I was once answering emails on the back of my husband’s motorcycle. It was a Friday during work hours and I didn’t see the harm in it. When we stopped, I called the office.
“Is everything going okay?”
My husband just shook his head.
“Mary, you’re on vacation. Your customers will survive without you.
Even when taking a day off for a long weekend, I’d stress, check my email, reply to messages, and recheck again. Secretly, I longed to have more time off, but I couldn’t shut off the thought that no one could take care of my customers and handle their expectations like me.
And then it hit me. I have great back up, a team of smart, helpful people with the same goal: to take care of a customer’s needs, regardless of whose account. I needed to change my way of thinking. And you might need to, too.
Summer time and nice weather are here. Take it from a recovering sales superhero that the difference between enjoying your vacation – or working it – is in having a reliable sidekick.
How can you train and maintain this relationship? Here are 5 pointers:

1. Don’t decide the day before you leave to try and teach someone else everything you have learned over the years of doing your job. Be patient and teach them over time.
2. Set clear expectations before you leave. Give them the chance to go over questions and concerns.
3. You likely have set procedures, but circumstances can result in a need to override a policy or make a change. Trust in that person to make those decisions.
4. No matter how hard we all try not to make mistakes, they happen. Accept this and remind them that it’s all about the recovery.
5. I once made my backup a survival basket with his favorite snacks. The bottom line? Let them know how much you appreciate them.

After 20+ years of working, I took my first real vacation. For two whole weeks. And the outcome? Everyone survived. If you train and trust your backup, you can be confident that while you take time off to enjoy yourself, who you leave behind is in great hands.
photo credit:©iStock.com/Andrew Rich

The Queen of Key Accounts loves her customers so much that sometimes, it’s hard to let them go – even when she’s on vacation. How do you balance vacation time with the expectation of service that your customers have come to expect? Comment below or email Mary directly.