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August 28, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Here’s a fundamental truth of sales success: Showing up matters. Everyday you show up on the web, on the phone and through video conferencing. But while technology tools can certainly drive business development, nothing beats sitting down with people and talking to them in person, face to face. This may be the one thing your competition isn’t doing.
The value of face to face. Recently, one of my clients — let’s call her “Karen” — invited a couple of clients to lunch with the sole purpose of reconnecting with them and asking for referral introductions. When Karen began the referral conversation, one of her clients said, “That’s great. We can talk about that later. But right now let’s talk about some other projects we want to work on with you.”
Karen walked away from that meeting with some new projects, the clients’ commitment to work with her company and a referral introduction to one of her prime targets.
“Tom” shared a similar scenario. Determined to accelerate his referral business, Tom booked lunches with one client and two potential referral sources. The client committed to additional business with Tom’s company, and both referral sources offered introductions to new prospects.
Nothing beats face to face. Would these business opportunities have happened without face-to-face meetings? Perhaps. But there’s nothing more powerful than breaking bread with someone with whom you have developed a strong business relationship. You get a chance to catch up, share valuable information and discuss work you’ve done with other clients. And you can figure out how to help each other.
