Owning your own small business means you will need to meet with clients from time to time. Client meetings take hours of planning and are one of the most anxiety-inducing things you will ever need to do as a business owner. But, in-person meetings are also an opportunity to impress clients and showcase your talents. Whether you are pitching a new potential client or renewing contracts with someone you have worked with for years, you are sure to impress with these tips.
Find a conference room to rent
Finding a conference room for rent is the first step in hosting a successful client meeting. Clients are never going to be impressed if they need to meet with you in your home office. While blending your home and office might be ideal for your day to day workflow, it doesn’t set the professional appearance you want to show clients. Beyond helping you to look more professional, finding a conference room for rent can relieve some anxiety during the planning process since you won’t need to ensure your home is prepped for guests.
Prepare and print an agenda
As you prepare and plan for your client meeting, write out an agenda for the meeting. This final step of the planning process will help you get all of your thoughts into a logical order and ensure that you haven’t left anything out of the plan. Better yet, a printed agenda helps to keep the meeting on track, which is important with chatty clients or those that may bring up topics out of the blue.
Dress to impress
Your home-office dress code might be leggings or jeans with tees, but that won’t work for client meetings. Dressing professionally shows that you and your business are at the top of your game. But, dressing professionally for client meetings does not mean you need to don a black suit. The way you dress showcases the vision and goals of your company, so think through the impression you wish to create. While a business suit might be right for the finance field, if you are running a tech startup or starting a creative business, you can likely wear something that bit more casual. Start with a business casual dress code as a baseline and determine how far you should move up the scale.
Arrive at the conference room early
Since you have made the professional move of renting a conference room, be sure you arrive well before the client you are meeting with. Obliviously, you never want clients to wait for you to arrive, but arriving early has many advantages. First, you will have time to select your seat in a power position and to set up any tech equipment you are using. Most importantly, you will have time to catch your breath and calm your nerves so that you can start the meeting anxiety-free and ready to impress.