How to meet and greet potential clients

The meet and greet is the business world’s equivalent to a job interview. The process of meeting potential clients can make even the most fearless of us break into a sweat.

When I set up my own business, I thought that the dreaded job interview was a thing of the past. Then, as I started to build up the business I realised to my horror that every prospect meeting involved going through that same process!

Here are some ways to make the meet and greet with potential clients your friend rather than a traumatic experience that produces no results.

Preparation

The most important thing you need to do before you set foot anywhere near your potential clients is to research them thoroughly. Make sure you know the basics; location, travel time, their industry, their market and the type of work you’re going to discuss.

Then take your research further so that you know some background on their business, their competitors, all of their products and services and possible business development opportunities.

Presentation

Part of your research should give you an indication of how you should present yourself in a meeting. For instance, law firms will expect business clothes whereas a design or IT company is likely to be more relaxed in its dress code. Look at the design, language and philosophies of the company’s website for clues.

Since we all make a decision about a person in the first 30 seconds of meeting them, this is important to get right. The potential client needs to feel comfortable that you are the right fit for their team.

Solve their problems

When you prepare work samples, make sure you target it to their particular issue. Being a whiz at producing sensational web copy isn’t going to help them create intuitive user-documentation.

The right work samples will do more than impress them that you’ve done your homework, it will also give your prospect the opportunity to evaluate whether you can produce the kind of work that they need.

Make a personal connection

It’s essential to relate to the person that you are meeting with as a person, not just as a set of dollar signs. This is probably the single most important aspect of the meet and greet.

Although your potential client needs to be confident that you can deliver what they need and that you hold the same philosophies as them, finding a connection on a personal level gives them confidence that the relationship can develop and work over the long-term.

Circumvent the process

If the thought of the meet and greet still makes you break into a cold sweat, try making a connection before you meet.

One way to do this is to set up a work practice on your website whereby you offer a free one hour consultation over the phone. That way you can establish exactly what they are looking for and whether you are right for them. This has the added bonus of eliminating those hours of traveling to and from a prospect’s office only to find out that it was never going to work in the first place.

The previous ‘meeting’ enables you to arrive on more equal terms. You have a firm understanding of what they need and you can be prepared with a strong proposal ready to hand over there and then if you haven’t already sent it to them in advance.

Chalk it up to experience

If you walk out of a meet and greet with a less than enthusiastic feeling, put it down to experience, especially if you’re new to the game. Anyone other than a seasoned salesperson is going to have difficulty selling themselves in the beginning.

As your confidence levels grow, it becomes easier to establish a relationship and find ways of getting that all-important personal connection. And remember, even when you’ve been around the block a few times, there will still be people that you just don’t gel with.

Karen Morris specialises in business to business communications using clear, straightforward language to deliver the right message directly to an audience.

20 Mar 09

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6 comments | Add your own

The first impression is so important in how you portray yourself to the potential client. I often find the first meeting is an interview about each other. Whether you want them as a client or that you fit what they are looking for. The clients I have connected with the most have turned out to be our longest standing clients. We have a great business relationship with them as we understand their ongoing needs. I also agree that it's important to have a personal connection too, meetings start easily with general conversation moving into the business side of discussion. Caroline Buffinton from Melbourne
All great suggestions and plese remember that there's nothing wrong with asking for a referral at that first meeting ie "is there anyone else in your situation that you know of?" That way, if this one doesn't become a sale, you may find the referred prospect does! (As Keith Abraham points out, the answer's always no when you don't ask). Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
Hi Karen. Free one hour phone consultation instead of meeting in person, great idea.
I’ll use Grant’s suggestion, asking for referral at the first meeting. Judit Nagy from Sydney
Not sure if I agree with asking for a referral at the first meeting, Grant. I would think the right time would be after you've completed the job to their satisfaction - or at least when you've made some progress for them. Personally, I would never give a referral without knowing about or trying the services first!
But I do like the 1 hour free phone consultation idea. Sasha from Perth
All of these tips are great and I am able to mold them for my wellbeing and fitness business .But I must be missing something? I can't even get a lead to agree on a time for a phone "health chat" (in which I would find out more about them plus pre qualify them for a further face to face meet up). I follow up leads within 24 hours, I send minimal info so as not to bombard them, I make it all about them, and ask three lead in questions in my email. I find that no one can even bother replying to these basic questions, so I then follow up in 2 days with a phone call....three phone calls on and at least 2-3 emails to follow up with slightly different approaches...I CANT GET THEM TO REPLY or return calls - simply to arrange a phone chat?
I have had this experience this year with 5 leads and all have followed a similar pattern...lots of care and effort on my end and they do not even want top commit to a non obligation phone chat?
Am I totally missing something here, or am I just attracting tyre kickers to my services? Or are Sydney-siders just far too busy? or do people not want to commit to anything these days?
Any further comment would be appreciated as I really want to nail this and get to the point of booking face to face health chats. Sarah from Sydney Tamarama
Hi @Sarah
Your dilemma is an intriguing one, and just the kind of problem we love getting our teeth stuck into over on the Flying Solo Forums. Can I invite you to join us and post your queries over here? http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/forums/
I'm sure our wonderful forum members would have lots of ideas for you! Jayne - FS Concierge from Sydney

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