By Ethan Sagen
If you have your own business and rely on clients to make money, you need to give off a good impression so that they will want to continue doing business with you. A bad first impression can be disastrous when it comes to making a lot of money for your company, so it is best to keep these tips in mind when trying to come off as a trustworthy professional for your many clients.
Dress Well
Dressing too formal can sometimes scare people away, especially if the type of business you run does not warrant wearing a suit and tie to meetings. If you have a more casual business, a dress shirt and a nice pair of ironed slacks will definitely make a good impression. Dressing well gives off the impression that you are a professional and mean business. If you dress too casual, people will not look at you as someone who can be trusted because it may give off the impression that you are sloppy or too laid back. You need to be able to find a balance between dressing well but not dressing too formally to meet your clients.
Come Prepared
One of the most important things you need to do is to come to each client meeting fully prepared. If you go into the meeting not knowing what you’re talking about, this is going to look very unprofessional and will scare away potential clients. You can write up a quick cheat sheet of what you can talk about during the meeting so that there are no awkward pauses throughout. This enables you to get yourself across to the client without hesitating in between while trying to figure out what you can say. It is best if you give yourself at least two or three days to prepare for this type of meeting so that you can feel confident going into it. You can get some more ideas by visiting www.corporatehouse.com.au for some great business information.
Know Your Business In and Out
Finally, it is important for you to truly understand the type of business that you run and what you can offer when having client meetings. Let’s say that you own a catering business for weddings and are meeting with a client who wants a specific dish that you do not know how to prepare. You need to know what you are capable of doing and even trying in order to satisfy the customer. No client wants to come to the meeting and hear that you aren’t sure if you are able to provide a particular service and that you need to get back to them at a future date about it. Knowing your business is essential when meeting with new clients because they will see you as a professional who knows what their company is capable of doing. Knowing your prices and extra service fees for whatever you offer is also important when going into a meeting so that you can offer this information right upfront when meeting with people.
If you don’t have the appropriate area for meetings with potential clients it’s always good to look for quality room online like corporatehouse.com.au (http://www.corporatehouse.com.au) who actually provide the appropriate room and help with the set up and management of keeping everything running smoothly so you can deliver a better pitch.
Image Credit:
Ambro – FreeDigitalPhotos.Net
