Last week, I asked about traveling for President’s Club fun, and more of y’all picked traveling far, far away as the ideal destination. But let’s talk about another reason for travel - client meetings. Does meeting face to face have a big enough impact on your deals to make it worth the trip, or does the flexibility of remote meetings give a bigger advantage?
Are in-person meetings during a sales cycle important?
Yes, I try to have as many meetings in person as possible
Yes, but one or two face-to-face meetups are enough
@leigh.kellner. Great topic and one that might call for more feedback/interaction. As some sales orgs may be holding back T&E, I feel others (ie competitors) are opening up travel leaving others who can’t at a disadvantage.
I also think customers are welcoming more in person to break up the monotony of back to back to back virtual meetings.
Actually speaking with someone face-to-face is extremely powerful for the long-term success of the deal. Zoom is fine, but human beings connect best in person since we can have undivided attention and can pick up more social cues.
I think in-person is more important than ever. It’s worth the budget and the time. Covid turned things around too much in the virtual direction. Now it’s all about balance. I don’t think the dinners and events need to be that lavish as often as they may her been pre-Covid, but in-person goes a long way. I’m grateful it’s coming back.
I’m generally in the “the more the better” camp, but do believe with T&E budget cuts, lobbying for 1-2 in persons per deal may be more feasible.
As big a remote work advocate as I’ve been over the years, there still is nothing at all like F2F to humanize relationships, circumnavigate miscommunication, and forge real alliances.
Zoom hasn’t solved for the “pull so and so in to the room because this is relevant to them” impact just yet - and the metaverse wasn’t the virtual humanizer some hoped for
I believe that customers are much more slective about in person meetings they have with partners/vendors. Much of the prelimary work can be done virtually, and you can tell that you have brought your potential/current customer value when they ask to meet with you. We should also be asking for in person meetings. Best way to read the room.
@dejuan.brown As a WFH advocate myself, this thread reminds me that a lot of us are craving the virtual relationship building that @steve.gardner just mentioned. It’s an effective way to engage overall w/ more people, it drastically reduces travel budgets and we get more time at home for work/life balance.
But being in the same room - at the right times in the cycle - can really make a huge difference. A little goes a long way. It pays off when you get it right.
The sales playbooks have changed so much over the past few years, but feels like this network is on the same page about the balance of in person and virtual.
With 40+ years in the business, I have more frequent flyer miles than I know what to do with. With the pandemic I shut down my travel. I can do everything I need by phone, email or through a Teams meeting. I handle multi-million dollar deals this way without a problem. Some old school customers ask for a personal meeting, and I simply ask “Why?” If there was business justification, I would think about it, but no one has come up with good business justification yet. I’ve developed long-term relationships virtually. Just don’t see need to travel and screw up my work week. I can get more done virtually than I can in-person. One week on the road screws me up for a full week to recover from emails and missed meetings. Not worth the loss in productivity.
Are in-person meetings during a sales cycle important?