Unlike Rob Hanson's predecessors in the sales industry, he does not often conduct business over lunch.
"I think it is a time issue ... A lot of people just don't have the hour or hour and a half" to meet over lunch, he said. Hanson, 27, is the director of sales and revenue management for NMS Lodging, a division of NANA Management Services.
As the youngest member of his staff, ranging between the ages of 27 and 60, Hanson has noticed a link between a person's age and communication techniques. Some of his older colleagues prefer to take the time to regularly meet with their clients, while their younger counterparts often favor communicating through e-mail and over the phone, he said.
"The people of the youngest generation want to get it done quickly and efficiently," he said. Hanson added that this often rules out face-to-face meetings in lieu of an e-mail, fax or phone call.
While Hanson finds that he can often work more efficiently by taking advantage of all that technology has to offer, he said there are occasions when it's worth taking the time to communicate in person.
"For me, I need to step back and say, 'I need to take a little more time with this person or account,'" Hanson said. "Sales is about building a relationship. It's more about liking the people you have to deal with. Basically a hotel room is a hotel room; it's liking the people you deal with. I am sure that is the case in any industry."
Instead of meeting clients over lunch, Hanson visits their office to drop off a holiday gift basket or to introduce himself to a new employee, he said. "It is really easy to do things over the phone or e-mail, but if you lose that personal contact, you lose clients."
Carley Lawrence, a public relations and marketing strategist with the Nerland Agency, meets with a client over lunch about once a month, she said.
While most people are receptive to meeting for lunch, Lawrence said she suggests meeting for coffee when her clients say they don't have enough time to break midday for a meal.
In-person communication is the best way to establish a relationship with a new client, she said. "Some of the younger professionals tend to rely on e-mail too much, I believe. It is a very limited form of communication. You cannot understand their tone of voice or have an ongoing dialogue."
Craig Dahl, president and chief executive officer of Alaska Pacific Bank, agreed that meeting a prospective client for lunch is an opportunity to establish a relationship and build trust.
"In our business, we have not let up or seen any decrease to do what we call 'business-development lunches.' We still find that sitting face-to-face with the customer is the only way to explore their needs," he said. "We encourage our officers to have plenty of face-to-face meetings over a lunch, breakfast or, if necessary, dinner."
Digital communications has, however, decreased the overall number of lunch meetings between the bank's officers and their clients. Once the officers have developed a rapport with their clients, they are more inclined to communicate through e-mail or the phone rather than conduct business between bites, according to Dahl.
Even though Jesse Janssen, 24, has an expense account and can take his clients out to eat, he only occasionally conducts business over lunch, he said. "I am not opposed to it at all but they are not, in my opinion, real commonplace."
Janssen, a consumer and small-business loan officer for Northrim Bank, said that rather than inviting a prospective client to lunch he has developed new relationships by inviting them to a catered seminar or another kind of Northrim-sponsored event.
Busy schedules and technology are, in part, reasons why Janssen thinks he does not meet with small-business owners over a "typical banker's lunch," he said.
Based on Bruce Pozzi's observation, the younger generation of public relation officers use the business lunch less than his counterparts, he said. "The younger people in our profession need the gratification of more instant communication, but they don't establish that relationship."
Pozzi, a 40-year veteran of Alaska's public relation industry and owner of Bruce Pozzi Public Relations, said it is his policy to have lunch with each of his dozen or so clients at least once every two months.
People's types of jobs and the industry they work in, not age, are better indicators of whether a person will meet for lunch, according to Bob Poe, president and chief executive officer of Anchorage Economic Development Corp.
"Some people are more receptive to meeting than others," he said. "Some people don't break for lunch so you adjust to that."
In Poe's experience, he has found that computer-oriented people, such as engineers and information technology specialists, are less inclined to meet for a noontime meal.
Even though Bob Gilcrease, owner of Fairbanks-based Databrokers, said people in his industry of video production meet over lunch much less than professionals in other industries, he still thinks the business lunch is a valuable tool.
"No matter what industry you are in, you have to sell; you have to sell yourself," he said. "I don't think technology will ever do away with the lunch. You can't get a martini through a computer."
