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Consultants, by definition, work with multiple clients concurrently. This means that over time clients come and go and consultants always meet new potential clients. In this post I’ll talk about the first meeting with a client, and I don’t mean the first time you go to work with them, but the introduction meeting, before they actually become your client.
Impression
We are all familiar with the concept of “the first impression” and understand how important it is. A first impression consists of basic things like being on time, appropriate dress code, shaking hands, etc. But the general impression you make during this first meeting is much more than the “first impression”. As always, you should be respectful and pleasant throughout the entire meeting, of course. Listen to your potential client’s needs and let them know you are here to assist them. Also, once you get introduced to the participants, try to remember their names and roles so you can address the correct person during the meeting.
Remember that all the small things during the meeting add up to the general impression. As an example that I found surprising, I once participated in a meeting with the CTO of a potential client and was offered a coffee. I accepted the offer and got a paper cup. At the end of the meeting I stood up, grabbed my empty cup and asked where I can throw it away. The CTO told me that he had hosted many meetings (as expected from the CTO of a large company) and nobody had ever offered to throw their cup away. People usually leave the cup on the table and let the cleaner get it. They were very impressed and told me that they appreciated it a lot.
Introduction
During the introduction part of the meeting you are getting to know each other. Your goal is to understand the project and make sure you are interested in it, and the client’s goal is to assess whether you are the right person for this project.
My approach is to talk about myself and my experience, but not to praise myself too much. When consultants praise themselves, some clients might find this reassuring (and interpret this to mean that you are an expert), others might think you are arrogant. The best approach is to try and find the balance, and explain who you are and what you know in a relatively short and relevant way.
The next step is to listen, and this is crucial. People like to talk and be listened to, we need to do our part and let the client talk about the company, the project and their need. Being a good listener is an important communication skill and in fact, listening carefully will enable you to find the openings where you can continue describing yourself and your experience in a way that is directly related to their needs, which should get better results.
Agenda and Content
The meeting itself has two main goals (from the client’s perspective):
- Making sure that you have the technical skills for the project. This might include a technical person involved and/or some kind of an interview. An interview can also come at a later stage or deemed unnecessary at all.
- Assessing your personality and your fit to the team.
As I wrote above, if you listen to their explanation and ask relevant questions about the project, you can also give examples of similar projects or relevant experience that you might have. This is a particularly useful way to talk about your experience, as if the client sees that you have done similar projects in the past, it will help them decide that you are a good candidate to help with their own project.
Why You?
This is a key point in the meeting. Sometimes the client meets with several different consultants before making a decision, and your goal is to make them remember you after the meeting and want to work with you. So why you? Think about this before the meeting and try to provide information during the meeting that will show them that you are the right person for them. Do you have similar experience? Do you know people on the team? Have you worked with companies in the same field? Are you familiar with the software they are using? All of these might give you an edge and might help them realize that you are the right consultant for this project.
In any case I do not support trashing or talking negatively about other consultants. This is unprofessional and in many cases, as we live in a small world, it might come back and bite you.
Integrity
This might be a bit controversial, but I strongly believe in personal integrity. In most cases the client is looking for an expert, and sometimes we are not the right expert. Some consultants use this introductory meeting as a springboard, say they are an expert and read and learn about the topic so they will be able to complete the project successfully (gaining experience along the way). This is valid up to a certain point, but not always. If you say you are an expert and then the client asks you technical questions (like in an interview) and you don’t actually know enough, it will look bad and they will probably never contact you again. If you do manage to get hired and they learn during the project that you are too inexperienced in what they need, this will also lead to a bad reputation for you as a consultant.
I always prefer to be honest. If you truly don’t have the right skills, there is no way to sugar-coat this and get the project anyway. But if you really think you can do the project successfully, and are only lacking some knowledge that you can study and obtain, be honest and explain why you think you are the right choice based on your abilities and experience, and describe your plan to acquire the specific knowledge that you may need to learn for their project. If they don’t choose you, that’s too bad; but if they do, you have an opportunity to consult and learn something new. Either way, you will come out of this with a reputation for being honest, and probably a good reference for the future (or for other projects that do match your skill set and experience).
Do Not Consult!
And lastly, sometimes clients are unfair and try to take advantage of this initial introductory meeting as well. They may bring up the problem they are facing, and try to get a resolution for it during this initial meeting. Remember, you are a consultant and this is what you do for a living. If you solve the problem for them, or even give them a direction, they can use it (and probably will) and if it is good enough, they won’t need you.
I talked to a consultant once that gave the client a few options to solve their problem during the introduction meeting, assuming that they would be impressed and want to work with the consultant for a longer term. They didn’t. Once the client had what they needed, they could build it themselves, test it, and complete the project. I’m sure that the consultant would have been beneficial and could have helped them more along the way, leading to even better results, but the client wasn’t interested. Once one of the options was good enough, that was it.
Conclusion
Introduction meetings are actually a kind of sales meetings. However, as consultants we try to avoid the “sales person” prejudice (as they often are perceived as “sleazy” and “untruthful”). However, as in all sales meetings, the client gets to know you, you get to know them and you both need to decide if this is going to work. Keep the meeting respectful, listen to their needs and provide any input that might be relevant for their decision but not a solution for their problem. Sell your professionalism and experience and if you do this well, you might get a new client.
Do you have any comments? Topics that are relevant to the introduction meeting? Let me know in the comments below.
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