The lost art of the face to face client meeting.....
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with four of the largest trust companies, we have the pleasure of supporting on a day to day basis. In my last post I wrote about how having these face to face meetings is not only professionally rewarding, it's critical in our ability to foster honest, strong, long lasting client relationships.
We typically perform 20-25 of these face to face visits each year. This equates to roughly 10 weeks of travel, jumping from one airport to another, hotel to hotel, honestly sometimes you just feel like you live out of a suitcase. These trips can be a challenge to schedule and quite frankly there not inexpensive. That said, anytime I'm asked if it's worth it, I never hesitate to say ABSOLUTELY YES!
The benefits from a relationship perspective cannot be matched through other meeting methods. Face to face, in person meetings are an important way of showing your clients that you have a vested interest in their business, their accomplishments and their goals. It's also the most genuine way to prove to them that above all else, you value their business. My approach to these meetings is always to listen more than I talk. No one wants to listen to me drone on for 90 minutes, so I listen, ask questions when needed and try and come out of each meeting with a greater understanding of my clients needs. A big part of this for me comes down to homework. If I can't come away with a few items for my teams and I to work on, such as requests for information on a product, a demo on functionality we offer, or finding a better more efficient process, than I'm not doing my job.
In today's world we tend to live and die by the dreaded conference call. Unfortunately conference calls are a necessary evil, but when done right they can be productive. The reality is that we have more meeting options today than in years past. This may be one of the reasons that in person meetings have become less common. If you take anything away from this article let it be that there is no more powerful method of building relationships in business, than sitting at the same table side by side with your client.
Lastly, I want to leave you with some personal feedback from my recent trip to the Mid-West. This is part of the country that I have been to several times before. Each and every time I come away more amazed at what a wonderfully diverse part of our country this is, represented by hardworking and caring people that will go out of there way to help others. If you have never had the opportunity to visit this part of the country, I highly recommend it.
#facetoface