Last summer, I posted several times on LinkedIn about a road trip I took – partially to do a little fishing and partially to visit some clients in person. The response I received was nothing short of astounding! Visiting clients in person? You would have thought I was the caveman that discovered fire!
Why is that? Have we become so dependent on technologies like Zoom that the idea of actually sitting down in person with a client has become foreign to us? Are we so reliant on technology that we’ve lost our interpersonal skills?
To be fair, I realize we might have gotten ‘out of the habit’ of meeting in person because of the pandemic. But that’s well behind us now… so what’s stopping you from getting back out there?
- “But Steve, it’s time consuming.” Agreed. It’s planes, trains and automobiles… plus hotels and meals. But I would argue that there is no better use of your time than meeting in person with clients and prospects. The fact is that buyers will never do business with you until they get to know you, then like you, then trust you… and that can be dramatically accelerated (vs. online) by sitting down with a buyer for a face-to-face conversation over a cup of coffee.
- “It’s expensive!” Yep… it sure can be. But it’s money very well spent. Plus, there are a few ways to save money:
- The next time you attend a conference, add a few days on to the front or back of the event and use those days for in person visits in the city where the event is occurring. All it will cost you is a couple more nights in a hotel and a few extra meals.
- Do a ‘city blitz!’ Pick a big city where you have several clients and prospects… then schedule as many meetings as you can – one right after the other – over a few days. When you average your travel cost over those several meetings, it’s not too bad.
- Do what I did… go on a road trip! See the country from the ground and make it part work/part vacation.
Bottom line: As much as we complain about it, Zoom was an absolute lifesaver during the pandemic, allowing us to meet with clients face-to-face (sort of), even when we were all working from home.
But I think it also made us complacent and lazy, and we got comfortable defaulting to the technology all throughout the sales process when in person meetings – and getting to really know our buyers on a personal level – are so much more effective for building our business. And frankly, it also makes work a lot more enjoyable than just staring at someone on your laptop.
So, as you look ahead to Q4 of this year and start planning for next year… get out there. Go visit your buyers in person… it’ll deliver a better buying experience for them and a selling experience with better results for you. Bonus: being in person also makes it much, much easier (compared to online) to meet other people in the buyer organization and develop relationships with them. That way, if your key contact leaves – and they always leave – your business with that client can keep moving forward.
Good luck and good selling… and maybe I’ll see you out on the road sometime soon.