingly despondent Driver was "well… none yet but we plan to visit next week and two presentations have been scheduled!”) It seemed that the Inquisitor had an uncanny knack of selecting areas and parts of the City that well… were totally devoid of our attention and more importantly our presence!

At that stage I wished the road would have swallowed us up but the grand tour was not an attempt to trip me up or find an excuse to fire me but a practical exercise in teaching a new Manager that no matter how much work there is to do at your desk or elsewhere it is vital to set aside some time on a regular basis to check out your market place.

You need to see what your competitors are up to; to see just who is setting up in business that could provide a useful opportunity for your services and to give yourself a break from the heavy routi

ne which will then start the creative juices flowing.

A regular tour of your territory (whether on -line or off-line) will give you some surprising results that you would never have thought of and quite probably a jump on your competitors.

Back at base an animated Sales Director said sternly "you must take time away from the Branch to see what is happening out there other wise we are going nowhere”. I had fallen into the trap of being brilliant (almost) at Administration and convincing myself that this was much more important in the short term than sales.

This was a valuable lesson and before long we were showing up as the fastest growing branch in an organisation of 71 branches. Lesson learnt! Life is peppered with potentially quantum leaps up the success ladder if we only seize the moment and then put the idea into practise in all future activities.

Seminars present an absolutely incredible opportunity to learn from the experts and get out of the office at the same time. Invariably you will make some really excellent contacts for the future for two way business opportunities and if you can speed -write or develop your own shorthand technique then you will be able to take notes and take it all in at the same time!( I warn you this isn't easy)

I nearly forgot…a professionally organised full day seminar will always give you a free lunch (now where did we hear about the free lunch before?) which keeps you ticking over for the afternoon session and also provides the opportunity to network. It's a good idea not to make a bee line for the people you talked with over morning coffee …give yourself the chance to meet as many delegates as possible and naturally you want to be carrying as many Business cards as your wallet will hold without destroying the look of your suit!

What was the inspiration for this article you might wonder? Was it on my hard drive in essence for months or years? No Sireee… We just attended an Irish Internet Association Seminar yesterday and Guess what? All the above mentioned benefits came true including the Free Lunch! There will be a follow up article of the Seminar with a look at the benefits obtained from all the key speakers; ideas that you yourself can easily put in motion with a little effort. How about writing an article on the absolutely guaranteed benefits of attending a seminar…you get the picture!

The next Seminar that comes to your Town…make sure you are there no matter what the cost and no matter how busy you are!

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