How to Prepare a Meeting with a Client and Win their Business: 6 Actionable Tips you can use Today

I need some work done, can we hop on a call?

One of the best sentences a freelancer, an agency or a business can read or hear. The client is interested in working with you! Then you immediately start thinking about the meeting with a potential client.

What will the client ask? Do they have any alternatives besides you? What kind of pain points do they have and can you deliver what they need?

Before the actual meeting takes place, you need to prepare for it. Here is how to prepare for a meeting and sweep the client off their feet.

Prepare for the client meeting with research

This goes without saying but I have seen far too many meetings ruined because the freelancer/company missed this basic step. In an age of information, finding out more about a potential client is easier than ever before.

I suggest looking up their website, their social media and any press coverage you can get your hands on. You can learn about the way they communicate and position themselves and you can find out how much value you can bring to them and how much you can improve your customer relationship.

Also, it’s just common sense for some professions. As a writer, I’d often research potential clients’ websites and blogs to find out what people wrote before me so I could figure out why they wanted to hire me in the first place.

Knowing what they already do before the client actually told me proved to be an advantage in the meetings. This applies to many types of jobs so do your research on the actual work that needs to be done before you enter the meeting room.

Source: Marketoonist

It’s also a good idea to do this so you can check out your competitors. Oftentimes, I would find other freelancers who worked for the client and did the same work as I was supposed to. This would let me see the quality of their work and the expectations that the client had. 

A lot of times, I would find out that the client is a bad fit based on the type of people hired before me. Other times, I would realize that I should charge the client more based on the results they were expecting to see.

One extra trick you can use is to visit their “Careers” page and find out if they’re actively hiring for someone that does the same work that you do.

When I did freelance work, I immediately knew that if a client was already hiring for a writer/content marketer, there was plenty of work to be had and eventually, I could even ask if they wanted to bring me on full-time. I would go to LinkedIn and search for mutual connections or just add the relevant person and simply ask for work. Most of the time, it worked.

Last but not least, find out exactly who will be talking with you. Usually, you can do that by looking at the calendar invite. Remember their name and do some research on them too, just to know what you can expect from the conversation.

Research the client’s competitors

If you want to go the extra mile, prepare for the meeting by researching the competition your potential clients have and what you can do to make them stand out in comparison.

This could be a lot of work or a 15-minute session on Google, depending on how much you know about the client and their industry. Usually, a search for something such as "help desk software" can provide all the data you need in terms of the potential client's competition.

It’s always a great feeling to walk into a client meeting fully prepared. Not only can you show what you can do for the client, but you can also show what you can do to make them better than the competition.

This is what will win over the meeting attendees and set you apart from other contenders.

Prepare the next steps in advance

We full-heartedly advise you to prepare for a meeting by knowing exactly what will the next steps be if the potential client agrees to your terms.

It will save time both for you and the meeting attendees and speed up your sales process. After all, the purpose of the meeting for you is to get the job and start working on the projects as soon as possible, so that you can get paid quickly.

While the first impression is important, you need to put more focus on the key decisions your clients will need to make.

explain to them what will happen next (do they need to send you materials, give access to tools or pay your first fee upfront).

That way, you can build rapport and have better client meetings.

Prepare a list of questions

The meeting agenda will most likely be in the hands of the potential client. However, you can prepare a list of questions ahead of time.

The client is there to present you with a problem and they will give you some information. Once they do that, it's up to you to state your requirements and ask questions to get to know the prospective client better.

There is a great list of 7 great qualifying questions in this post we created a while ago. The main thing to keep in mind is that you should always have a list of questions for meeting participants.

The aim of the questions is threefold. You want to find out what made them choose you, what kind of problem you need to solve for them, and what kind of actual problem you need to solve. The last part is the most important.

I’ve had quite a few meetings and video calls where the client would say they need some writing done in their name. After asking a few more questions, I would usually find that the real reason for hiring me was different. 

They either didn’t have the time to write, didn’t have the writing skills, needed someone with a great track record to guarantee the results, didn’t want to be a step behind the competitors or something else.

This is the key information you want to get from your client meetings, so prepare a set of questions to find it out.

Once you know the real reason the client wants to hire you, you have their true pain point and you can use it to start off your business proposal. Instead of saying “we’ll redo your website so you can have a modern eCommerce platform”, say “we’ll redesign your website so you can convert more visitors into leads”.

Anticipate the frequently asked questions

If you’ve been running your business for a while, you have a pretty good idea about the potential questions you may get. The research that you do on the client and their competitors will also help you anticipate some questions that you may get.

However, some questions can catch you off guard, such as what happens with his data if you die. It’s okay to not have an answer immediately, but follow up promptly after the meeting with a call or an email.

The good news is that the longer you’re in business, there will be fewer questions you cannot immediately answer.

Prepare to give something for free to get the client hooked

You know the client, you know their needs and you’ve done your research. They will probably have some questions in the meeting that you can address to help them immediately. 

While you could say that you can offer help once they sign a contract and pay your invoice, you can and should give some advice for free. They will see that you can walk the walk and ideally, they’ll be more inclined to work with you.

However, there is a fair share of “clients” out there fishing for offers, when in reality, they just want free advice from a variety of sources.

That way, they can get tips from a few businesses and do the work themselves. You can probably spot a client like this from a mile away, most frequently by the meeting agenda. So make sure to give them very small tips instead of providing them with a whole strategy and a plan of action.

Choose the location

We’ve written about this in detail before, but you should be the one choosing the meeting location, if possible.

When you set up a meeting at the client’s office, two things happen.

First, it requires no effort on their part – all they have to do is show up. You want them to work a little bit harder and show that they need you just as much as you need them.

Second, the client will be in familiar surroundings, with phones ringing and a high chance of someone interrupting you and other meeting participants.

Instead, pick a neutral location. Somewhere nice and upscale with a quiet spot just for the two (or more) of you. Hotel lobbies are a great meeting location, for example. Get there early, grab yourself a drink and familiarize yourself with the location before the client even arrives.

Remote meetings

You can still have an effective client meeting from home. Instead of a meeting room, you can find a quiet corner without any distractions.

The vital part is having a strong Internet connection. Also, make sure that none of your roommates or family members disturbs you.

Once the meeting begins, make sure to look at your monitor or camera, instead of at the floor. It will help you make a good impression, which is important, especially in an introductory meeting.

Once you’ve done preparing…

It’s time to get to that meeting and kick some ass. The better you prepare, the more smoothly the meeting will go. If you’ve done all the steps outlined above, you should have an amazing meeting and find out exactly what the client needs. And you know what happens after that – writing a spectacular business proposal, using proposal software.

The absolute best way to use your meeting information is to sit down and write a proposal immediately, send it off and win their business. There are many ways to do this, but only one is super fast, efficient and made to convert prospects into clients – Better Proposals.

Sign up today so you too can win more clients faster!