I spent 12 weeks last year in airports, hotel rooms, and customer offices across the U.S. and Canada. I am doing a bit less this year, but it’s still a big chunk of what I do.
I’ve made a conscious effort though, to make sure I stay around for the important things. When my kids have sports events, important school or church activities, dance recitals, and piano recitals, I adjust my travel schedule to be there. Outside of fixed events like tradeshows, I am fortunate I have a bit of discretion. My wife (who is an absolute saint) holds down the fort with our four kids while I live out of a suitcase, chasing time zones and jobsite schedules.
So why do it? In an age of remote work, why is travel even necessary?
Because some things are timeless!
Relationships take work, no matter what type of relationship it is. The people who provide my livelihood (the construction pros building roads, bridges, and infrastructure under tight deadlines and tighter margins) are worth more than a Zoom call.
Still not convinced? Well, there are a few other reasons, too. I will break it down in several different ways.
Why Face-to-Face Still Matters
First, let’s expand upon the relationship aspect. As great as HCSS is, we aren't always 100% perfect.
[…and just like that, my writing career for HCSS came to an abrupt end…]
Seriously though, as much as we try to get things right and do things well for our customers, we can have the same communication issues anyone else does. My customers have a comfort level with me, calling me up and asking me to help them run down a thorny issue, or put them in touch with a technical expert, etc. They do that because they know me, and they know I will work in earnest to help where and when I can. If I were simply a faceless voice on the other end of a phone, that discussion with a heavy civil contractor could easily become uncivil. I know you guys dig huge holes in extremely remote locations. No need to keep bringing it up!
Secondly, let’s discuss the more practical side of why traveling is important. Have you heard the claim from leading psychologists that over 80% of communication is non-verbal? I know, you are probably hearing it first here, but it’s true. So what does that mean for a salesperson who has to pick up on cues and understand if he is addressing the concerns of his prospect/customer?
Well, I can’t speak for anyone else, but what I have found is that, absent occasional face-to-face meetings, it means we get into conversations where we are talking past each other. It leads to people taking “positions” instead of collaborating on solutions. Being onsite means I can see people tense up when I start talking about entering a time card. The immediate fears and anxiety of asking #insertname to start putting time, production, and materials into an iPad visibly shake certain people. I know I really need to hit hard on how easy our system is to use.
I’ve talked with numerous project managers who each have a different way of measuring how they perceive their jobs being run successfully or unsuccessfully. The owners, VPs, and directors often cringe when they realize they lack standardization in their evaluation process. Sometimes, that is the first time anyone has ever broached the topic in the hustle and bustle of a thousand different priorities and endless obligations to both customers and employees.
One of the stranger conversations I ended up in the midst of was during a HeavyBid presentation. The estimators and management advocating for software were accused by their executive staff of being lazy and unprofessional by asking for a “crutch.” They argued that “real” estimators estimate in Excel. It likely won’t surprise you, but I didn’t make that sale.
Reading the Room (and the Jobsite)
The last piece of this is the credibility I gain by getting my hands dirty. The experience of meeting a customer at their job trailer, putting on a hard hat and vest to walk a job, meeting the actual HCSS software users, and hearing constructive feedback give me a lot of confidence when I come back home. I’ve had the opportunity to sit on internal committees that help shape the future of our software.
The experiences I have while traveling have given me insight into how we can make our customer experience better. Some might say I have had too many opinions and been too outspoken about what I think the users would like to see. However, as long as they only say that kind of stuff behind my back, I’m good with it. That way, I can just keep doing what I am doing.
Hopefully, some of the thoughts and opinions I have espoused here make a convincing enough case that the need for travel isn’t dead. In my case, not only is it not dead, but it’s a valuable contributor to my ongoing success at HCSS. I would extend these same principles to those who don’t see value in purchasing live training.
If you haven’t been to the HCSS Users Group Meeting in Houston, we’d love to have you! While I probably visited with over 500 people in 3 months, that’s not nearly as scalable as having over 2,000 people from the industry come to Houston for 3 days. Meet your salesperson, meet your tech support crush, yell at a few product managers, and then have a beer.
I will finish as I started: relationships take work, and face-to-face meetings cultivate better relationships.
*Please note: an abridged version of this blog post was made on LinkedIn recently. If you would like to follow John Cappello on LinkedIn for more industry insights like this one, he can be followed here.
