The year 2017 has finally run out and you are about to launch into 2018. You must have gone through your score sheet after all the pruning by the audit wizards and found out what exactly made you thick during the year.
The holidays are here and you are probably somewhere out there cooling it off or letting out the steam. It’s actually expected because it isn’t easy bottling up all the hectic and brainstorming sessions that cropped up in the business during the year.
While you are at it, expectedly you are also putting some jigsaw in place for the year 2018. You want to hit the ground running. You want to crank it up. Way, way up.
Undoubtedly, technology has made things easier for us especially in the area of communication. The social media has given businesses an unimaginable reach in the world market.
The Statista reports that in the third quarter of 2017, it was found that 1.37 billion active users visited Facebook on a daily basis. It went further to say that experts projected that by 2020, an estimated 2.95 billion people will be accessing social networks regularly.
The statistics are a favorable indicator of the fact that social networking has come to stay and push businesses higher up. It is a good pointer to the fact that the world is quickly becoming a global village.
But wait a bit. Is something not missing there? Did you completely and absolutely depend on social networking to push your business to the front burner? If that was the case for 2017, then you need leapfrogging. You need to add face-to-face networking to the arsenal you have to galvanize your business to the top in 2018.
There is every reason for you to tap in on the following four reasons to see why face-to-face networking is essential for your business.
- Bond of trust
Nothing can beat the fact that you see the person you are talking to. There is a sense of camaraderie that is attached to it. A bond of trust is established which you can never get from your email or phone conversation.
When it is absolutely impossible to physically get on a one-to-one, enterprise video conferencing and web conferencing can be utilized to give the same result.The ability to physically interact and socialize breeds a sense of community. Your business can’t do without that.
- Non-verbal cues
Have you ever stopped to think of that flicker, the little glint, the spark, and the tell-tale sign on the face of anybody you are doing business deals with when the hit has been made? There is a whole lot more to body language than you think.
The body language tells you when to pussyfoot, prod, or nose-dive into a deal. It is electrifying and you can’t make that out from social networking. You need the face-to-face angle to nail that.
Non-verbal cues like facial expressions, attentiveness, and engagement indicate different thoughts and feelings.
Steve Jobs said on social networking that “ there’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be developed by email and iChat. That’s crazy. Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.”
- Concise communication
It is quite frustrating when you have to wait for days expecting a response from an email you have sent. Sometimes you may have to send upwards of about four reminders before you are replied.
The suspense could be rather unnerving especially when you don’t know if it is an effort to block or to stall you. This is the scenario with social networking.
In the case of face-to-face networking, you know right away where you stand. You have the opportunity to talk eyeball to eyeball. Nobody does any dilly-dallying with you.
- Protects confidentiality
Face-to-face communication breeds confidentiality. There are instances when certain information are meant for only one person. You need face-to-face communication to get it right in this instance.
When private and delicate issues are to be handled the discussants are assured that no records are kept and are free to open up and be more forthcoming.
In conclusion, it is a fact that technology especially as it relates to social networking has eased out a lot of problems in the business circle. However, there is no gainsaying the fact that personal interaction is the heart of business relationships.
Social networking should be used as a means to fire up an already existing relationship. If you haven’t met for the first time you can use the medium to swing a get together in your favor.
