Is Face to Face a dying breed?

Over the years I have taken the majority of my loan applications face to face. I like to do it this way for several reasons but the most important is "we can both interview each other." The interview is a time to pre-qualify the client and let them pre-qualify you. Is this a good fit? Are we going to be able to work well together? I have found this to be very successful in my practice. However, with the emergence of technology and the speed of life increasing this has began to slow a bit. Much of my business is by referral now and is part of the reason that there is less need to meet face to face. Although I like taking the information over the phone and then having a fax of the documents something is lost in the transmission. The personal touch is lost and the chance to get to meet another great person. I do not want to be a phone personality. I feel that my clients refer me because they get to know me in the face to face. Those that I do business with over the phone do not get the chance. More importantly they do not get to see me sincerely thank them for the opportunity to work for them.

Yesterday, I received a referral from a Realtor that I had met one time. It was a very random situation(another whole blog topic). Upon getting the referral, I was told that the ladies work schedule is very hectic so over the phone would probably be best. I spoke to the lady within 20 minutes and we talked briefly but she was very hurried. I emailed her a list of what I would need to get started and told her that I will need about 20-30 minutes of her time to take the application. She was fine with that. I asked if there was a time that we could meet and offered to go see her. After comparing schedules it could have been a week before we met and we are in contract so this was a no go. We decided that the phone was going to be the best.

Call me old school but I do not want to do business with someone that I have not met in person and shaked their hand. Maybe the fact that my family grew up farmers in the valley is part of that. I want to see the person that I am receiving help from and get a sense that I am not just a sale to them. I want to know that this person will be with me before, during, and after the transaction. I do not want to have to search for a new hairstylist or CPA each year. Technology has made it to easy to avoid the face to face confrontation that arises. Can it be that it is much easier to tell someone no that you have never met? Is that it. People want to avoid the tough parts of relationships so we let our computers do it.

"Breaking up is hard to do." That is what the song said but in today's fast paced world it is a couple minutes of typing and a click on the send button. Although the face to face is not completely dead I have seen a shift. It may because of the referral partnerships but it may not be. I have seen the shift and would like to pose the question: Is Face to Face a dying breed?