An old fashion way of meeting and staying connected with clients is seeing a resurgence these days. Face-to-face meetings have begun to show their importance in a recent group of studies. One study suggests the more a company spends on travel expenses the more revenue and profit it will see at the end of the year. The other suggests that there are fundamental parts of business with clients that only face-to-face meeting can secure. In this article we will be looking at the cost of value of face-to-face meetings, the importance of body language, and some of the figures surrounding face-to-face meetings.
Cost And Value
When companies decide to cut costs in order to make some money it is common for them to start at travel expenses. A recent study by Oxford Economics shows that this may be a mistake. Companies that spent more on travel expenses saw an increase in both corporate revenue and profits. In the study it showed that every dollar which was spent on travel cost there was $12.50 made in revenue and $3.80 made in profits. What the researchers and the companies that read this study take from these findings is that face-to-face meetings are very important to a business. As social networks, web sites and online communication vehicles like Skype seem to have grown in popularity, the importance of face-to-face meetings seems to have been forgotten.
Leave Nothing To Chance
One of the most important elements of the face-to-face meeting is body language. Body language is something you cannot get from a phone or internet-based meeting. The transparency involved in a face-to-face meeting gives your potential customer an edge. They can see if you start to sweat when you are talking about the success of your company. They can see that you don't smile when you talk about how thrilling the new year is going to be for the company. They can see the sketchy way you look around the room, your eyes darting from side-to-side, when you begin to talk about profits. On the other hand, your body language can help to solidify the claims your business makes and will result in the client feeling even more comfortable with moving things forward with your company.
Assessing The Results
Studies done by a Dr. Arvey have shown that group outcomes and processes that focus on persuasion of others, timing, consensus, and that require coordination are more effective when done face-to-face. Other studies have shown that face-to-face meetings that involve interviewing senior staff, negotiating important contracts and listening and understanding customers are more successful than meetings done over the phone or online. These results are telling companies that there needs to be some integration of the newer technologies used for meetings and the good old fashioned face-to-face method. Face-to-face seems to work best at starting the relationship with the clients while the social networking maintains them by letting them keep easier track of the dialogue between the two groups.
