IMC will be taking it on the road this year. We have just been selected as a winner in the British Airways Face-to-Face Contest!

Our application was submitted through our association with the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global network of more than 7,300 business owners in 42 countries. It is very satisfying, albeit humbling, to be selected by a panel of your peers. We thank them for their trust in our ability to represent and develop American business relationships overseas.

What was really cool about this concept is that it underscores the value of the human connection in business development. Accounts are not just names or numbers on a spreadsheet. True innovation comes from a meeting of the minds and an exploration of the needs of others. We are very excited to be part of this outreach initiative.

It hit me today that this is why social media has been embraced so quickly, by so many. Particularly in the B-to-B space. According to a recent www.counselor.com poll of distributors, use of social networking has more than doubled over the last year. Sage software/AMI-Partners “North American Small Business Social Networking Study” revealed that use of social networking for customer service (answering customers questions) was the top activity at 61% of respondents polled, with networking activities coming in second. The promotional products industry is changing the way it conducts business as we speak.

People are reaching out and leveraging communications technology to simulate the face-to-face experience. The virtual social community may be the closest to a warm handshake we can get in an environment of tightening budgets and scarce resources.

Post written by Linda Whitteaker-Hanson