There are a lot of benefits to face-to-face contact, so why isn’t there more buzz about getting together?
“We think that because everything has gone digital, people don’t matter anymore,” said Marisa Kopec, VP-group director at SiriusDecisions. “You still have to enable a buying process that has handshakes and human interactions.”
In a report published by SiriusDecisions, two categories of interactions in the b-to-b buying process were examined: human interactions and non-human interactions.”We decided to take out the word ‘digital’ and introduce a different lexicon to talk about the buyer’s journey that is more precise,” Ms. Kopec said. “Human-to-human means there is a person involved, and non-human is any interaction over the computer, phone, email, text or any other self-serve interaction that does not involve a human.”
In the SiriusDecisions study, it was reported that when buyers make a selection on a product or service, about half of the interactions in the typical b-to-b buying process are human, and about half are non-human.
It’s the difference between looking at a picture of the ocean and actually going swimming in it. The more people interact with a person or the real world through a screen rather than in real life, the less emotion is attached to the exchange, and during complex deals, this human component is crucial. When buyers and salespeople are meeting with organizations, trust, validation and confidence are important throughout the journey to closing the deal. In an age that it’s so common to give a virtual thumbs up or poke, remember that a firm handshake still matters.
Source: Adage