What am I doing here?

Robert Gerrish I’m as social as the next guy. I love people and I adore lounging around in cafés. One thing I hate, though, is putting on a posh shirt and slogging across town only to have my time wasted. Frankly, I’m over it.

In my experience, face to face meetings are not only time consuming, they often turn out to be pointless.

So what do I do when a potential client or business colleague tries to lure me away from my desk? I have developed one or two tactics that seem to work:

1. Get rid of the car

Extreme maybe, but since Jane and I have operated as a single car family I respect my time much more. When there’s no longer a set of wheels winking at you from out in the street, it’s less likely you’ll do the spur of the moment meetings.

The realisation that I’ll be sitting on a bus for the best part of an hour to get anywhere certainly helps me question the value of the meeting.

2. Assign particular days/times for catch-ups

In addition to a bus service I’m lucky to have a ferry close to hand that can whisk me into the centre of town. Luckier still is that very few ferries actually run. This makes me schedule appointments to very particular times and for quite tight durations.

I find this waterways-inflicted discipline most valuable.

3. Always meet on the phone first

I’ve saved the best to last. By far the most effective thing I have ever done to avoid wasting time travelling to/from meetings or indeed sitting through unproductive or unenjoyable meetings, is to ‘meet’ first on the phone. The world is full of people who want to bend our ears for hours. That doesn’t mean we’re obligated to listen.

By setting up a phone meeting and positioning it as a 'quick natter' allows me to explore topics and determine the relevance and importance of further discussion.

I have no doubt that as soon as I've finished having such fun building a business, I'll be leisurely bending ears all over the place. In the meantime, best ignore me until the weekend when mine’s a long black.

I'd love to hear your views.

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Until next time.

Love your work,

Robert Gerrish is Flying Solo’s managing director and founder and works as a business coach, professional speaker, business commentator and consultant. He’s the co-author of Flying Solo – How to go it alone in business.

40 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 4 5 | Next» View all»

Don't you just love it when a client rings you for a meeting and then runs through all the issues, which you answer while on the phone, check that they're all happy, BUT they just want to meet to go through it all. Denise Maffey CA from Kumeu NZ
The joy of customers who talk. And talk. And then talk some more. I look at it from the view that I never know how much this person will order, or who they know who will order big and treat every person with the same amount of respect / time. But this can be costly time wise. I am lucky to have some customers to whom I never need to talk to; they always order big quantities with little conversation and I figure these big guys make up for the little guys who ask all the questions. We mostly have people come to us though; we rarely travel out to them. -Jess, www.zulugraphics.com.au Jess from Zulu Graphics, Newcastle
When you are solo time is easily wasted on unbillable hours. I try to combine meeting people with seminars e.g. let's meet at the next taxation seminar, we have the opportunity to catch up, I gain some CPD hours (continuing professional development hours) and I may even meet a few more people there. Heather Smith from Brisbane
Great article Robert! In these carbon conscious times I think the telephone (or skype) are not only way more productive than the face to face meeting but also very eco friendly. :-) Trish Weston from Noosa Heads
I agree with your comment Trish - more people should be thinking like that, I'm sure that's why Robert's down to one car. I find it also helps before a phone meeting to send the prospective client a list of questions you'll be asking them so the can gather the necessary information - via email of course! Louise Gorrie from Sydney
Prior to "going Solo" I was in a sales role for many years in agricultural industries. I had a boss who insisted that , for sales people, every possible opportunity to be in a face to face discussion with customers or potential customers should be taken. Time spent in the office by sales people was, in his opinion, dead time. Whilst I have since toned this down to a more balanced mix of activities, I believe that the huge number of people I came to know through "face to face meetings" put me in a much better position to eventually start my own business. My opinion is that you need some face to face human interactions to make things work well. Dave, from Think Livestock Dave Roberts from Huntly

40 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 4 5 | Next» View all»

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