Jun 29
Efficiency means everything to me
2004 at 07.48 am posted by Veerle
If you are as busy as me you try to save as much time with meetings at a client as possible. Sometimes I find meetings such a waste of time, considering the time you spend in a car. This is mostly longer then the meeting itself. Like today, I had a meeting at 9 a.m. this morning in Leuven. If my GPS is not mistaken, it would take me 55 minutes to get there. Well, since I needed to be there at 9 a.m. I knew this was really impossible to get there on time considering all the traffic jams I have to face around 8 a.m. So I counted 1,5 hour and left around 7.30 a.m.
I got there at 9.40 :-S I had one hour of traffic jam! Thing is you need to stay calm and cool, but I can’t, I just hate these kind of situations. I have all this work and feel like just loosing my time in the car. When I finally got there, I needed to find a parking place. This wasn’t a problem since I’m talking about U.Z. Leuven (University Hospital). Once in the building, I needed to follow a certain path pointed out with arrows, then get to the 5th floor etc.
This took me another 15 minutes (from the parking to the meeting room). So I got there around 9.50. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and actually, there wasn’t so much to talk about. Nothing that couldn’t be done by phone or e-mail. Of course this would have been much less frustrating if there wasn’t any traffic jam, but unfortunately it’s unavoidable :-(
Normally I just ask to delay a meeting to around 10.30, but this time I made an exception because this was already set with some other people, so I said “OK I’ll try, but keep in mind I might be a bit late...” A bit? I was almost an hour too late :-( This is officially the last time I say “OK” to such an hour if it means driving to Antwerp or Brussels.
I have clients who I never had a meeting with in person to discuss a project. Instead we use MSN, iChat/iSight, e-mail, phone etc. and we exchange documents. These documents are usually nicely structured and I know exactly what to do… I call that efficiency. Luckily I had another meeting in that area so I combined both meetings otherwise I would have been in the car almost halve a day instead of actually doing something.
Sometimes I get the feeling that people react strangely if you suggest such a thing, it’s like they are afraid of technology. Isn’t it there to make life easier? OK, I don’t want be asocial of course, but in most cases they are really a waste of time and technology is a much better option since most of the people I have to meet are technology savvy. Think about it… all those wasted fuel, it’s better for the environment too, right? I sure feel the pain of everybody who has to go through this hell every single day. And public transport wasn’t an option either this time, otherwise I would have taken the train.
8served
1
Great argument for iChat AV, video or audio. WIth Remote Desktop and iChat, I find I can save a ton of travel sometimes. With database clients ranging from 10 to 4000 miles away, it’s a big deal. Over the next year or so, I’m phasing chat and VPN/remote desktop capability right into the tech support agreement as a requirement.
This afternoon I’m going to Philadelphia (about 200 miles) for a Jimmy Buffett concert tonight… when I get to the hotel I have to do a quick RDC job on a database client that is getting some new files from a company in New York City today. A year ago I would have needed to be onsite to do this stuff!
The multi conference stuff I see on the Tiger preview bodes very well for meeting scenarios! My partner and I can conference with a client in Alaska if we want, all at the same time. Between that and the Spotlight stuff, I see Tiger as a must-have for anyone depending on their Powerbook for their living.
dave
Parrot Head
2
I would have to agree that a lot of time can be wasted in meetings. The thing I hate more than a wasted face to face meeting is the group phone conference. Every one sits around the table taking turns shouting into the phone, then mumbling to each other in the background. Dialogs rarely happen. I would much rather stick to email or chat than participate in those things.
3
I have not yet had the pleasure of this particular burden. I also don’t see myself having to worry about it in the near future. If I decide to go the freelance route, I am sure I can find ample work living in the SF area that won’t require me to use anything more than the bus.
4
I have to totally disagree with you. As a service provider your mantra should be: The customer is queen (or king)
Of course I don’t mean that you should let a customer abuse you, but be willing to do whatever it takes to keep that customer happy.
It is true that sometimes a customer wants to have a meeting for reasons you can’t figure out before hand, during, or after the fact, but I believe it is the professional’s job to make sure that meeting is productive.
And at very least remember that referrals from happy customers are the easiest way to grow your business. If nothing else, if a client is really wasting your time, when the meeting is closing ask them straight out,
‘Ms. Jones, I appreciate your business and I hope you feel that I am doing a good job for you.
You seem to be influential and I was wandering who you know that needs some design work done?’
Then give them some cards and tell them you’ll follow up in a week. If you do this at every meeting and you get even one referral your time is never wasted.
5
@heath, I didn’t want to generalize here and I didn’t say ALL meetings are a waste of time, hell they are not. Course I’m only talking about those that are at an hour where you know you’ll waste time in traffic jams (9 a.m. is the worse hour for a meeting) and secondly those that you know there isn’t much to talk about. I think if you want to have a profitable business you have to think about costs too you know, and a halve day of work just to go to a meeting that is not productive then that is a waste of time :-S
Of course if you are talking about first time meetings to present yourself etc. or to talk about the approach of a project, share information, discuss stuff etc. then I see no problem with that and I agree that these meetings are very productive and efficient. If it means driving to Brussels or Antwerp for this then I just try to avoid hours where I know I’ll be wasting time in traffic jams. Yesterday I spend 4 hours in a car and that is just too much for me :-(
My referrals are the results at end, the job itself btw ;-) No offense here, but I’ll never ask a client directly if he knows anybody else who is in need some design job done? I found that rather a non-professional approach.
6
@dave, gosh! That’s indeed a whole other story, all those miles… It looks like I’m complaining about nothing compared to your distances ;-)
@Geoffrey, yes you are right about phone conferences, if there are too many people it is not quite pleasant indeed, luckily this rarely happened so far for me. It’s a bit like chatting with more then one person at the same time, chaotic (at least for me ;-)
@Jeff, I can imagine that this wouldn’t be a problem. SF has a lot of public transportation, isn’t it called BART btw? I’ve been there once, love that city! :-)
7
@Veerle I guess my opinions are more based on working lately with Belgian companies (notaries, real estate agents, etc). I have been amazed at the absence of a service culture in Belgium. I have often had the feeling that an agency acted as if they were doing me a favor showing me a house or drafting documents for me.
I am an American and growing up in the US I have become accustomed to companies doing anything to win my business. I also don’t know much about what the accepted business practices are in Belgium, I have noticed in job interviews that Europeans find me to be aggressive, so I assume that my thoughts are more applicable to the American market place.
However, as I have started to do some freelance work I have, from the beginning, mentioned referrals, with what you say maybe that will be considered rude. Needless to say the culture gap is difficult for me.
8
@heath, thanks for the clarification and the background information. I now understand your reaction and your point. There is indeed a big difference in culture and the way in doing business between Belgium and the U.S. One cultural difference come to mind: if I almost never get a “waaow nice job” reaction from a Belgian client, from U.S. clients I almost always ;-)
Mostly they just confirm that they got what they want and they are pleased with the result, but they will never or seldom get enthusiast about it like most Americans do. I guess maybe Americans are just more verbal and expressive in general then us. Also within Europe there are different cultures and way of doing business.