Gavin Finn wrote an article, posted on Marketing Post concerning Face to Face marketing and its’ effectiveness. Please continue below to read the snapshot of the article.
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Forrester Research released a study on how B2B marketers will be allocating budgets in 2015, and the #1 category across the board is face-to-face events, just as it has been since 2008. Even more than digital marketing.
In-person selling is better for the buyer:
For complex products and services, buying decisions are made less on the basis of technical features and functions, and more on the basis of organisational and personal relationships and trust. Body language, facial expressions, and voice tone are all examples of emotional cues that are not captured in email discussions, chat rooms, and even videoconferencing to help buyers evaluate vendors.
When buyers are making decisions, they need human interaction to get all of their final questions answered, and to ensure that they have understood all of the product/solution information correctly.
Buyers want to establish a relationship with the company, and even the people in the company. That relationship will transcend the initial transaction, and will allow for a mutual exchange of value that lasts a long time.
Buyers make better-informed decisions through face-to-face meetings. A breakthrough study of organisational behaviour showed that overall outcomes of group purchase decisions were far superior when there were face-to-face meetings with vendors, highlighting effectiveness both in terms of better decisions (long term satisfaction) as well as efficiency in the process.
And, it’s better for the seller:
In-person meetings are the best forums to clearly articulate competitive differentiation, and to firmly establish a prospect’s understanding of the company’s value proposition. A face-to-face setting is the best venue to correct any misconceptions regarding the customer’s understanding of the product or the company, and to augment the customer’s existing knowledge with additional benefits and advantages.
Studies have shown that sales cycles are much shorter when there are face-to-face meetings as part of the process.
Just as the buyer wants to build relationships, so does the selling organisation, and the opportunity to establish a personal connection to the individuals involved in the buying process is far superior in person, than using other channels.
To read the whole article in detail, follow this link.
