Face to Face

In 1990, United Airlines aired one of the most unforgettable TV ads ever. For those of you too young to have seen it, the ad starts in an industrial conference room with the apparent CEO addressing his large staff. He says, “I got a phone call today from one of our oldest customers. He fired us! After 20 years, he fired us! He said he didn’t know us anymore.” He pauses momentarily and then says, “I think I know why. We used to do business with a handshake, face-to-face. Now, it’s a phone call or a fax. He says, “Well folks, things are going to change. We are going to set out for a face-to-face chat with every customer we have.” The narrator in the commercial then says, “If you’re the kind of business that still believes that personal service delivers a lot more than lip service, welcome to United.” Of course, the CEO then hands all his salespeople tickets to United Airlines to visit their customers. It finishes with one of the salespeople asking the CEO where he is going. He says, “I am going to visit that old friend who fired us this morning.”

To bring this 35-year-old ad into the more modern business era, we can replace the phone and fax with Zoom and email, but the same principle remains. If you want to establish a long-term business relationship, it is most essential to establish in-person relationships.

I am not suggesting that we buy dozens of airline tickets to visit our customers and suppliers tomorrow, as I know it isn’t realistic. What the ad reinforced to me was the importance of really getting to know each other’s needs. I suggest setting aside time to visit the top 10% of your customers or suppliers in the next few months. There is a lot to be learned by visiting your customer or supplier’s facility, and the return on investment is immense.

The simple act of visiting the customer or supplier shows them your commitment to the relationship. Most everyone is proud of their company and products and is excited to show off their unique facilities. As a supplier, touring a customer’s plant or warehouse can reveal processes or products you hadn’t noticed before. This insight may allow you to recommend a more suitable product for their needs or adjust your own processes to offer an even better solution.

As a customer, visiting your supplier can also provide an oppor-tunity to understand their processes and to see exactly how their products are being made. The more you know, the better decisions you can make for your business.

Just this morning, our sales manager left to visit two current customers and will stop at another potential customer while he is in the area. He is not expecting to bring back an entire book of orders, but we will continue to build on our personal relationships and possibly start a new one.

We all spend a lot of time and effort trying to increase our markets by searching for new clients or suppliers, but we also need to understand the importance of keeping our current ones. So don’t wait for one of your “old friends” to fire you. Make your plans to meet your business partners face-to-face right now. You won’t regret it.

Bucky Pescaglia
NHLA Chairman | Missouri-Pacific Lumber Co., Inc.