Although no one would dispute the increasing use of online meetings, 81 percent of business professionals believe that face-to-face meetings are better for building long-term trust and ensuring strong client relationships. Most of us have experienced the value of being there in person – especially for closing sales and building relationships.
Importantly, the converse also is true: Nearly half (47 percent) of business men and women surveyed believe they had lost an important contract or client simply because they didn’t have enough face-to-face meetings. This lack of personal contact resulted in the estimated yearly revenue loss of 24 percent – certainly a significant cost for any business.
A global research report, titled "Business Meetings in a Modern World" released by Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, revealed that 74 percent of respondents believe that eye contact is the top non-verbal indicator of a positive outcome. You simply do not have that feedback online.
Most interesting, Tuesday morning is identified as the optimum time for a successful face-to-face meeting in the United Kingdom and the United States, while Monday mornings are the best time of the week for productive meetings in China, India and United Arab Emirates.
Small talk is recognized as an important tool to begin a business meeting, with the average meeting starting with about 7.5 minutes of light conversation. The U.K. and the U.S. spend the first few minutes of a meeting discussing the weather, whereas in China, India and the UAE discussions start with news and current affairs, as the main topic of conversation, 64 percent, 59 percent and 49 percent, respectively.
Face-to-face meetings are not going to go away, until the day we can figure out how to make our video presence as effective as our in-person presence, and that day is not coming soon. That said, we believe that for information sharing, online meetings will continue to grow and develop, and that new technologies will become available to enhance their effectiveness. The positive implications for the travel industry are obvious
