5 Tips to Win a Client on First Meeting

While I was recruiting for my team I rejected quite a lot of people. Maybe they were very skilled, maybe they were just as good and just as experienced as they said they were but they did not get the job. What I am going to share is my own criteria for when I speak to a potential client and this is the same check list I used for hiring my team. If you use it yourself or for your own recruiting in your business – you will quickly see the difference between hiring someone and having things done.

1. Do not argue
This may seem too obvious but always remember – your client doesn’t know all that you know in your sphere and this is why they came to look for your help in the first place. If you start convincing them that they do not know how to fix or do what they’ve come to you about – you loose the sale and are left only with being right that that they are not an expert in the area in which you work. Yet – no sale. Instead- try to understand their point of view as much as possible, their desire for an end result and give a feedback in the form of assessment of the situation.

2. Do not judger
It is another very critical bullet point to follow when in an interview with a client. I was shocked to read just today a reply on a blog post from a reader in which the blog owner said that the reader is negative and all entrepreneurs need to isolate themselves from negative people who just want to bring them down. Regarding the statement about negative people and entrepreneurial success – I totally agree. But the blog owner wrote it pointing the reader as an example of a negative person. I don’t know about you but I can bet a 100K that this reader will never become a client of this blog owner. Bust because … criticism is perceived as an offence.

3. Do not offer your opinionr
My wild guess is that reading this sentence you very strongly disagree. And let me just mention that there is a thin line between offering your opinion and sharing action plan steps and the difference is measured easily with: are you hired or not in the end. I’ll give an example. When the client comes to you telling you: I want X. Offering your opinion is to answer with: You don’t really want X, you want Y. And I can offer you Y. Will you be hired? Not an easy guess. Different answer is: In order to get you X – here are the steps. Based on my experience, Y and Z can show up as a problems on the way.

4. Do not interruptr
This is the most subtle way we push away our clients. We forget that even if we’ve heard the same story over and over again,each client tells it different and it’s our job to listen to the story that the client in front of us is telling. Besides, very often the same words have completely different meanings to different clients. How can you know for sure that what you heard in the beginning is exactly same the issue they’ve come to you about. The solution is to listen carefully what your client is saying and ask them – Now that you said this, is A what you are looking for or B. Now, if instead you reply to what they’ve said with: Now that you said this, what you are looking for is A… what do you think are your chances to get hired?

5. Know your limitsr
For me this is really number one reason to reject someone. If they tell me they can do it all without even asking what is it that I exactly want, this is the star syndrome. They say they know it all, that they can do miracles for your life or your business, they usually show you – how many great clients they worked with and they even tell you how outstanding are the results that those clients achieved. Yet, they do not talk about you, your business, what they can and will do for you. If I were you – I would run. There are some real life celebrities I would love to hang out with, just that I wouldn’t trust my business into the hands of someone who promises do it all as on the first meeting.