Ryan Dohrn advises Terry from Grand Rapids on returning to face-to-face client meetings. Talk to your boss in person about safety concerns first, not via email. If that doesn't work, escalate to HR. For meetings, wear a mask, use hand sanitizer, and propose a virtual alternative like Zoom to show it works just as well.
Hey friends, Ryan Dohrn here answering your listener questions on sales and marketing. I love being your coach here online. Thanks for the opportunity. All right, next question's coming in from Terry from Grand Rapids up in Michigan. My brother and sister-in-law live up in the Grand Rapids area. All right, Terry asks, hey Ryan, my boss wants me to get back to face-to-face meetings. I'm reluctant for so many reasons. What should I do? All right, Terry. So for me, I can really understand kind of where this question is probably coming from. So a couple of things are in play here. One, as I've said on other questions before, number one, you should probably do what your boss says. However, if you feel like there's a safety factor in play, then I think I would sit down and have a quiet, humble, kind conversation with your boss. If you really feel like your safety is in play here, Or your safety is in danger, talk to your boss first. If you don't get the response that you feel is appropriate, then I think at that point you need to go talk to an HR liaison or talk to your boss's boss or something like that. What I wouldn't do is try to accomplish this in a text, in an email, or, or something like that. Now, probably— and I don't know you, Terry— but probably your boss is not asking you to risk your life. Probably what they're trying to do is encourage you to get out there and get re-engaged with If that is the case, I think I would like permission from one of my customers to come to their office. I think I want to go the extra mile and make sure that I've got a really nice, fashionable kind of face mask that I'm going to potentially wear. I think I want to bring hand sanitizer with me, and I want to use that hand sanitizer in front of my client, offer it to my client, fist bump my client. And I think probably your boss is just wanting you to get out there and get re-engaged. So there's a couple of ways to handle that. But in the end, I probably think it's unlikely that your boss is truly wanting you to endanger yourself. If that is the case, I think you want to take the appropriate steps, talk to them first. If you don't get the right answer there, and you don't feel it's appropriate, still go to HR, maybe go to their boss, but definitely don't do it by text. Don't send an email. This is more of a— if you're going to talk about face to face, you probably want to be Face-to-face. But hey, Terry, here's the big thing. I'm closing a lot of business on GoToMeeting, a lot of business. So I would really encourage you to give an alternative to your boss, and that is, hey, face-to-face is a little uncomfortable for me. I'm fearing from a safety and health perspective. And prove to them that you can have some great meetings, uh, on GoToMeeting or on Zoom, and you might have a winning scenario, uh, as well. All right, Terry, great question from Grand Rapids. Be safe out there, friends. I'm Ryan Dohrn, your sales and marketing coach. Love to come and help you, uh, whether it's virtual or I guess we're back getting on planes here, uh, pretty soon as well. Check out my website, ryandohrn.com. All right, friends, we'll see you next time.
