Technology has changed the face of business in spectacular ways. It has enabled businesses to embrace a greater community, it has increased productivity, and simplified communication. There are so many positives that they would be hard to name here in this post. There is one aspect of technology that I find sad, and that is how it has made us lazy regarding personal contact or “face time” with customers and prospects. Email makes it so easy and efficient. But, you know what they say, “out of sight, out of mind.” In business this situation can be the kiss of death. If your entire relationship is email and text based, there is virtually no relationship.
Long distance customers take on a different dynamic, but customers within a few hours drive are worth having face time with. Companies like the investment company Edward Jones, does not allow it’s advisors to use email with their customers. They do allow personal, voice and snail mail contact only. This effort is rewarded repeatedly. Here are some other things that I do to make “face time” work for me:
Coffee chat: When a person contacts me to see how we might work together, I typically suggest we meet over coffee. This way I can size them up better and try to understand their motivation. I’ve struck up some terrific business relationships this way.
Networking meet-ups: You can use these events to spruce up your sales skills and put a face to a name. It gives you a chance to help someone on the spot.
In-person presentations: I like to present proposals in person. This shows that I want their business enough to get off my butt and shake some hands. I don’t want our relationship to be entirely virtual. Show you’re a real business.
Ignore email: Purposely visit customers. Showing up to chat WILL get you more business. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken something in personally that I could have just as easily emailed only to get other projects given to me on my way out the door. Seeing you reminds them of other ways that you can help.
“I’m in the area” opportunities: Sometimes, when “I’m in the area” I call to see whether I can pop in to say howdie. These friendly requests always brings a smile and some great conversation.
New service meetings: Recently, I emailed a number of old files and offered to bring them a coffee and discuss what I’m offering these days that might be of help to them. I hand a hand full take me up on it, and this effort resurrected some old business.
The point here is not to rely on convenience to grow your business. It’s not about you – it’s about them.
[quote]“I’m in the area†opportunities: Sometimes, when “I’m in the area†I call to see whether I can pop in to say howdie. These friendly requests always brings a smile and some great conversation.[/quote]
Ed, this is in my experience not such a good approach for 2 reasons:
a) when I go to a customer or prospect I always have a reason to visit. To present something that might be interesting or useful for them. Just coming in and to say howdie seems to be unprofessional as you do not value the time of your customer/prospect
b) they get the impression that you are a professional coffee drinker and are not fully organized.
Just my 2 cents
Suedamerika,
My experience has been the opposite. Mind you I have pretty good relationships with my clients. Also my style is very friendly.
I wonder if it is a cultural difference. Where are you located? I was recently in Prague and there were subtle differences.
Don’t forget – I call first – because I do respect their time. I don’t drop in unannounced. You’re correct about that.
Ed, I completely agree with you. They like to know that they are getting personal attention as well.
In addition to this online relationship with customers it is also happening with companies. Virtual companies never actually meet face to face and work long distance. I am currently in college and read in one of my classes about a new program being developed. It puts employees in a database and ranks their technical skills in certain areas. Employers can then search for the type of person they are looking for and hire them. It’s a completely online process, with no relationships formed. Wish I could locate the article, sorry.
Hi Ed,
For SMBs, video conferencing can also be an excellent way to maintain face-to-face connections with customers, while not requiring the time and expense of travel. I know in the past, smaller businesses dismissed video conferencing as a technology for larger global corporations, but that’s no longer the case. TANDBERG customer Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, a firm with a staff of 350, cut costs and increased productivity with team video conferencing. “Video conferencing means we can truly work across boundaries to collaborate on projects. It’s a huge boon for productivity and I wish we’d done it sooner,†said David Hughes, CEO, Swanke Hayden Connell Architects.
And TANDBERG is making it even easier and more affordable for SMBs to use video conferencing with the launch of the TANDBERG Quick Set C20 today, an HD video conferencing solution designed specifically to meet the unique need of SMBs. We believe that SMBs will lead the way out of the economic downturn and video conferencing provides a distinct advantage by enabling them to save money, be more productive and make the most of their time and limited staff. See how TANDBERG SMB customers are using video conferencing and learn more about TANDBERG’s video solutions here http://www.tandberg.com/vcb/start-small-and-grow.jsp?cid=04US060060008
Cheers!
[email protected]
Ryan if you ever trip across the article again, I’d love to read it.
I just met with a group of job seekers. We discussed improving their personal brands by developing their expert profiles to better position themselves in prospective employers sites. This program on it’s own would get employers the correct technically skilled people, but they wouldn’t get sense of the individual’s passion or values. Developing your personal brand would deliver in this respect.
Even virtual companies want more than skills. The individual has have good business values if the employer is to be profitable and the relationship to succeed.
Yea, I agree. No matter how skillful the employee is he still needs to have values, work ethic, and determination.
I tried looking for the article but couldnt find it, sorry.
Jeanne, video conferencing is a great idea for building long distance face-to-face time. Thanks for your information regarding this. (Wish I had thought of it) 🙂
Thanks for looking for the article Ryan. Perhaps you’ll trip over it one day and think of me.
I think technology is great but still prefer face-to-face time with my clients if possible. When I meet with a person I can better get a feel to what they want in a project and how important my business is to them.
Face time is key. Having worked with Edward Jones (not at Edward Jones) in an alliance, I can attest to their model. However, sometimes it is too rigid. I personally prefer email to snail mail / phone calls. Yet, I do recognize that personal contact is important. Your local community is critical to your success as a small business and the only way to build strong local ties is through face time. Be sure to take the time to schedule face time with those in your community as well, not just sales prospects. Here’s a great article that talks more about building your business through community – offline and on.
http://www.sbimonline.com/content/small-business-community-using-your-local-community-and-online-community-build-your-business
I agree completely with Ed,I was talking with someone about his business on telemarketing ,many customers were giving a lot of comments and dispute with his workers,because they keep buzzing them and ringing on their phones.
Thanks Mutuelle, I appreciate your support. Thanks for commenting.
Great and simple suggestions Ed, especially for my generation.
I’m in my last year in business school and trying to start my own site. I always try to get peoples phones numbers instead of just emailing them because it is more personal and does help get better connections.
I don’t think talking over s video screen which i’ve seen in many comments is the same as meeting the customer in person. It does help for ever sea’s business, but not if the customer is a few hours away. With all the technology personal interaction will be lost more and more. I think the company that can remain personal will prevail.
Interesting post and i look forward to reading more.
Thanks for the ideas Ed.
I agree that face time is an important tool in building customer relationships however dependant on your personality and the customer’s, solid effective relationships can be successfully built using phone and email exclusively.
Working through a website my customer base is 99% outside a tri-state area. I have learned quickly who prefers phone communication and who relies on email. Customers I have worked with repeatedly ask to see updated pictures of my children and we regularly have conversations about away from the office type subjects such as family, travel, pets and hostas – the types of things you would normally discuss over coffee.
With this type of non-face to face communication I have not only built a rewarding base of referrals from key customers but have maintained significant relationships with repeat customers – even when they have changed careers and joined new companies.
You obviously feel their love Lynae. You’ve obviously got a knack for building online relationships. Yours is a great lesson for us all.
Ed,
Online relationships are necessary in virtual business. With more and more exposure to developing technologies, consumers are becoming more technical savvy. Understanding and creating a relationship online is as important if not more in some ways as in person. Truth is told consumers are connecting to businesses 24 hours a day. Look at how Wal-Mart, Target, and many other large businesses tailor their services to individuals through CRM software. It is not just a software program that does this but also those who are on the other end monitoring activities to bring a more personalized service to the end user. Captivating that genuine relationship with consumers will make the largest difference in years to come. I already have seen how significant this can be within my own practice as well as been able to provide that service to many clients.
Regards,
Kyle Vaughan
lilyandstone.com
Ed,
sorry I only come back on your questions today.
I didn’t want to offend you with my comments. My sincere apologies if I did.
What I meant is that although you call in advance to check if a spontaneous visit fits into the customers or prospects schedule, my experience is that it is much better to plan ahead and schedule a visit a few days in advance. This way the customer also has the chance to prepare himself.
Also I wanted to make it a point that when I call a customer e.g. just now because an other one canceled a scheduled appointment, he could get the impression of being a fill-in for my suddenly empty calendar.
OK, and then there are always cultural differences on how to handle this 🙂
Sprachreisen, don’t worry about offending me – I like a healthy discussion. You are absolutely right with scheduling instead of “dropping in.” I do that with specific customers with whom I have a very good relationship – one’s that I know have an open invitation.
Excellent article, I agree that face to face interaction with customers is a tremendous way to increase sales and market your brand . A great face to face technique is attending trade shows, this is a great way to meet many potential clients in a shorter span of time.
I completely agree about the technology has become – in some ways – a cause of the degeneration of certain business practices, especially regarding building relationships with your clients.. The same has happened in personal relationships, and it really is sad. It becomes too inconvenient to physically speak to or visit a shareholder, unfortunately this does make it easier for them to forget about us
Thank you Promotional. Trade shows are like a new customer mall.
Kyle, it certainly does take a defined effort, but customer relationships are so much stronger when face time is part of the strategy. Thanks for commenting by the way.
Musically we don’t want to be forget-able now do we? 🙂 Great points.
personnally i hate being disturbed by telephone sellers.
I’m not put off by them. As a matter of fact I listen to their pitches and see if there is something there I can use in my live approach.
With more and more exposure to developing technologies, consumers are becoming more technical savvy. I have a very good relationship – one’s that I know have an open invitation.
Thanks for commenting Cheap 🙂
Very good article! Thanks a lot