Time, your clients and customers value their time. In fact, there's nothing they value more than their time. you value your time, right? You don't like it when someone wastes your time? How do you like calling a company or an 800 number and you get put on hold for 10 minutes. Like me, it drives you crazy.
Yet so many freelancers think that they don't have to show up on time. So let me go through specific ways of where your prospects are judging you. If they send you an email, how long does it take to get back to them? If you are already out in the field doing work all day, okay, late that night or tomorrow morning is fine. Three days go by. You have been put in the category of a full fledged prospect calls you How long does it take for you to get back to them well Two days go by, you're gone your history.
You need to call them same day, ideally, same hour. Okay, now you're going to meet them. Let's say it's a prospect meeting, or it's time to actually go do the work. Do you show up on time? I realize this may even sound culturally insensitive. And this may sound like I'm coming from, you know, some elitist position or other aspects of this that go beyond the scope of this course.
I'm just telling you, you cannot go wrong. If you show up on time for every single meeting with a client or prospect I've never once seen anyone say I hated the way that Freelancer that consultant. That expert showed up on time. I've never heard that and yet I hear people constantly complain about Oh, waiting around. Where are they? They're they're behind on the number on top.
It's a constant source of friction that we get. Don't show up on time show up five minutes early. If I have to do a training that starts at nine o'clock, at an organization, I'm there by 738. Yes, now I'm setting up equipment. I'm testing things, but frankly, I could probably do everything I need. By getting there at 820 I don't want to leave a to risk.
My worst nightmare is it's 901. And a client of mine sees me bending over trying to connect a cord to a TV the right way. That's not what I want. I respect my clients time you need to as well. Here's another thing that absolutely drives people crazy drives me crazy. calling and saying, Oh, I'm in traffic.
I'll be there in 20 minutes. And you're calling when the meeting was supposed to Start? Well, first of all, there's always traffic. I don't know where you live, I can tell you where I live is not unless you're going somewhere at 3am. On the weekend, there's simply no such thing as not traffic. So what you're telling me when you call me up to say you're running late is, Hey, I'm a poor planner.
Why do I want to hire freelancers, consultants, consultants and experts to help my business or my life if they proven to me, they are poor planner. The next thing you're telling someone is, hey, my time is more valuable than your time. I could have gotten here on time and not wasted your time. But I decided I'd rather sit around or stay on the phone or play with Facebook and leave 20 minutes later than I needed to. Because your time is so incredibly invaluable and insignificant. Now.
How do you like me? whether you realize it or not, that is how your clients, your prospects, your customers interpreted. If he makes them wait, so I begged you, I need you to treat the time of your clients as if it were absolutely golden. Like every minute is worth $1,000 to them. If you do that, you'll never be late. You'll never make them wait.
You'll never make them frustrated with you. And you're gonna make it really easy for them to like you want to deal with you and recommend you so please have her make a client Wait, return calls promptly. You say you're going to send a proposal today, send it today. Better yet send it in the next hour. Any kind of face to face meeting, get there early factor in the possibility there's going to be a traffic jam. It's raining.
Leave 20 minutes Earlier, nobody cares about your excuse for being late.