Small Talk

March 6, 2011 »

There Is No Substitute

My wife and I just returned from a week-long vacation with our 23-month-old son Oliver, visiting my in-laws in Florida.  Yes, the weather was great (and no, the food wasn’t) - but what really made the vacation spectacular was the effect it had on the way my son and I now relate to one another.  I am amazed by the pronounced difference in our relationship as a result of being able to spend so much time together - in person.  Don’t get me wrong - we have always had a closeness and lots of affection, but like most working dads, I have been second fiddle to “mommy” (and for good reason!).  But after spending seven days in the pool, singing countless repetitions of The Wheels on the Bus, playing with puzzles, making up games, and having lots of laughs, we bonded in ways I had yet to experience.  It was priceless.

But this blog post is not about my relationship with Oliver.  Instead, it’s about how important it is to be present, to be in-person, and to make the effort to get there.  

I’ve been reading a great book by my new friend Geno Church called Brains on Fire, and it has really influenced my thinking.  The book outlines the importance and power of word of mouth, and focuses on the significance of a movement to create change.  The emphasis is about offline engagement, much like what we emphasize with HealthTalker. 

One of the insights I picked up was from Justine Foo who holds a PhD in brain systems.  Did you know that there is an area of our brain that is specialized to discern the non-verbal cues and intonations that a human face makes?  

In light of Justine’s commentary, I thought a bit more about my own experiences and the power of non-verbal cues.  In fact, just before I went away, I had the opportunity to attend a client’s all-day brand planning meeting.  Engaging with two dozen partners, participating in workshops and break-out sessions, fostered a sense of teamwork and collaboration that was unmatched.  The relationships that formed in that one day will pay significant dividends for our client as vendor partners gained a much better understanding of each other’s efforts, and found new ways to work together on behalf of the client.  No amount of conference calls could replace that impact.

A few weeks earlier, I flew across the country to meet with a client’s MLR team to gain approval for our program.  While the prospect of flying coast-to-coast for a one-hour meeting didn’t sound that appealing, I knew it would be essential.  The regulatory and compliance team could look into my eyes, they could hear the sincerity in my voice, and they could discern that I was a real person whom they could rely upon with confidence.  You just can’t reach that level of trust as quickly on a phone call, and certainly not online.

We learned the hard way that our own business works better when we are in-person.  Soon after launching a remote office in Philadelphia, we quickly realized that adding complexity to our complex business with a second office wasn’t the best way to grow.  Though the idea made sense on paper, we decided that we were best served by the in-person experience, and closed our Philadelphia office in four short weeks.  Skype, IM, email and phone calls do go a long way - but it’s the intangible elements that come from being in-person make such a difference.

We all know the world is enraptured by the power of social media, and it’s easy to think that every conversation, every relationship and every bit of information is shared through Facebook or Twitter.  And pharma brands remain anxious to figure out how to make the most of these channels (even if they aren’t quite sure what having a presence in social media does for their product) and they continue to tread cautiously in the face of delayed guidance from the FDA. 

Is it really worth the effort?

In Brains on Fire, Justine goes on to say, “So what do you lose when you limit something to an online social media campaign? Think about it.  Can you really build community or ignite a movement when it only exists without real people-to-people interactions? Don’t even try.”

Well, no doubt, brands will keep trying.  And I’ll bet that the simplicity of the “Like” button might make management feel better as they watch their apparent fan base grow. 

But we’re not going after “like”.  We want love.  And that’s what can happen, in-person.

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