Business relationships: Have we forgotten the personal touch? by Steven Lerner

Steven Lerner, Vanguard-Fine, LLC

In 1997, I wrote a piece on personalized relationship maintenance. The “personal touch” was beginning to disintegrate! Companies were downsizing and technology had caused upper management to believe that many tasks performed by qualified people could now be done electronically.

Fast forward. The situation is dramatically worse. Face to face communication is not as it was. Clients are being deprived of the personal attention necessary to maintain long term, meaningful relationships. Response times are often unacceptable. Even with the electronic devices most of us utilize daily, clients are ignored and placed second in line to social activities. I am amazed at how many times I see people with hundreds of unopened emails or text messages. That to me is, in most cases, extremely irresponsible, however, many of today’s professionals assume that it is fine for their clients to wait.

Every industry needs some level of sales activity and clients deserve personal attention. Anyone who I am doing business with, either currently or potentially, is entitled to a response by the end of the same day they reach out to me. I feel the need to apologize for taking too long when responding even though the same day has not passed. Ironically, most people don’t expect response so quickly, however, the rapid reply can be awfully impressive and fruitful! That being said, the same people who do not take the time to respond in a timely fashion are frustrated when they are on the waiting side of the equation.

Today’s young professionals, especially the Millennials, aka Generation Y, were, as I like to reference, born with keyboards under their fingers. Their ideals are the results of an age where most tasks can be done electronically and they don’t realize the importance and advantages of the “personal touch” in business development and relationships.

Regardless of all that we have available at our fingertips, the most rewarding relationships will result from timely communication with our clientele and a genuine understanding of their needs and concerns. All of the tools are in place. They just need to be utilized the right way. And don’t forget the need for face to face. The smile and firm handshake is still top of the list!

Steven Lerner is a commercial real estate broker with Vanguard-Fine, LLC, Albany, N.Y.