“Emails do not end in handshakes.” That’s the headline of a recent British Airways ad aimed at getting businesspeople to head across the pond for a good old-fashioned face-to-face meeting. I think their message is spot on.

Certainly, electronic communication like email, cell phones, faxes, etc. have all made it much easier to stay in touch with your clients, but if you believe that electronic communications are the path to retaining clients and facilitating closing skills, you need to think again. Your clients and prospects would tell you that they value the one-on-one time that an in-person meeting provides. Sure, you can just click and open up a file without ever laying eyes on the sender, but to truly demonstrate your skill and ability to a client or prospect, in person communication is the way to go.

One of my business development consulting clients recently said to me, “I won that case for my client 6 months ago—why hasn’t she called me?” If my client wants to lock in more work from his client, he should get a few more lunches or in-person meetings on his schedule. And always have something planned to talk about; celebrate their successes, ask them about their plan for next year’s work, and inquire about potential introductions or referrals they may be able to make.

Email has made our lives easier, but it is only one tool in the law sales arsenal, not the only medium available. Don’t forget about the good old-fashioned in person meeting. There’s still plenty of room for it in our high-tech world.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 5:30 am and is filed under Business Development, Client Retention, Legal Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.