In World Linked by Technology, Business Trips Often Seal Deals
There’s something about seeing the crook of a smile or feeling the firmness of a handshake that greases the wheels of business in ways that no phone call, fax or e-mail ever could.
Although it’s not a novel strategy, the overseas business trip is one tool that Ventura County business leaders are using more frequently to ensure their companies’ success in an increasingly impersonal business world dominated by wireless communications.
Bob Fischer said he has always known the value of personal contact, but never was it more useful than during his recent trip to Hong Kong.
Though officially in Asia to deliver a speech at an industry conference, Fischer--who is president of Optics1 in Westlake Village, a designer of high-end optical technologies--said he used every free moment to meet new people and learn more about emerging trends.
“Every night was a dinner with different people, making new contacts and learning more about the market,” Fischer said.
“I came away with a few more opportunities that I think will be good for the company somewhere down the line.”
Business trips are by no means a novel concept--they’re as old as commerce itself.
It took an audience with the Mongol ruler 600 years ago for Marco Polo to open Asia’s market. That bit of public relations mastery would later result in the legendary Silk Road.
Christopher Columbus, while on a business trip of sorts, aiming to ease trade between Spain and the Spice Islands of Asia, ran into the New World.
Centuries later, Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo and, with the signing of an 1854 trade treaty, convinced a xenophobic Japanese emperor to allow in U.S. exports.
However, in a world linked by technologies that allow people to communicate in real time, across oceans and hemispheres, such trips have become less of a necessity.
Unless, of course, you hope to succeed, said Jason Lo.
Lo, president of Integrix Inc.--a Newbury Park-based manufacturer of data storage systems--recently accompanied Secretary of Commerce William Daley on a trade mission to China and Korea.
While there, he met with a number of government officials in both countries to learn how to conduct business better in those foreign markets.
The importance of personal meetings in an age of communications wizardry has become even more of a necessity, he said.
“Face-to-face meetings allow us to observe our customers’ facial expressions and body language, which allows us to better respond to their questions and concerns,” Lo said in an e-mail message sent from Asia. “When we see things in person, it’s definitely more information than we would get otherwise.”
Trips such as these have become more essential in an age of interconnected economics, where success and increased profits means tapping overseas markets, particularly in the industry of high technology.
Recognizing this, the U.S. Department of Commerce recently began facilitating meetings similar to the kind Lo is on, to kindle business relationships that might not otherwise form.
The business trip, or rather how-to-conduct-a-successful-business trip, has also found its way into the curriculum of institutions of higher learning.
UCLA and the University of Minnesota both offer seminars to business students on the importance of physical contact as well as how to make a business trip matter.
“Face-to-face meetings are one of the most important factors in customer and employee satisfaction,” said David Kistle, senior vice president of the Padilla, Speer, Beardsley public relations firm in Minneapolis and adjunct professor of public relations at the University of Minnesota. “For businesses, those kinds of meetings are indispensable. . . . It builds trust and familiarity, which is the essence of any relationship.”
Corporate speaker Pam Lantos said that when she addresses company clients about how to sell and be successful, she emphasizes the importance of personal contact.
“The bottom line is that the more high-tech you are the more high-touch you need to be,” said Lantos, who also runs a public relations firm out of Orlando, Fla. “Businesses need that bond, they feel more comfortable with it, and that’s not something you can ever hope to develop through e-mail or faxes.”
Joyce Gioia, a strategic business futurist and author of “Running Lean and Meaningful: A New Culture for Corporate America,” said that while technology provides business with important tools, personal meetings are, in the end, what will dictate success.
“It’s almost metaphysical,” said the Greensboro, N.C.-based consultant. “There’s an energy exchange, and that’s what helps build the relationship a business needs to survive.”
Investors and venture capitalists are bullish on the county’s league of high-tech firms as they look toward a future and industry that seemingly has no ceiling.
According to recent reports, more than $100 million was invested in those businesses last year alone. That figure is expected to increase over the next several years.
Much of that optimism, area business leaders said, is due to a widely held confidence in the U.S. economy and the belief that global trade will continue to grow and generate giant profits for high-profile companies with leading profiles in foreign markets.
Integrix, which was launched in 1990 and employs 25 people, now does about 40% of its business overseas. Company officials believe that number will only increase as the global economy continues to sort itself out.
“Even though the markets overseas are not doing well now, we anticipate that as we move into the 21st century, businesses there will become the dominant force in the world economy,” Lo said.
Which is why so many Ventura County business leaders are packing their suitcases and jetting off to far-flung nations to pave a road for their companies’ success.
“Sure, a lot of the details can be handled over the telephone or fax machine, but some of the more important stuff can’t,” Fischer said. “Meeting people is vital. . . . It builds better business relationships.”
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