Hello, a personal meeting will create a better bond. And this can be useful with challenging projects. This is a lecture on meeting clients. I hope you enjoy it. Let's get going. So in a world where 99% of business communication is done by phone, email, or video and text messaging, there is no substitute for meeting clients face to face.

So here we have a few questions. First of all, do I really need to meet this client? Well, I've spoken before about the red flags. This exposes the bad client to you, and an email you can tell a lot about a person failure to spell properly punctuate explaining exactly what's required vague briefs, the fuzzy thinking and the difficult working relationship. That might NCAA. But if the client is clear, businesslike and polite in their dealings with you, it all bodes well.

But these aren't hard and fast rules. And sometimes I'd like to do some work for the client first before meeting. These are all steps I take to ensure that I don't go to client meetings and never see or hear from them again, because if I do that, it's a waste of time. So what do I do before the meeting? Well, it's a good idea to research the clients, their industry and background beforehand, try and find out as much as you can about them before you meet them, and about the projects as well research the venue, how to get there parking, and make sure you arrive on time and unstressed. So what do you wear?

Well, I'm not a fashion guru. I don't often wear a suit. But thankfully, designers and web designers, we're not usually judged by the way we look. But I always try to wear a jacket and I always try and look smart. as possible. So what do you take, it'd be great to take a laptop handy for showing the client previous work and stuff on the web, etc.

Hopefully you've got Wi Fi in the place you're meeting. Sometimes it's great to take some paper and pens for taking notes and a mobile phone with Sat Nav or Google Maps or whatever, which is really useful for finding the location. Remember to put the smartphone on silent before the meeting. Now what do you say at the meeting? Well, you should not give the client details about the house of the job. No technical information is necessary.

Try to keep the conversation as simple as possible. And don't get bogged down by discussing details. Put yourself in the clients shoes. They want to know if you can do what they want, on time and on budget. If you're introduced to somebody by name, repeat their name back to them as soon as possible. And this will help you remember their name for when you need Later in the meeting, now the conversation may turn to the subjects of money, and he may be asked to give a quote.

Now, obviously, you should be clear about the nature and the extent of the job when giving a quote, and maybe you'd like to think about it and tell them you drop them an email later. But if you do come up with a figure, make sure you write it down on a piece of paper in front of them. And this will help cement the number in their minds and reduce the chance of negotiation. So if you're forced to come up with a figure and if you're happy coming up with a figure, choose a high one and write it down on a piece of paper, you're less likely to get the price beaten down if you write it down on a piece of paper first. So at the end of the meeting, I often meet with clients and cafes or hotel lobbies, and if coffees or drinks have been consumed for the meeting, it may be polite for you to offer to pay.

Most clients will like Pay as they initiated the meeting. But remember to thank the client for this courtesy. When the meeting is concluded, it's good to thank the client and say how good it was to meet and on returning fire off a quick email reiterating how good it was to meet them, and writing down some of the areas were discussed and agreed upon, then you have anything you agreed verbally down in writing and recorded on email. And this is very useful with prices and the extent of a project. But generally speaking, it's important to get the balance right, just like everything else we've been discussing recently, so don't appear overly enthusiastic, nor too cold and calculating. View the client as someone who would benefit from a partnership with you.

And always try and keep the language and the topics of conversation as simple as possible. Don't get bogged down in detail. Okay, I hope you enjoyed that lecture. This has been Rob from Rob carbon calm and if you have any questions, I'd be only too happy to answer them. You can leave the questions next the lecture or contact me free my site Rob Cohen calm Thank you