I was sitting at dinner with my wife and daughter and as I looked around the restaurant I noticed something. Almost everyone in the restaurant was more engaged with their phone than the person sitting next to or in front of them.
In today’s technology-driven lifestyle, it’s become easy do everything remotely. I can see my nieces in Omaha via FaceTime, attend a conference via GoToMeeting and even present information to a client via a web conference. The simplicity of it is great but it lacks something.
Last week I had the opportunity to travel to a city in the South and meet with some existing clients and some potential new clients. With a business partner we had scheduled five meetings in a period of two days. Over the course of those two days we spent an hour or two with each client. These were in-person, no media, “let’s sit down and have a conversation” discussions.
This was personal.
You could see the expressions on the face of the person sitting across from you. You could see and hear nuances in the conversation. This was plain and simple a personal interaction and you know what, at the end of each conversation, every client echoed the same thing. They want to develop a personal relationship. They want to know you so that they can pick up the phone and call you with honest feedback, whether it be good or bad.
So what came of those meetings?
We were able to develop our business relationship with these clients into a more personal relationship. So what does that mean? Well, in the coming weeks or months, we will be meeting with each of these clients and further expand our relationship. We may do some business or simply develop some relationships. Either way, at the end of the day, this personal approach will have a great impact on our business going forward.
So guess what, Beth, Brandon and Kevin… I hope you don’t mind doing a little traveling.
