15 Oct Business Tip: Press for in-person
Nothing is more potent than meeting a potential client in person.
I was a keynote speaker at a green business conference a few years back. Sitting in the
audience was the Sustainability Director of a major company. I never met her at the
conference, but a month later the Brand Manager of that company calls me.
“Can you send me the power point of your keynote presentation?” he asks. With a smile on
my face (you can hear that over the phone) I say, “No, but I will be happy to show it to you.”
Seven years later, I am still working with this company.
If I had just sent my power point to him, chances are he might never have looked at it. Or if
he did, get distracted with a million other things on his desk that day.
By pressing for an in-person with him, I was able to create a relationship with him first. One
that lasts till today.
How would I do that now in the middle of a pandemic? I’d ask him first for a social distance,
mask-wearing coffee meeting. And if that wasn’t possible, by video conference – with the
video ON.
Try your best to get eye to eye with your customers to create that ever-so-needed human
connection.
It could last a lifetime.