Nice to Meet Me

A group we are talking to regarding representation asked us to come by and see their office space. In the pre-pandemic world this would be a joyous question to get and we’d answer with an enthusiastic yes.

I agreed to the meeting, of course, but I confess I had to manage through my own trepidation. This would be my first in person business meeting in over 10 weeks and the virus still rages out there. My last business lunch was (appropriately) on Friday the 13th of March. Since then, it’s been me, my video calls and two snoring pugs all day every business day.  But if I’m honest with you I was thinking about myself and my own concerns. Me me me.

The day of the meeting I put on broker business attire and my kids thought I’d lost my mind. Even the dogs looked at my funny. I got into my car and felt strange actually driving to a business meeting. I drove to the address through what seemed like Sunday morning level of traffic, which is to say virtually none.

When my team arrived a few minutes early (each in our own cars), I called them and asked an apparently simple question; should we show up in the space wearing a mask?

We decided to proceed into the office building carrying masks. Showing up with masks on our faces if the executives didn’t have there’s on could send the wrong message. IF they had their masks on, then we could quickly don ours.

We entered the lobby and saw the security team in full PPE. Despite all the calls I’ve attended on return to the office I hadn’t taken the time to even think about how we would enter. Fortunately, we simply walked through the suburban office building lobby.  I hit the elevator button with an elbow. As we loaded the elevator, we each grabbed our own corner. The ride was over in about 10 seconds and we piled out to the group’s offices.

The executives greeted us, and wouldn’t you know it, they were NOT wearing masks. I was immediately happy that we only carried ours in. We sat in a huge board room very spread out. When we took a tour of the empty offices, we carefully walked in a very spread out manner. It is harder to keep a distance on a tour than I had imagined.

We ended with a friendly business wave, because no one shakes hands anymore. Maybe ever.

Human interaction is still and will always be critical in a sales conversation. There are many non-verbal cues that we send and receive in meetings and in person is by far the best way to communicate.

While my initial concern about safety was focused on my own health, I realized that we have to be acutely sensitive to the concerns of others in the days and weeks ahead. As I learned, a little planning will go a long way in the months to come. As a matter of fact, this whole meeting thing is about alot more than me!

I’ve been thinking about this meeting as a learning opportunity and how I can do better the next time. Here are some questions I will ask to ensure a virus safe environment and as comfortable as possible meeting.

I like to call these clusters of questions the Safe Seven for In Person Meetings:

1. Are masks required or optional and will you be wearing yours? Is there any other required PPE we should wear to put you and your team at ease?

2. What is the building entry and exit procedures? Will I need to present ID or can we be pre-screened? Should we expect temperature checks? How long should we allow to get through a check point and be on time for our meeting?

3. Does your company have rules about safe office usage that we should review in advance? We don’t want to unknowingly violate a rule or convention.

4. Is there a meeting room we can use that is large enough for us to safely hold our conversation? How many people will attend the meeting from your team and what will the total room load be?

5. Can we present information electronically (handing out printed collateral could be a germ minefield)

6. Will employees be in the workspace and if so, what is the safest way to walk a floor and not interrupt their work? Is pedestrian traffic diverted into a one-way pattern?

7. Is there anything else you can tell us about your safe work plan (this is a good catch-all to make sure we didn’t miss something.)

I sincerely hope that very soon we can go back to living a normal life and want to put Covid-19 in the history books. Till then, in person requires careful advanced planning. And I now firmly know it isn’t all about me – it’s about us and our collective comfort and safety.

Stay safe and let me know if you will be wearing your mask when we meet.