Being Old Fashioned – Eye to Eye Contact

You can call me old-fashioned and depict me as a dinosaur in the digital world, but then, there must be many others who are like me. 

There is no question that social media, emails, texts, video calls, and now AI, etc. have revolutionized communications and the way business is conducted today.   It is more efficient and timelier to disseminate information in this manner.  The computer started this revolution, and today, the computer has been miniaturized into the smartphone.   There is more power in a smartphone today than in a mainframe computer of 40 years ago.  Today, we are all controlled by our smartphones.   We don’t go anywhere without it, and we can’t do anything if we lose it.

Having said that, I am always reminded that buying and selling are emotional.  Computers don’t sell, and we don’t sell to computers.   We sell to people, and people have emotions.   It is emotions that drive them to act and react.  Computers and smartphones are cold objects that have no emotions.   They validate our products with facts and data, but they do not sell.  WE, salespeople, do the selling, and that will always be the case. 

Face-to-face is a phrase we have heard repeatedly to describe building personal relationships and people interaction.   In the digital world, we seem to be losing this.   It almost seems like this generation avoids visual and personal contact and prefers to interact only via electronic devices.  We are so engrossed in the screen and keyboard that we often ignore people and prefer to deal with a cold device as opposed to a warm human being.  It is more and more difficult to establish and maintain eye-to-eye contact while communicating.      This is a cruel reality today.  

I just came back from a trip to Asia, where I called upon a previous client.   It was amazing to see the principals in person and to have a dialogue to update on an absence from the past 10 years.  It was as if it were just yesterday when we met, as opposed to 10 years ago.   It all came back with the initial handshake.   Rekindling a working relationship and friendship, the meeting was fabulous, meaningful, and worthwhile. 

I know that a meeting via video call may have been easier, but it would not have been able to re-establish the relationship or friendship we had developed in the past.  Being there in person, face to face with a strong handshake,  made the difference.  Having the bond connected again, there may be some new consulting business ahead for me.   Now, that is what a sales call is all about.  This is why we meet in person.  

Let us please not lose sight of building long-lasting relationships to grow business or friendships.   The only way to do this is in person.   Now, if that is being old-fashioned, then I suppose I deserve and will always be branded with this title.