ONLINE MEETINGS OR FACE TO FACE?

With the appearance of Covid 19, online meetings have been of great support when contacting foreign clients, since we had restricted travel; and therefore, we could not in-person strengthen relationships with existing contacts or meet potential new customers. In this work, we must thank the official organizations for their commitment to online meetings, since it has been a fundamental tool to access new clients and international markets.

During the pandemic, those of us who are dedicated to export have been affected in our daily work since the opportunity to meet new customers has been limited.

What is clear is that online meetings will never replace the closeness that a face-to-face meeting supposes, in order to verify the existence and reliability of a potential client and / or solve a problem and strengthen business relationships with our regular clients.

But we must emphasize that we have valued all the tools that we have had at our disposal, and that we will now use more frequently, to enhance our international business activities.

“Face to face” vs “online”:

An online meeting is colder than a face-to-face meeting, and therefore the client will value to a greater extent the trip made to know us as a possible supplier and / or solve the problems that have arisen, typical of a commercial relationship.

However, online meetings are an ideal complement to avoid unnecessary travel, and allow in a less costly way to contact potential clients and discard those that are not interesting.

When we find ourselves with the revision of contracts, with difficulties that may arise in some international markets or in the face of long-term negotiations; It is when the need arises to plan a trip to strengthen the relationship with regular customers, trying to solve the problems that we are encountering as best as possible.

Online meetings allow us to filter new clients, and should be reinforced with an on-site trip to see the distribution system of potential business partners, and possibly finish negotiations that we had pending confirmation. They are well-directed and well-prepared trips, which complement the initial activity of the online meeting.

Today it is necessary to work in a hybrid way, combining online meetings with face-to-face meetings.