On the Road Again with Andrew Bashfield
On the Road Again with Andrew Bashfield
Despite COVID and in some cases because of COVID, many of us changed roles in 2020. I am one of them, having joined 1Spatial Australia in April last year. But it was a sales role unlike any other I had experienced – because work was conducted entirely behind a phone or screen.
And yet with the stark difference came a common experience – COVID restrictions meant that our customers were in exactly the same boat – behind a screen and working from home.
It was a sobering experience and one we eventually mastered, but all the while longing for the chance to meet up face-to-face. 
We endured the false starts, “How many trips have been cancelled because of COVID?” Most people missed out on at least one vacation trip and I had two business trips cancelled because of outbreaks in various cities.
But despite the false start, I am back on the road and meeting customers at industry events, cafes and offices.
Since March 2021, I’ve enjoyed face-to-face meetings in Wodonga, Wagga Wagga, Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne and Hobart. And more are planned.
Why do I like face-to-face meetings? Well anecdotally, I always feel better after a face-to-face meeting! I feel I’ve been able to build on the existing relationship and trust that any commitments made will be followed through.
But is that just me? In pre-COVID research conducted by Vanessa K. Bohns of Cornell University, she found that face-to-face requests between strangers were 34 times more effective than emailed requests. She also found that the nonverbal cues requesters conveyed during a face-to-face interaction made all the difference in how people viewed the legitimacy of their requests, but requesters were oblivious to this fact.
In simple terms, there is an opportunity to build a level of exchanged trust during a face-to-face meeting that does not exist in an email interaction.
If you’ve made the effort to spend time with a customer at their place of work or even a neutral location, you have already shown them respect. The way you conduct yourself during the face-to-face meeting is an opportunity to build trust in that respect, and to demonstrate that your involvement in their business through the services and products you represent are valuable to their operations and projects.
There is one more thing that a face-to-face meeting can offer – because the distractions of technology-based communications are not present, there is an opportunity to enjoy a shared experience; coffee, stories, humour… the face-to-face meeting is not only about business, it’s also a very human exchange.
If you would like to find out more about where we will be next, check out our events page!