Visiting Manufacturers

CLS has developed this Help Page to assist visiting Regional Sales Managers prepare for their trips and maximize the return on their time and travel cost investment.

Schedule A Visit

If you’re planning a visit to the southern California area, please contact Dave Klevens to confirm your appointment. Don’t book an appointment through members of our outside sales team since they may not be aware of conflicting commitments CLS may have already made on the date you wish to visit.

We also ask that you be prepared to discuss the objectives for your trip 6–8 weeks in advance and provide as much detail as possible since that will give us the time and information to plan accordingly. Many sales managers book multiple travel dates over an entire year in the December–January timeframe, but we gladly accommodate those who schedule visits on an as-needed basis as well.

Getting into top accounts can take several months of planning and many of them only allow lunch ’n learns once a week, so competition for those time slots is fierce.

Schedule With

Dave Klevens

davek@californialightingsales.com
818-391-5156

6-8

Weeks lead time
to discuss your trip objectives.

Presenting to Our Sales Team?
CLS sales meeting are now held every other Monday at noon or 3pm.

Suggested Itinerary

The SoCal design community has standardized around a hybrid workweek where most employees work from home Monday & Friday and work from the office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. As a result, we have moved our in-person sales meeting to Monday at Ima Members Lounge in Culver City, freeing up our sales team to maximize face time with customers Tuesday through Thursday.

LAX is your recommended airport for arrival and departure and the surrounding area (LAX / El Segundo / Culver City) has several hotel choices featuring all the major chains.

Making Your Visit A Success

Samples & Literature

Please let us know as far in advance as possible which samples and literature you’ll need CLS to bring to your presentations. Samples are often in the field and can take several weeks to recover from specifiers or from mock-ups; plus, we may need to order additional literature.

Presentation Tech

Assume every customer will have a different interface connecting their TV or monitor to your laptop/tablet. Bring multiple cable adaptors including HDMI to USB, USB-C, etc. Save your presentation to a flash drive as a last resort! Bring a 12’ or longer extension cord.

Protect the Table

If your sample kit doesn’t include a felt pad or tablecloth, please bring one so that damage to customers’ conference room tables is minimized.

Rental Car & GPS

Please make arrangements for your own rental car and we strongly suggest paying for a GPS navigation system if it is not standard. Navigation software similar to Waze is also a benefit, although there are strict fines for using cell phones while driving. Our territory is huge and our traffic is ridiculous. We discourage using Uber and other ride share services given the distances and unpredictable nature of LA freeways.

Traffic Time vs. Miles

If you’re not familiar with driving in the greater LA area, talk with your salesman — yes, it really can take 45 minutes to travel 5 miles at certain times of day. Three or four sales calls can take up a full day in many of our metro areas once you factor in travel time. Some areas require extra time for parking, so ask your salesman for tips!

Cash for Parking

Bring cash for parking attendants & tolls and quarters for meters. Parking in multistory buildings can be quite expensive ($30 and up downtown) and much of it is cash-only. Nearly all street parking in metro LA / West LA / Hollywood is metered or restricted to permit-holders.

Heavy Cases

If you have cases or boxes that weigh more than 25 lbs, please let us know so we can sort out the logistics beforehand. Some of our clients do NOT have elevators, so a bit of planning here goes a long way.

Catering

If you have food restrictions or allergies, please let us know — we are happy to accommodate these when we place catering orders. CLS generally offers to pay 50% of lunch ’n learn catering costs during visits made at the request of the regional manager.

Sample Support

Time permitting, please work with Alicia Palacios, our CLS sample, literature and specification sales support person, to ensure your samples are in optimal condition and literature is current and amply stocked. Samples shipped prior to your visit should be sent to Alicia at the Ontario Office.

Ship Samples To

CLS Ontario Office

Attn: Alicia Palacios
3350 Shelby Street, Suite 110
Ontario, CA 91764
P (626) 775-6000 · F (626) 775-6001
aliciap@californialightingsales.com

Monday Sales Meetings

IMA Members Lounge

4940 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230

See You In LA!

Dave Klevens will email you a sales call itinerary shortly before your visit. We look forward to seeing you.