Sales Guy Sales Van/Office Pie in the Sky Ideas

So management pushes the sales guys to be out of the office 85% of the time making sales calls. But I have a high dollar, high profit account that needs answers all day long, usually within minutes that I can only answer.

So my idea is a van that has an office in back. Hardwood floor, clean, air conditioned, maybe fit in a standard garage. I travel with a laptop but I get tired of sitting in my car seat.

A couple of rules - I only get reimbursed for a 6-year or newer car, 4-doors, and it had to have a $25,000 sticker price when new.

Should I do like the cop cars with a laptop mounted in the center of the front seat?

What crazy ideas do you have? What have you seen?

What about a Kia Soul, remove the pass. front seat and replace it with a small desk so you could sit in the back seat and us it comfortably instead of leaning sideways from the drivers seat.

Kia Soul = $25,000?

I think a Transit Connect can be had with 4 doors and under $25k new. Maybe a Mazda5? Although you'd need a higher top to be able to sit at a desk in the back.

EDIT: I went on the Internet and I found this! http://www.midwayspecialtyvehicles.com/commonvehiclesolutions/ram_cv/mobileoffice/mobileoffice.htm

A lot of insurance adjusters are riding around in newer dodge minivans. I have seen a nice package for those which turns the back into a nice little office.

Transit Connect? Don't know if it would meet the 4 door requirement

Transit Connect has 6 doors.

my uncle is a commercial real estate appraiser, he set up a conversion van like a small office in the back.

Is $25,000 the minimum or the max.

<--- Confused

This would be a fantastic Top Gear challenge. I bet James may would come up with something great.

I was gonna say Transit Connect as well. Pushes all the buttons.

We actually got in a Transit Connect that had a small office in the back of it at work a while ago. Pretty cool!

Step 1 - buy a sedan that's fun-ish (like my 6)

Step 2 - drive to office to get your work stuff/check in/whatever office crap you need

Step 3 - drive home and work from there instead of making a mobile office

How many accounts do you have outside of the one pita account? I've got a couple of those too, but I can usually answer on the fly or pull over and look through my notes without needing a full on office setup.

We've got a fleet of transit vans for our merchandisers and I wonder if all the people here recommending them have ever driven one at length.

Ram C/V tradesman starts at under $20K. And it'll tow and has almost 300 HP

Datsun310Guy wrote: Should I do like the cop cars with a laptop mounted in the center of the front seat?

If you need to use the computer a lot, and type, no- don't set it up like that. All of my test cars are set up like that, and while it's nice to have the computer next to you, any decent amount of work makes your neck sore. You have to turn to see it.

And the set up takes a lot of space.

A T-Connect sized vehicle seems to be the best idea.

In reply to Skierd; You probably are more realistic. Thanks.

I told my boss if he wants me out more I'll just hang out at McDonalds.

if it's just stopping for a few minutes mid day you can do a lot worse than McDonald's. Free wifi helps.

Since my car is basically my office I made sure it's a place I want to be for 4-6 hours a day. Hence having a mustang in Alaska before I traded it in for my Mazda because the city gas mileage sucked. Just like any office you want out of it sometimes too.

I mostly sell to bars a restaurants, so I have a couple favorite accounts that I like to stop at for lunch and don't mind me taking over a booth to work on stuff for an hour or two, if they aren't busy of course. I have a couple places that I don't sell to that I can hide out at as well if I'm not close enough to home. But I spent 90% of my day out of the office anyway since I'm sales... we are supposed to be out selling after all, not riding a desk. Hell the best part of this job is it isn't a punch the clock 9-5 gig so I can set up my route and get done whenever so long as my numbers come in and I see all 40ish of my accounts each week.