So I just got back from a week at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, TX. I have to admit that this was probably the most impactful trip I’ve had since I first attended back in 2009. The impact wasn’t derived from going to a ton of sessions or attending the hottest parties, but from connecting with people from my online world, face-to-face.

In today’s fast-paced social world, we often take our connections for granted. You may have a couple of thousand followers on Twitter or several hundred “Friends” on Facebook, but how many of those people have you had a conversation with in-person?

I’ll be the first to admit that I used to go wide with my connections but made a very conscience decision about a year ago that I wanted to go deeper with the relationships I already had. This involved participating in more face time with the people I wanted to get to know better. This is a tactic that we are also trying to implement with our VerticalResponse relationships too.

The VerticalResponse team has been out in the field at various tradeshows and conferences connecting with our existing and potential clients. Not only does this provide a human face to both sides but provides the opportunity to LISTEN to what our customers want and need so we can make our products and services a long-term piece of their business strategy.

This personal interaction is something that I encourage all businesses to try. Whether it’s throwing a client appreciation party at your boutique or organizing a tweetup for your Twitter followers at a local watering hole, nothing beats face-to-face interaction. This provides an excellent opportunity to take your surface connections to a much deeper level and possibly build a solid customer relationship for many years to come.

So don’t lose sight of face-to-face interaction because sometimes the best customer might be the one looking you right in the eye.

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