Monday, July 6, 2009

No Fixed Address

Do you do business with people who do not have a brick-and-mortar address?
I was about to add a recent contact to my contacts data base, name, phone, email, address - you know the drill - when I discovered that I could not locate their address.
I don’t mind that there is no address on the business card - after all, The Primary Purpose of a Business Card is to Get the Other Person to Phone You!
My contact has two major web sites, neither one of which offered an address, not even a post office box number.
I am aware that some of my contacts use a fake-office - the downtown address where calls can be taken, meeting space booked, and mail forwarded, but I figure even there, there is some sort of hard link to the real person, if only through the rental contract.
I’ve ignored contacts with flimsy cards, a cell phone number only, and a postal code that Google Maps says is a downtown hotel. I figure that’s a room rental for a few weeks to see if the business has potential before moving on to the next city.
My business is personal. I’m a very flexible hard-working one-man show.
My business relationships are based on me and another person, usually a representative of another company with an office site, warehouse, industrial facility or similarly visible structure.
Some of my contacts are just like me - one man shows operating electronically out of a home office. That’s OK too. I understand that. I live it!
I don’t need your home address; my business is not that personal, but somehow I feel I need to know that there is something to touch.
How about you?
Do you do business with people who do not have a brick-and-mortar address?

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