The Pandemic May Be Lingering but In-Person Can Be a Differentiator

Andrew Wetzler - November 30, 2021

Covid affected varying industries disproportionally, but across all dimensions of the economy, businesses were forced to adapt to a digital way of conducting their affairs. It was rough going early on with both internal communications and the disruption to selling patterns (in-person largely disappeared).

As 2021 winds down and the newest variant dominates the news, it’s reasonable to cancel trade shows for the winter and continue to push out trips to visit with customers and potential customers. Yet, reasonable may no longer jive with maximum proactiveness and the missed opportunities that occur by continuing with a Zoom-only approach.

I’ve been on a handful of business trips over the past few months on both coasts and here’s what I have learned…

Some people aren’t yet ready to meet in-person again, but the ones who are receptive are incredibly appreciative of the effort. While we’ve all proven that business communications can “pivot” to be completely remote, I believe that a meaningful percentage of the business community who were accustomed to working with their peers, customers and future ones in-person are anxious to get back into a more normalized cadence of interactions.

If you seize the opportunity to get out there again, there’s a wonderful opening right now to rekindle old and foster new relationships in a manner that Zoom can’t deliver and that can help to position you and your company ahead of others.