Client meetings 101

Weve been running Pomegranite for two and a half years now, and sometimes I still feel like I need a guide for client meetings. Here are five things I took away from my last (very successful – hooray!) meeting:

• Check Google Maps before you leave so that you know exactly where you’re going and also so you know what traffic is doing. Make sure you get there on time preferably a bit early. Nothing worse than trying to panic-parallel-park.
• Have a list of everything you need to get out of the meeting. Make sure you leave with all those questions answered. It can be embarrassing to email or call the client the next day with things you forgot to discuss. I mean, it happens – it happened to me in this last meeting. But lists are a good way to try and avoid it.
• Buy the drinks. Signing a new client is not unlike going on a date. So buy the coffee, the juice, the wine. Insist upon it. It just sets a good precedent.
• Remember a personal detail – ask them about it. It establishes a connection that goes beyond the business side of things, and thats important. Liz has always been much better at this than I have, and its something I’ve had to learn. I’ll sit down and launch into the upcoming strat, but Liz will say: “So how are the cats?” Don’t discount the importance of questions like this in establishing a relationship with your clients.
• If it’s a big meeting and a potential client you haven’t signed yet, wear something that makes you feel like you mean business – whatever that is in the context of what you do. At the end of this meeting I was walking to my car and a toothless guy sitting on the pavement said: “Shoooooo thats a beautiful dress, ne”.And you just cant put a price on that, can you?