The Place for Some Action

EDITOR'S NOTE: You can make more money, increase your business and build longevity in your relationships with your customers if you take them hunting and fishing with you. Many companies overlook this critical key in this day of bean counters, bottom lines and high-pressure sales. The better you know your customers, and more importantly, the better your customers know you, the more business each of you will do with the other and the better you can serve that customer. This week, we're looking at the reasons you should take your clients hunting and fishing, as well as ways to make your hunting and fishing trips more effective.

"I have customers who like to shoot a lot," said Parnell Amerson, owner of Amerson Engraving Company in Hueytown, Alabama. "Many of them often are better at shooting than they are at taking game. To maximize their enjoyment of a corporate trip, I'll take them to the Roost near Aliceville, Alabama, for a dove hunt. George Mayfield, owner of the Roost, manages his fields throughout the year to produce the maximum number of doves for the hunting season.

"I know when I take a customer to the Roost that their shotgun barrels will be hot from shooting so much. They'll have good food to eat, a nice place to sleep and experience one of the best dove hunts of their lives."

In the states that permit dove hunting, many companies have found that this early fall type of hunt can create a hunting trip of a lifetime for many of their customers. Amerson takes his customers to the dove shoot at the Roost the night before the hunt, which means he gets to eat dinner, fellowship after dinner, eat breakfast and ride to the field with them. Usually he'll take a stand next to one of his customers and checks on the rest of his customers throughout the shoot. He rides back from the shoot in the middle of the day for lunch with his customers and has the rest of the day and the evening with them before leaving for home.

"When we go on a dove shoot at the Roost, we have plenty to talk about, including the birds we've missed, the birds we've taken, and the birds that everybody has missed. Everyone genuinely has a good time and always asks if he can come back next year."

To learn more about the Roost's fine hunting, call (205) 373-3147; 373-2617, or go to the website at theroost.com.

Tomorrow: Important Things to Remember