FORBES Insights: Executives Prefer Face-to-Face Meetings
Executives PREFER Face-to-Face Meetings
FORBES Insights‘ latest report shows that executives prefer face-to-face meetings. Wow – As “The Queen of the Business Lunch,” I could not have put that better myself. The reasons why they preferred IN PERSON, face-to-face meetings? There is no comparison:
- To build STRONGER, more MEANINGFUL business relationships (85%)
- Ability to read body language and facial expressions (77%)
- More social interaction, ability to bond with co-workers/clients (75%)
- Allow for more complex strategic thinking (49%)
- Better environment for tough, timely decision-making (44%)
Complaints about technology-enabled meetings were that they often resulted in disruption and delays. The ONLY reasons anyone said they preferred technology-assisted meetings were bottom-line, such as saving time, money, or location flexibility.The choice is yours: STRONGER, MORE PRODUCTIVE business meetings or technical difficulties?
As a Business Relationship Expert, I discovered a long time ago that those relationships that were built over a business lunch, an outstanding networking event, or even a round of golf lasted forever. We bonded. Apparently, I’m not the only successful executive who knows that, although I may be the only one who wrote a book about building business relationships over lunch (“The Art of the Business Lunch: Building Relationships Between 12 and 2″).
A compromise can be reached, too, by holding smaller meetings with an assist from technology. But to build long-lasting, solid business relationships, seize some face time!
BTW, the Ritz-Carlton weighed in on the report to reach out to business travelers by offering “Meetings Within Reach,” a value-added opportunity for organizers of on-site seminars, executive retreats, and other corporate events. Their message is “It’s not extravagant IF it produces results.” I’d like to give special thanks to Bruce Himelstein, Ritz-Carlton’s senior vice president of sales & marketing. He acknowledged that technology can never replace the “traditional methods of dealing with people in person…” I rest my case … there is NO Substitute for QUALITY “Face time.”
Notice: I am currently seeking annual contracts with companies who would like to send me out to speak to their clients on the importance of quality face time and how to build productive business relationships. E-mail me to explore the possibilities.
Being “The Queen of the Business Lunch”
Even a "Queen" needs a new logo once in a while!
I often get asked about my nickname, “The Queen of the Business Lunch.” It’s been years since I wrote the award-winning book “The Art of the Business Lunch: Building Relationships Between 12 and 2″ and even longer since I earned my nickname. I thought since I just got a new logo, I would take this opportunity to share some of my business lunch tips and business relationship expertise.
First, the nickname. It came about as a combination of many things. The nature of my business was such that I merely needed to stay in touch with many of my clients. Once I sold them, they were sold, so I didn’t need to do any more convincing. By the nature of my work, all I could do was take them out to lunch, build my relationships, keep them up-to-date on what was going on with my business and our industry, their industry, and so on. What better way to do this than over lunch?
I took great care of my clients, and since I had so many of them, I would book lunches weeks in advance. This of course meant that I, too, was booked weeks out. Friends in the business would call me to book lunch. “How about next Tuesday.” “Can’t…I’m booked already.” You can imagine how long it would take to find a “free” day!
It wasn’t unusual for me to be booked as much as three or four weeks out. And THAT is when the name calling started. My peers would tease me and say, “You don’t really work … You are just the Queen of the Business Lunch!” I took great offense at this, at first! I worked VERY hard. It’s never easy to make something LOOK easy. Of course my friend were just teasing. They knew how much business I was booking and that it didn’t happen by itself.
That is why I wrote “The Art of the Business Lunch.” I had hosted more than 3,000 client lunches (do that math – at a conservative 4x a week (considering business breakfasts, mixers, and lunches combined), times 52 weeks a year, times 18 years…) and I saw my sales increase by more than 2,000%! I knew I was on to something. I wanted to share my Business Relationship Expertise with business professionals everywhere.
Here are some quick tips:
- Always make a reservation.
- Don’t skip lunch; if you’re crunched for time, meet your clients for breakfast! You’ll save money, too.
- Prepare for casual conversation. Avoid awkward silence by knowing a little about a lot.
- Choose a restaurant with a great menu, lots of selections, and a medium price – unless it’s a special occasion.
- If you can wait, don’t bring up the subject of business until AFTER everyone has eaten. We tend to be more receptive to new ideas on a full stomach.
For more tips, click the RSS link to subscribe to my blog, or click the products menu button at www.RobinJay.com or Amazon.com to order “The Art of the Business Lunch.” Remember – how you behave while at a business lunch can MAKE or BREAK a deal! Don’t risk it – stack the deck in your favor by being prepared.
WHY is the Business Lunch SO IMPORTANT? Watch this quick video to discover the answer….
What to Order at a Business Lunch
Eat Right: It's the Fuel You Run On!
I really don’t eat HALF of what I’d like to! I could eat molten lava chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream after EVERY meal…even breakfast. On those rare occasions when I’m out and the ice cream is real, I can’t believe how delicious and creamy it is. Maybe that’s because the only ice cream I keep in my house is either low-fat or sugar free; no wonder “real” ice cream tastes amazing!
When I’m speaking about how I have hosted more than 3,000 client lunches, I often hear, “How come you don’t weigh 300 pounds?!” As you can see in my interview with MSNBC-TV, I told Chris Jansen that while I was taking clients out to eat several times a week, I had FOUR gym memberships all over town and I worked out A LOT! But what I didn’t get to mention was that I also ordered smart food and I ate my biggest meals during my BUSINESS LUNCHES.
There are so many reasons for ordering a more healthy lunchtime meal – to watch your weight and eat healthy, to have food that is easy to eat (it’s a LOT easier to get small bites of a piece of fish in your mouth than it is to down ribs or an over-sized burger!), and to focus more on the meeting that the eating. But there is another reason why you might want to order salads, fish, or lean meat – especially when out with clients.
Eating smart makes you sharp. Sure, you’ll look successful….but you’ll also be able to THINK like a winner. I spoke with one of my coaching clients today. She sounded tired, worn out, beaten up, frustrated, and down. She was angry at certain things going on in her life and was having trouble remaining optimistic.
About an hour into our session, I realized she had not been eating right. She’s had a kidney transplant and is on more meds than the average person. If she doesn’t eat, the meds mess up her stomach. If there isn’t healthy food prepared, easy to prepare, or ready to eat, she’ll eat what she can. Sound familiar? Of course it does…we ALL do that!
My client has an extra challenge, though. She is blind. She can’t just jump in her car and run to the store or Whole Foods to pick up a healthy meal or snack! A few bus transfers and an hour later, she MAY find something decent to eat.
It’s funny…she came to me to help her with her speaking and writing career. She is getting her Masters in Interactive Design so she can help other people by developing user-friendly software or by designing buildings for optimal accessibility. I am not a nutritionist. But if this woman is not able to think clearly or function, then before I can help her to write or speak professionally, we have to put some of the best fuel in her tank….(her THINK TANK!)
Failing to eat healthy food is a lot like trying to run a car on corn syrup instead of gasoline. Sure, it might get down the road a bit before it conks out, but it will eventually kill the engine. Cars need fresh oil, gasoline, spark plugs (ENERGY) and healthy tires. Why can’t we view our bodies the same way? Let’s put the right fuel in so we can perform at our best! A business lunch is no exception – eat smart to stay sharp!
Build Better Business Relationships to Reach 2010 Goals!
If you’re wondering how you’re going to reach your 2010 goals, I recommend working on your relationship-building skills. My original “Claim to Fame” was that I had personally hosted more than 3,000 client lunches and I saw my sales increase by more than 2,000%! That’s really a conservative estimate.
It’s critically important that you first understand the IMPORTANCE of building relationships for business, then you need to understand the best ways to DO this. I want to help you reach your goals, so I will be sharing tips and techniques in this blog to help you understand the “why” and accomplish the “how.”
Loving Lunch with Wally "Famous Amos"
Famous Amos, the cookie man, said, “Picture everyone with M.M.F.S. on their forehead…. it stands for: Make Me Feel Special.” Think about how different your day would be if you did that with everyone you meet today – making the most of your quality Face 2 Face time. You would start to feel a positive energy coming back to you. People would start to go out of their way to help you achieve your goals simply because they love how they feel when they are with you. Making others feel SPECIAL is the most important key to building solid, productive relationships.
Try it for just today – make everyone you talk to – in person, e-mail, or on the phone, feel as if they are the most important person in the world….because they really are.
Client Lunches: When You Just Don't Have the TIME!
I did a radio interview this week with Smokie Sizemore. Smokie runs the Smart Woman’s Club – and she is a real spitfire!
I had a question from a caller – Lena. Her question was one that I’ve heard before and you might have wondered about it as well, so I wanted to share my answer here to help those of you who can relate. Lena lives outside of New York City. Her complaint was one that I have about business lunches too, now that I work from home.
Lena said that taking clients to lunch has become a colossal time consumer! As important as it is to get in that quality FACE TIME, she found that a business lunch can cost her up to FOUR hours – between getting ready, drive time into the city and back, and following up. Lena – I couldn’t agree with you more! I used to advocate attending at least FIVE social events a week with clients, and that holds true today – IF You are already out and about!
Make Time to Break Bread!
When I was in sales, I was dressed, at my desk, and ready to go each day by 8:30AM. Even if lunch took FOREVER, (as with my old FAVORITE – a 2-hour lunch), it only took those TWO HOURS out of my day! No big deal…especially when that time was SO PRODUCTIVE!
Now, working from home, I often find myself working late at night….sometimes even well past midnight. By 8:30 the next morning, I’m up and at my desk, but I’m hardly dressed for a meeting. My friend, Judy Owen, asked me what the heck I meant when I would decline invitations for lunch on the Las Vegas Strip saying, “I just don’t want to come into town today.” She was puzzled because I only live about 15 minutes from the strip.
I explained to Judy that by the time I get READY (hair shampooed and set or flat-ironed, dressed, etc.) and drive there and back, I’ll have been away from my desk for TWO HOURS! And that’s not even counting LUNCH!
As you can see, I fully appreciated Lena’s lament. Yes, Lena, lunch in town – especially when you work from a home office – can easily become an ALL DAY EVENT! So what’s the solution?
DEVOTE ONE DAY A WEEK to meetings “in the city,” regardless of where you live. If you work from home, dedicate one day each week to being away from your desk. With the right planning and a smart phone, this can become your most productive day ever!
Start with an 8 or 8:30 breakfast meeting. Schedule a 10AM meeting at Starbucks or a coffee shop near your 10AM client’s office. Make your first lunch meeting around 11:30. Order soup. Next lunch? 1PM. Have some fish or salad. By 2:30, it will be time for SOMEONE’S coffee break, so suggest that you meet that person near their office. In ONE DAY, you can gain a WEEK’S worth of quality FACE TIME!
Then, as you return to your home office, kick off the painful, 3″ heels and slip back into your comfortable slacks or sweats. 
Relax. You had a big, productive day and you didn’t waste a single minute!
We just can’t afford to sacrifice that all-important FACE TIME. And that is truer now more than ever before. PEOPLE PREFER TO DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE THEY LIKE – and there is no better way to get to know someone than by sharing a meal….breaking bread with them. (even if that is simply a biscotti at Starbucks!) Don’t pass on the chance to meet and greet with clients. Try this. Let me know how it works for you!
The POWER of the Platform: Speakers Help Through Motivation
Motivational Speakers and experts in Personal Development have come together once again in The Power of the Platform, an anthology from the Las Vegas Convention Speakers Bureau that features messages of motivation and inspiration from some of the world’s most outstanding speakers. I’m delighted to be a part of this book.
The first book, subtitled Speakers on Success, was a tremendous hit. I wrote the introduction for that edition. The book features chapters from such notable experts in the field of personal development as Jack Canfield, Brian Tracy, and Les Brown.
The latest book in the series, Speakers on Purpose, features returning self-help gurus Canfield, Brown, and Tracy, along with relationship expert Keith Ferrazzi and The Secret’s Marci Shimoff as well as many other speakers with important messages that offer hope during these challenging times.
Being a part of these anthologies has taken much of my time this past year. I have begun work on the next edition, Speakers on Life. This book will bring answers and inspiration to all who are fortunate enough to read it. The books are also available in e-book format and the audio books are currently in production.
As “The Queen of the Business Lunch,” my area of expertise lies in building significant, productive business relationships. Speakers on Purpose offered me my first opportunity to share my newest keynote message, “B Face 2 Face 4 Success.” The chapter in the anthology touches on the importance of the business lunch (OF COURSE!) but it takes relationship building a few steps further.
How can you build a relationship when lunch is not an option, as when your client lives on the other side of the country? And what about all this social media? Are you TWEETING your lunch hour away, eating solo?
I wanted to use my chapter in Speakers on Purpose to help business professionals get a grip on their client relationships. It’s a fabulous book that offers insights, tips, techniques, and inspirational stories from speakers as far away as Bangkok and Singapore! If you want a copy, just let me know. I’ll throw in FOR FREE an e-book edition for every paperback sold now through Christmas. I want you to have your best year EVER!
Gitomer Endorses Mealtimes 4 Sales Success
Sales Guru Jeffrey Gitomer has finally started Tweeting. So, what’s he tweeting about? Sales, of course! How to ask the right questions, what it takes to succeed, why people fail, and everything else salespeople should know to become phenomenal at selling. Jeffrey should know. He wrote the book. Okay…he’s written MANY books on sales. What is MY favorite tweet of his? That’s easy…
“The two BEST places for a sales appointment: Breakfast and lunch. Relaxed atmosphere and no interruptions.”
Thank you, Jeffrey, for stating the obvious that so many people in sales still tend to overlook. Jeffrey wrote a blurb for me when I launched The Art of the Business Lunch, and my publisher put a PART of it on the back cover. The part they left out was my favorite: “Robin Jay’s book is the recipe for Lean Cuisine and Fat Checks! Buy it, read it, and act on it!”
Jeffrey Gitomer, Sales Expert
Ya gotta love Jeffrey’s no-nonsense approach! My publisher chose the more conservative part of his testimonial: “The Art of the Business Lunch is pivotal to the science of selling. I have maintained for years that LUNCH is the best place to build a relationship and make a sale. Buy it, read it, and act on it.” I couldn’t have said it better myself, Jeffrey, but thank you again.
If you are not taking your clients out to lunch, you are missing out on the VERY BEST opportunity to build relationships and close sales. Jeffrey says when you build the right relationships, people will come TO YOU when they need something. It’s so true. Did you know that client lunches are such an EFFECTIVE SALES TECHNIQUE that they are practically ILLEGAL in ALL 50 STATES!?!? If you don’t believe me, just leave a comment and I’ll explain. Most successful sales people know EXACTLY what I’m talking about!
MAD MEN Understands Business Relationships
The season finale of MAD MEN on AMC was so fabulous, I watched it twice. The writers understand the importance of building strong business relationships. Even if you’re not a fan of the show, you will appreciate this aspect of the story line.
As the principles at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency discovered their agency had been bought by McCann Erikson (yes, mixing reality with fiction for added credibility), they decided to form their own agency. Without hesitation, the bosses decided who they wanted to join them.
Roger Sterling & Don Draper: MAD MEN
They knew the billing numbers they needed to have, so they picked Pete and Peggy – knowing that between them all, they would have sufficient billing to start their new agency. They KNEW that Pete and Peggy had relationships with their accounts and that their accounts would FOLLOW THEM wherever they went.
That is the point of what I do: I share with audiences how to build SOLID business relationships, client relationships that will become so solid and well-founded, that your clients would follow you wherever you go. You see, it’s not the AGENCY people do business with – it’s the INDIVIDUAL! And companies that GET THIS treat their people accordingly.
In MAD MEN, the principles never asked their account people IF they could bring business over – they simply asked “WHO CAN YOU BRING?” They knew that Pete & Peggy – account services and creative – would have clients who would follow them to the ends of the earth. Together, along with Don Draper and Roger Sterling, they would have enough billing to move forward with their own agency. The took the necessary files over the weekend and set up their new temporary offices in a nearby hotel room.
So, let me ask you this: If you were to leave your company today to take a position at another firm, who would follow you, bringing their business? THIS goal is what you should have in mind as you build client relationships. Take your clients to lunch, make time for face time, become their most valuable resource. Become such an integral part of their strategy that they could not imagine running their business without you! Agreed?
Helping MBA Students and Professionals Improve Presentations
Last week I spoke at the National Association of Women MBAs conference in Anaheim, California. I delivered two presentations – one was on my signature topic, The Art of the Business Lunch: Building Relationships Between 12 and 2, and the other was called Speak & Write Like a Pro.
Lisa Waters was in my session and offered this testimonial. She was there with Rachel Magario, who I’m delighted to have as a new coaching client! Lisa and Rachel were just two of the impressive group of attendees! My faith in our future is boosted whenever I present to such intelligent, ambitious, and friendly audiences. Thanks to EVERYONE who was there. This event was incredibly well organized, thanks to the tireless effort of Delma Esparza.
In The Art of the Business Lunch, I shared my secrets and tips for building productive business relationships by introducing a social aspect. Breaking bread brings dough! What about when a job interview takes place over a business lunch? Why would an employer want to meet with you in a social setting? I had the answers and the women ate them up! I shared the importance of creating quality face time and helped the women to become Business Relationship Experts!
In my session on Speak & Write Like a Pro, I shared the fundamentals of delivering outstanding presentations – written and verbal. Using “Action” verbs helps to add impact to your sentences, as does eliminating the words “thing” and “stuff.” The audience laughed when I acted out, “I have a thing tonight….” A THING? Really? A dinner? A networking event? a date? We KNOW what we are going to do – so why not be specific about it. What the heck is a “THING” anyway?
When delivering PPT presentations, try to use photos instead of text whenever possible. Sure, you have to know your material, but you can cheat by using notes – if you use “presenter’s view.” All details, numbers, charts, etc., can go on handouts. No one is going to remember a lot of numbers! Keep your presentations compelling and entertaining.
What a great experience I had with the women of NAWMBA! I hope to work with these women in the future. Many of the attendees invited me to come to their universities to speak. That’s the greatest compliment ever!