Don’t Lack Preparedness
Make sure that you have everything you need in place the day BEFORE the meeting. Don’t wait until the last minute. If you do, you are almost guaranteed to miss or forget something.
- Have all paperwork ready, spellcheck and send to them via PDF a day or two in advance.
- Make sure you know the route to get to the meeting
- Have your suit or outfit ready the night before
NEVER take a personal call before a client meeting.
I took a personal call before my meeting and my friend wanted me to advise her on her failing event. I was just supposed to remind her that we were having drinks to talk about these t things things things night but unleaded then and there. In the process.. my navigation system was screwing up and I was on an access road and there was no safe place to stop to fix it. Let me tell you how everything after that failed as well because I didn’t tell her I would call her back.
- I could not get a word in edgewise because was rambling on and on
- I ended up getting lost and was still talking and the clock was ticking, I was on an access road and there was no place to stop to reset the navigation.
- I finally told her I had to call her back
- After I told her i would call her back, I was at least 10 miles out of the way and I had less than 10 minutes to get there.
- I got back on the road and was driving even further away from my destination. I had to call the client to tell him I would be running late.
- Finally, I relayed my navigation was looking for the exact address in another city on the other side of town.
- I had to cancel the meeting
- FORTUNATELY, I have known this client for 20 years and I don’t think it will have much of a bearing on our relationship BUT had this been a new client that was exited about my project this could have been a disaster.