One face-to-face meeting is worth three visios, two face-to-face meetings are worth six visios, three face-to-face meetings are worth... To assess the benefits of meeting face-to-face rather than remotely, travel managers are well advised to master their table of three. This ratio emerges from a study recently carried out by the Accor group among 9,000 business travellers from all over the world, working in a wide variety of functions and offering a global view of the importance of human relations in an increasingly digital business world.
Customer interaction boosts sales performance for 81% of the professionals surveyed. That's 1,000 per major market: France, the United Kingdom and Germany in Europe, the United States and China, as well as Australia, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and India. Of these, 41 % consider that face-to-face is more effectiveThis is particularly important when the stakes are high, for example when negotiating and signing contracts.
The study underlines the fact that business travel is not a cost for the company, but rather an investmentWhile the reasons for travelling are, in around 30% of cases, to meet a customer, close a sale or take part in trade fairs or events. In total, if all the meetings essential to a company's commercial relations were held in person, the study estimates that they could generate 36 % in additional sales. " This potential gain represents billions for the global economycommented Sophie HulgardAccor Group Sales Director. People need contact, and even if technology allows us to exchange ideas wherever we are in the world, nothing can replace the human, cultural and commercial dimension of a face-to-face meeting." .
The usefulness of face-to-face training is also evident for internal company relations. While 92 % of professionals consider face-to-face meetings with external customers to be important, 85 % put it above all else. for exchanges between colleagues. For 46 % of those surveyed, physical meetings are even considered "very important". Beneficial to corporate culture for 37 % of professionals, they also play a major role in the involvement of participants. A large majority (68 %) prefer to make presentations in person, compared with only 17 % who prefer to do so online. And 33 % believe that remote meetings make it more difficult to establish a connection.
Communication does not always mean exchange. Overlapping interventions, limited interaction, poor connections, "zoom fatigue": everyone has seen this in their day-to-day professional life. the limits of all-digital technology. These limitations need to be taken into account at a time when the hybrid model, combining physical and remote meetings, is set to become the norm. " At a time when the business world is entering a new normal, companies that strike the right balance between face-to-face and distance learning are more likely to perform well, both in terms of contracts and sales growth.s", concludes Sophie Hulgard.
