Juanes teaches Elmo Spanish.

Meeting in Person

As I walked inside the Oakland Airport on a Sunday afternoon, I again took pause to wonder if the cost in both time, out of office, and travel expense is worth it. After all, this is Northern California, and I could be up in the mountains snowboarding, mountain biking or relaxing for a nice brunch.
This month has seen New York, Chicago, and now Mexico City, while another member or our team is in Miami to meet with both prospective as well as current clients. The folks at Go To Meeting have an excellent selling point when they promote the potential savings with holding meetings online versus travelling.

While the costs are well documented, what about the benefits? Simply put, the main benefit and goal of business travel is to cultivate business and to generate relationships. In an age where companies have been cutting their sales and service staff and budgets, this is an opportunity to set yourself apart. Meeting with someone in person, whether for a formal meeting, grabbing a coffee, or just stopping by to shake hands, there is something about a personal meeting that stands out versus the numerous phone calls that come in a day. There is the ability to open up the conversation and see how people react to your product or presentation that you cannot get from email or telephone. There is the ability to form a lasting relationship with a person in your industry or client that has a potentially long-term benefit. Some of this may be more important for a smaller company that may not have a reputation and needs to build its brand and build confidence among its clients.

Forming relationships with clients is the key to any successful organization, and as such business travel and in person meetings can be very important. Realistically, it doesn’t make sense to have everyone in the company travelling nor meet each and every client. However, by focusing on certain regions that offer a large cluster of current and potential clients, making the trips short, and taking advantage of planning early,  there are significant benefits to be had for a relatively minor investment.