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Bruce Springsteen once wrote and still sings these words, “I just want someone to talk to, and a little of that Human Touch. Just a little of that Human Touch.”
Maybe I’ve lived too long, or perhaps new tricks are coming harder and harder to me these days, but I still prefer working with people face-to-face. In fact, as I write this I am on a plane on my way to Sante Fe, New Mexico to sit down face-to-face with the one and only client we have in the great state of New Mexico.
It seems that everywhere I look people are giving way to what I will refer to as the illusion of the personal touch. In fact we have begun to settle for the least effective means of human communication in almost every instance.
As the future looms in front of us we now seem more apt to choose things such as twitter, texting, Email, video-conferencing, Web-Meetings, telephone-conference and even the telephone itself – over a genuine interpersonal encounter.
Call me old-fashioned but I sincerely doubt that we humans can truly survive, much less thrive without the human touch.
I learned in my graduate schools days that 90% of all human communication occurs non-verbally. Genuine communication includes such things as posture, facial reaction, hand gestures, intonation, and even the look in your eyes. There is incompleteness, when it’s just text. The voice without the body is little more than a recording on the other end of the line. Video-Conferencing may hold some promise to bridge this chasm, but for most of us the cost of quality is far beyond our reach.
In fact, there is nothing on this world, and I believe that I am safe in saying there never will be anything that will replace the human touch. Nothing will ever take the place of the hand-shake. How can anything replace a pinky-promise? I can guarantee that when I return from the business trip I am on my wife will not look forward to me next text or email; she will be waiting for a hug and a kiss for sure.
Businesses, consultants, and almost everyone in society are trying to utilize technology to save money, gain efficiency and in doing so be two places at the same time. Who are we kidding? We need the human touch! We need our consultants in the same room with us. There is something intrinsically valuable in being able to look someone in the eye. It’s just not possible to bring everything down to a virtual experience. Data, void of humanity will not satisfy and will never in and of itself bring us the successful relationship we want in personal or business interactions.
Our challenge is to recognize when only the human touch will do. Yes, it will cost more. Yes it will take more time. Yes it will demand more of your personal energy and even your emotions, but the results will be astoundingly greater.
At Vision33 we invest a great deal in an attempt to personalize the experience we have with our clients. From our Sales Representatives, Account Executives, Service Representatives, General Managers and our Consultants; it’s all about the personal touch. We purposefully try to visit every customer on a routine basis in person. We believe you deserve it. In fact, you should expect nothing less than the human touch.
CBL>
