It does raise a number of questions though. Will the client expect this every time there is a problem? Shouldn’t you be encouraging your customers use the phone and e-mail to save time and money?

There are lots of people nowadays who shy away from face-to-face meetings and prefer to use the phone, but, equally, there are others who relish the opportunity of meeting a decision maker in person. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. Don’t reject personal meetings outright but be smart about the ones that you choose.

Develop a process for screening the prospects by asking a few simple questions:

• Do you have a budget for the project?
  

If the person you are talking to does not have the approval for the expenditure, there is a good chance that you are wasting your time. Ask if you can develop a proposal and then meet after the budget has been decided.

• Will you be the decision maker on the project?

If you are not, will I get a chance to meet the decision maker on this visit?

• Have you developed the specific requirements that I will be required to fulfill?

You would be surprised how often the project has not been crystallized. Offer to help develop the project by e-mail and over the phone book before a final meeting.

• What is the timeframe for the execution?

If the project is three months away from starting, surely it is sufficient to meet three of four weeks before the start date.

You can now decide how to proceed.

Remember to travel smart and check out cheap flights so that you get value for money.

• Telephone courses – it’s the world-wide web, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to make an international telephone call for the course.  If the course includes a teleconference, publish the area code(s) so I can include the cost of my calls when budgeting, please. Even better, offer a local (UK) number or Voice-Over-IP (VOIP, or internet phone) access for SIP phones, so it won’t cost me extra.
• Web classes – web browsers have plugins, but not all web browsers have all plugins and sometimes I’d prefer to watch your video stream on my TV instead.  That’s easy if it’s a video stream I can load in a standalone player (I can even remote-control some players with my bluetooth phone), but it’s a right pain if it requires Adobe Flash, locked down with javascript, DRM and so on.  Make video streams that can be used in Videolan or MPlayer, please.
• Web classes – if a class uses its own special downloadable program (even if it’s Java), then it’s not a web class.  Please make the class usable in a web browser and please publish a small test class so I can make sure my browser works before the class starts.
• Ordering systems – one site gave me no fewer than three big red error messages while I was trying to buy.  The first said the site requires Javascript.  I changed that setting, pressed back and re-ordered, then the second big red error said it requires cookies .  I changed that setting, then it said it needed Internet Explorer.  I closed the Firefox/Iceweasel window and gave up.  Please test your ordering system and show a full list of system requirements as soon as there’s an error, to avoid wasting my time.

Are there any good online course providers out there which do all of the above?

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