I’ve been to 3 trade shows in the last 6 weeks. It has been so good to attend in person!
Let me just say that it’s great to travel to other places. I have always considered business travel to be crucial for my job, as well as many others in our company. Not only are face-to-face meetings with prospects important when you’re starting a business relationship that might last decades, but travel also provides a fresh perspective on the businesses we are in and support, on how our clients use our platform to drive their revenues, and, perhaps most importantly, on the persons with whom we work at those clients. I have once again met such persons for dinner, spending time simply relating as human beings. These are the building blocks of relationships, and we’ve been missing these blocks for nearly 2 years.
I recently had dinner with a client who signed contracts with us a year ago, after a nearly 1-year-long sales cycle. We had never met in person. That’s quite sad, but we had a great time at this dinner toasting the success of the first phase of the project (rather than the contract signing) and getting to know one another as persons.