I spent a good part of last week out of the office, due in part to the holiday, as well as some critical business initiatives. I had a few things happen during that time that made a dramatic impression. Ultimately, they all fell under the category of “you have to get face to face”.
First, I met with my networking group (see previous post on this topic for more details). In a non traditional meeting, we talked about your elevator speech or commercial. The presenter spent hours of research on a twenty minute presentation, and it showed. He elevated my perception of his professionalism and he impacted the thirty people who got back to work Tuesday at 7AM after the holiday in a positive manner.
I also had the chance to “sit in” with a non producing manager and listen to this person work their system. It’s a completely different style of transaction and people management and communication than I have. The amazing thing is how effective it is. I had to see it to believe it because a thousand “this is how I do it phone calls” don’t do justice to seeing it done.
Finally, in my return after three days out of the office on Friday afternoon, I was able to, in an hour or so, get two transactions that had been “festering” to move along and get a new transaction moving with a face to face client meeting.
Still not convinced? I am writing this while waiting for my 9AM Monday meeting with a financial advisor who never sent me a client before we met in person. The bottom line is that no matter how much technology, including this blog, we add to the mix, you still have to get face to face, belly to belly to get things done quickly and correctly.
