Client Meetings for Freelancers

This may not be an area that you have given much thought to before and I know that when I first started freelancing I hadn’t either! However freelancing is not all about working from home and you may find that you have to attend meetings with either current or potential clients.

Create a good impression

This is the one area that I think requires the most effort. Creating a good impression is vital if you want to be given the offer of work. You need to make sure that they see you as being professional and organized and this can often be reflected in the way that you present yourself. I think that it is important to dress smartly even if this is not your usual style.

Making a good impression also requires you to be fully prepared for your meeting and making sure that you bring anything that you feel will be relevant to the meeting. I think that it is incredibly important to take examples of your work, be these articles, photos or similar depending on what your profession covers.

How you present these is entirely up to you. I know some people prefer to bring printed off copies if there are going to be several people involved in the meeting, but you may prefer to just have them saved onto your laptop if the meeting is small. One very important point to remember if you decide to go for the latter option is remembering to charge your laptop and to bring the power cables. Nothing would be more embarrassing then not being able to show your clients the necessary work. If like me, you are a worrier, do both and bring your laptop and printed copies!

Arranging the meeting place and agenda

I have found that client meetings can take place pretty much anywhere, but will in the main require you to make a trip to their office or work place. I think that this can often be a good thing as it usually helps to keep the client happy! Make sure that if this is the case that you plan the route etc so that you will not be late on the day.

I think that having some sort of agenda or schedule for the meeting is necessary so that you make sure you cover all of the points you wish to make. It can also be a good idea to jot down any questions you can think of prior to the meeting so that you remember to ask everything you need to. I have found that this also helps to make you seem more efficient and organised to the client. Keeping some rough notes may also be worthwhile as I know meetings can sometimes be long and in depth and it is easy to forget something important.

I know that the first meeting with a client can often be quite scary, but if you follow the points above and remember to organize yourself well then there is no reason why you should not have great success.