Last month, we held our peer group meetings in Philadelphia. It was the first time TruMethods has had in-person meetings in more than two years. More than 200 MSPs came to town over the course of the week.
For many members, it was their first in-person meeting since the pandemic began. The overwhelming feedback was about how awesome it was to be back in person. We could see relationships being built. Our longtime members were thrilled and catching up with one another. It made me start to think about how this shift to remote work has impacted not just company culture but customer relationships.
Has your ‘face time’ been reduced with customers? Do your vCIOs prefer Zoom meetings over in-person meetings?
You can’t underestimate the impact of face-to-face time with customers. I know it’s easier to be remote and at times it may seem to be more efficient — but there is a cost.
You need to make decisions around what face-to-face time looks like with each of your customers, from a vCIO standpoint, and a technology alignment point of view. If you have customers that are now fully remote or have decision-makers that are outside of your geography, so get creative!
Maybe the strategy meeting is on Zoom with key stakeholders, and you schedule a breakfast or lunch with the decision-maker two to three times a year. Take some time to discuss this with your team.
Our world has changed and how people work has changed. However, people and relationships are the same. We are all in the relationship business first and the technology business second.
