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You place a primary importance on client relationships in your business, or perhaps in your career if you don’t own your own business. After all, it is the trust and loyalty of customers that is critical in success. And while that trust and loyalty is based upon performance, it is necessary to augment excellent performance with even more conscientious business communication.
One of the most important aspects of business etiquette is maintaining proper communication with clients, and in fact, good communication with clients can even overcome a variety of other weaknesses. So you’ve built your business on performance and delivering the best products or services, but you’ve also recognized the value of good communication with clients. You’ve made keeping records of how to contact your clients vital, and you’ve reached out to them in a number of ways. Until recently, reaching out to clients face to face meant travelling to see them, if they weren’t local.
Business trips are part of business culture and they play a big part in successful dealings and negotiations. If you’ve been in the business world any length of time, you know the difference that being able to see the face of your client (and your client being able to see yours) can make in the direction of any conversation. Whether about a large matter or a small one, human beings are conditioned to communicate while evaluating the other person’s facial expressions and body language. Being able to do so, at least on some occasions, can strengthen the relationship with that client over its entire term.
Now, with the advent of easily acquired hardware and software to support video conferences, you don’t have to travel to give your client face time. But does that mean you shouldn’t? Can video conferencing really replace the gains made in client relationships face to face?
In short–no. It is a way to give your clients an avenue for more personal communication, though. Instead of seeing video conferencing as a replacement strictly for business travel, however, try to utilize it more often as an alternative to phone calls and email.