How I Avoid Consultation Casualties

Thanks!!, this happened to me once with a client that was at the other side of the world!, I did not go, the travel would cost as much as the invoice.

I would travel local. I would use online communication to sort things out. However for example the 2 meetings I had in the past week, 1 has resulted in work. It is a risk you take for getting the job. Business involves risking. Some people are very busy, for example doctors, so meeting them in person is a good way to communicate. Also not all clients know how to work the web. If you close your options to this group of people, you are missing out on business. The ones that you underestimate because of your ego, are the ones that can bring you business and referrals.

I tend to take the opposite approach – I insist on in-person meetings. I find that I tend to get jobs more when I meet people in person. They see that I am excited about and care about their project. I find I am able to better understand their project, and they are better able to understand what I am able to accomplish.

Plus I love working with people! I can’t imagine doing my work behind a phone or computer screen all day – odd as that sounds with me being a web developer.

In the beginning of my webdesign freelancing, I used to do that a lot, even lately I did it once, for meeting prospective clients.

I would say it is a good experience and worth the time spend. I landed on three bad clients and one diamond client which still gives me work to do. The others never heard of again.

But now, I find emails and phone calls much better and time saving. However, if you never met prospective clients in person, I should say do it.

I’m on the fence when it comes to this. I agree that meeting in person can be more beneficial when trying to land a job but also realize the risks and potentially unstable way of landing a client after spending the time to drive out and visit.

Although I’m only a ‘part time freelancer’ and don’t do it very regularly, I find that I would travel locally for potential web clients as most don’t know what they want and it would be my job to show them in person (sketches, explanations, etc.). For photography clients, it’s a matter of what they can see on my portfolio site. Those clients I can do over the phone or email.

But, to each their own… methods that work for one may/may not work for another.

Great article Kristen! It definitely has got me thinking about how I go about continuing my ‘business’.

I have had the same experience with clients who want to meet in person. In fact, I will go one step further than that: clients who demand that all communication occur on the phone vs. email also fall into the same boat.

I agree with you that the “let’s meet” client generally comes from the old school and is almost always a waste of my time. The fact is that most of my projects are from remote clients, so that solves this issue right from the start. However, local clients who want to “meet” usually don’t pan out.

Clients who are ready to roll, and who are internet aware, rely on email or other forms of we communication. Those who don’t send up a red flag in my view.

A cold call client approached me a few months ago and wanted a quote on a website for their manufacturing business. When I asked them to send me some info via email so that I could begin the process of working up a proposal, the response was “We don’t have email,. I will send it in the mail”. The mail? That was a first.

A week later the mail came and I responded to their RFP via the “mail”. Six months later I have not heard back. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

For me I try to consolidate all my meetings in one day of the week. It’s like I get a “field trip” each week. I am a designer, so getting out and about is inspirational for me. By scheduling my meetings in one day I save time, and still interact with my clients and potential ones.

I agree that in-person consultations can be hit or miss, so it’s important to be selective. I live in a large city, so even “local” meetings can eat up half your day. There are certain things I look out for that make me more comfortable about making the trip: that the client have a time frame in mind for starting the project and that they know what they want.

Interestingly enough, even though meeting for consultations isn’t always a foot in the door, I’ve found that if I meet a person first at a networking event, and they have a project they need help with, having met first is definitely a big help. They usually don’t have a need for another meeting. So I think having a project in mind and being ready to move forward is what makes the difference.

I had a client fly me down to Florida this last April for the weekend to go over this massive project they wanted me to do. They paid for everything. Then I got back, and they sent me the exact design they wanted via Fed Ex, outlining everything. They paid for the upfront fee, I sent them the design as they wanted it and the last I heard from them was June.

CRAZY client. I refuse now to do anything of that nature again. Although I was partially paid, the run around and time involved going back and forth and constant emails and phone calls…was enough to drive me insane. I mailed everything they had ever sent me, last week, via Fed Ex and felt a large weight off my shoulders drop.

Great article. I agree with your opinion that clients who want to meet face-to-face are generally time wasters. Although, I did meet with one potential client at a coffee shop to discuss a website project and a year later they called me for a photography assignment! The website project never materialized, but I was paid for the photography work. However, the last potential client I met with in person just kept saying, “I’m in no hurry” (with this project) during the meeting and nothing has happened.

A few thoughts:

Your cost to bring in new business comes into play. If you are selling a one shot project that is a couple of hundred dollars of billings, it is unreasonable to expect you to donate half of a workday or more of marketing for that one bit of work.

The idea of a client demanding a face to face meeting for a small chunk of work is partly based on *possibility* – because in theory, you can. If you are local to them, it seems reasonable to ask for this as a display of your seriousness. However, I have only done copy jobs for clients that are located in other states and even other countries. With Paypal, you can collect an advance payment instantly and get to work immediately no matter where the client is located. That may seem too sterile to local clients who want you to make a house call like the Fuller Brush man, but it minimizes everyone’s time investment.

Conversely, it may be best to look for clients remotely and not locally. It removes the “HR type face to face screening” from the equation because it simply isn’t practical to drive 200 miles to sell a logo design.

The dynamics of a face to face meeting can often resemble a job interview, where it’s explicit that the “client” is cherry picking based on traits other than simple ability to deliver. And just like a job interview, a face to face meeting gives the client a ton of reasons inwardly (which they never explain) to shoot you down: too short, too fat, too young or old, wrong haircut, too many tattoos, etc. A face to face meeting demand can also indicate a controlling client, one that wants their role to be more like “employer” or “boss” than client.

Most reasonable and successful businesspeople seek to minimize their expenses and time spent in overhead tasks. That generally implies embracing the time savings of new technology. I’ve found that statements like “traditional, doesn’t like email” translates directly into “lunkhead” or “too plodding to deal with productively”. I’ve had a few clients that were Luddites and didn’t trust or use email or were too dumb to deal with the administrative issue of several office people sharing one email account in the office. They are pure hell to work with because they tend to be just plain clueless. You wind up doing things like driving to their office to drop off a CD with their project on it. Multiply that a few times and you won’t get your own work done.

Exactly Don. I’m not saying all face-to-face meetings are a waste, but I did say that cost also comes into play.

I will do on-phone or Skype consults with prospective clients to find out their goals so that I can quote them more accurately — but for me to travel to meet up in person and do an actual strategy meeting, I require payment.

I usually quote my “consultation” as an ala carte item so that prospective client feels free to do the consult with me (which I offer fairly cheap) without signing any contract. However, I have never had a client take the consult only.

I think If i did offer it up for free I would be spending way more time meeting with people and it leading no where, cause it’s TRUE that a lot of the clients who feel that need to check you out face-to-face specifically without committing based on your work examples and extended phone chats are usually the clients who you don’t want anyway.

As a web site designer/developer, I almost always meet face to face at least once with a client before quoting on the job (as long as it’s a significant job). However I don’t normally travel out of province (in Canada) and generally would only drive an hour or so to a client. Any farther away, and I’d keep it to phone/email.

This is SO true! I’m thinking back, and over the last five years every client I’ve ever disliked working with or project that never went anywhere ALL started with an in-person meeting. In fact, I can’t think of more than one or two client relationships that started with an in-person meeting that actually did amount to anything worthwhile.

As stated in the article, in each case the clients that wanted to start out with an in-person meeting were either indecisive, incompetent, or broke (and sometimes a combination of those).

I’ve actually been heavily thinking about being very explicit about how I run my freelance work right on the site for everyone to see – just to rule out those ‘all talk, no game’ clients. I’m really glad to hear others are doing it already.

My phone consultations are free and then I do a face-to-face meeting once the quote is established, is within the client’s budget and it is something they want to go with. The meeting is for confirmation on the specific details of the project.

I only charge for face-to-face consultations ($25/hr) IF they insist on a first round meeting. If the potential client is offended by a $25 fee for my time, then they can’t pay for a full website either. The fee weeds out the people I don’t want to do biz with.

I however don’t charge a fee for consistent past clients. My drives to certain clients always consist of 30min, to a full hour. Total that with an hour long consultation – that’s 2 to 3 hours of your time. You’re doing a service and you should be paid for it regardless.

Non-fruitful in-person client meetings aren’t so bad if they at least buy you lunch or a fancy cocktail. So next time a client insists on an in-person meeting, suggest to meet at the fanciest place in town and accidentally forget your credit card.

An excellent post! I feel that you must take some factors into account. It can be very beneficial to meet face-to-face but it depends on the value of the project.

I feel it is much easier to pitch in person as opposed to email/IM.

Thanks for a great post!

What a great topic….one that I haven’t seen tackled anywhere else. This is something I struggle with also.

Since I work alone, I crave the human contact, but I have also found it to be quite a waste of my time in many instances. So, like you, I screen as well as I can to get a feel for clients, if they’re serious, if they’re ready to start now instead of months down the road, etc.

In most cases, I only meet once we’ve gotten past the initial stages of talking, figuring out specifics of what their project will entail and such; mainly because, their reply speed and details will show me whether or not they’re just looking for someone to have coffee with, or if they’re really interested in starting their project.

Thanks for this post, Kristen. I, too, struggle with traveling to a face-to-face “consultation” that will likely not pan out for me. I live in a rural area about an hour and a half outside of DC and while I am happy to meet with clients in my local area, I hate driving into DC. It usually takes an entire day and that’s time I could be spending on paying projects. I have had clients insist on in-person meetings and I’ve always felt that I was being uncooperative by turning them down. But I do assess the nature of the client and the project to ensure that its really not worth the effort.

My time is valuable and freebie all-day consultations for non-starter projects are not valuable to me.

I’m glad to hear that I am not alone and that others feel it’s OK to turn down the round trip 4-hour drive for something that’s not a sure thing.

Again, many thanks.

Awesome words from the wise, Kristen. Will be tweaking my “free initial evaluation and assessment” policy according to your sage suggestion and postpone the one-on-one until an actual contract is waiting to be signed. Many thanks.

I think it depends on where you’re located and what the clients are like in your particular niche.

I live in London, UK, so hopping onto the Tube and doing a client catch-up is something that I can quite easily fit into my day; it can sometimes also be easier than an endless stream of emails.

A lot of my clients are non-profits. I have found that spending half an hour in person with them negates the ‘I’ve just sent you an email’ phonecalls and voicemails that I get at five minute intervals. They get used to how I work and I get a calmer, easier ride between in-person meetings. Depending on the job, I do one meeting at the beginning, possibly one in the middle, and one at the end. That might seem like a lot, but if they’re a new client, they’ll appreciate it. With most of my ongoing clients or repeat business I don’t do any in-person meetings, but it makes them feel better if I reiterate that I’m available if necessary.

That said, I also use any initial in-person meetings to decide whether I want to work with that client or if I’m going to outsource them out; one thing I have learnt is that not all clients are created equally so I use the in-person meeting as part of my screening process.

Face-to-face contact with clients has usually worked pretty well for me (I have had a few that have not worked out but hey thats life in sales!). I really enjoy meeting new clients and visiting their premises, and I’d like to think my enthusiam rubs off and wins me the business in most case.

I tend to get more “potential clients” waisting my time on the phone, but at least thats not too bad!

I agree with a lot of what has been said, but i cant stress how important it is to realize that you are supplying a service. i believe you should go out of your way to make your client feel and special and important as possible despite your own experience or level of expertise. Eve if you do not land the job, you could gain a possible client through that person or anyone else they are connected to people will always remember someone/company when they have been treated as royalty. Never let down a opportunity as you never know who you may be recommended to. This i believe separates the you from the rest!

Great post. I feel you… 9 times out of 10 in person meetings, either do not turn out to be the best clients, and the few times they have, would be for a bigger client willing to spend a larger budget.

The clients who want to meet often, are also the same type that are inclined to call you constantly over trivial things which turn out to be time wasters in the end. I can even go a step further and say i would rather only use email for communication. It’s recordable, easily referred too, and cuts to the chase. On the phone you become hostage at times. Don’t get me wrong we want to service our clients needs and help them in every way possible, but how to set up your mail server etc, shouldn’t be our responsibility.

Good clients know to give input and let us do what we do.

Shout out to New Jersey, over here in Freehold

Such a great article! Thanks!

Indeed, the eagerness to get a new job just wasting our time by distributing queries that end up being unproductive. So we must learn to select.

Great post.

Great topic!

I agree with most that face to face clients almost never pan out. Many don’t seem to understand that time = money. I only visit with clients if I can work the visit into my other planned trips for the day thus eliminating some cost. If they insist on meeting sooner I often suggest that they come out to meet me. This often weeds out most of the flakes.

I do meet with clients for one reason. I may just want to see the way they operate and/or the office environment in person. I have decided to pass on projects if I don’t like what I see regardless of how professional they have been via phone or email.

Great post. I’ve been going back and forth on my consultation policy for years and still haven’t hit on the right solution. Judging by these previous comments, there seems to be no one-size-fits-all solution, but you have given me some very good ideas.

Most of the comments and the original article center on two conditions with clients that ask for face to face meetings: the client that is either looking for “reassurance” with a face to face meeting, like a security blanket; or the client that is looking for a reason to disqualify the provider and they want to use a visual inspection to do so.

So I think that if the client is either “nervous”, or they inwardly seek a reason to not go forward, they will be a time waster.

However, one important point hasn’t been brought up. The *only* thing that may differentiate your services from an offshore provider is the personal touch of being highly accessible. There are all kinds of providers on the freelancing web sites who are 8+ time zones away.

If you’re never going to meet in person (and you could do so), and if you are never available by phone for any reason, then you may as well be on the opposite side of the globe – and the client may as well be paying much less for the same services.

If the job or the relationship is potentially worth enough money, and if it’s practical to do so, *suggest* a face to face meeting and be reasonably accessible.

You have a business to run. That doesn’t preclude “high touch” for worthwhile, high value customers.

I must concur. I am a freelance writer and honestly, I see no need to meet with clients in person.

I live in St. Petersburg, FL. Not ONCE have I ever obtained a local client. I’ve been full-time freelancing for about a year. I have posted business cards, flyers, and spoken with people. I have learned that some places are just a waste of time.

All of my clients come from up north. All of them. Most from the east coast and some from Canada. My foreign clients are wonderful. I relish working with foreigners because they give me a lot less hassle than some of the people I deal with in the states and they pay quite well.

Anyways, I feel that being a freelance writer allows me the freedom of just working from my laptop at home without having to meet clients in person. I rarely even phone clients. Most communication is done through email and IM. It’s not because I am unsocial; it’s because nothing else has worked for me.

Let me restate what I said: It’s not that I don’t see the need to meet with clients. I don’t refuse to but for an in-person if it’s not super-local, I’m charging the client. That’s why I hardly ever have meetings as that first consultation–that’s what my website or the first call is for. I meet once something is in writing (I am retained), if necessary. It’s not that I won’t do a f2f meeting, but like I said, I notice that they don’t yield much. Everyone’s time is money, and that goes the same for freelancers.

Glad this article got everyone thinking about how to improve their businesses and optimize their time!!

Great article. I have been trying to convince friends who are trying to start a web company of just this. They waste sooo much time meeting and greating. I have been full time freelance for almost 2 years and avoid face to face as much as possible. The people I have met are doing exactly what you say… going over specs a couple times and lully gagging over getting started.

This is some mighty good info – things to ponder. I believe a few modifications and fine-tuning to my “consultation process” lie ahead. I like some of the ideas and options presented. So far the last two local clients I have met with turned out to be really good. But I can see that there is a fine line that can quickly turn “needy”. In my case recently, the online/email folks have turned out to be total flakes.

Admittedly, I do enjoy some face time with folks as it gives my eyes a break from too much computer time and gets me out and about. Although I do focus on multi-tasking when I do need to venture out…

However, I can see some more qualifying questions on my horizon.

Great great great article!

Even if your client is a few minutos or blocks away, I think they great lesson here is, – learn to discover when a client only wants to take your time for a free consultation -

It IS a reality that there are lots of “clients” out there trying to seek for your free hours of ingenuity.

A few great clients are much better than a lot of time-consuming ones.

I find I get 9 out of 10 jobs when I meet someone.
I also find that a lot of other designers sent emails or phone calls with quotes and I was either the only or one of few who met the client.
This adds a personal touch which I think a lot of people look for when they search for a freelance web designer.

Also it is a lot easier to build rapport and understand how someone communicates in a face to face. I can then use this information to communicate faster and better with the client if we go ahead with the project. This can save so much time later on.

I feel my job as a designer is to create something the client already has in mind or would like. It is easier to do this is you understand them a little. Also people tend to be much more abrupt on the phone and can easily say no to things and can be distracted. You might be talking to them on the phone while they are watching tv. Face to face gives total focus on the issue at hand and I think a lot of people who request a meeting do so as a reassurance that you are a real person they will be giving their deposit to.

All consultations attract a fee. However, the fee is waived if they chose me for their project.

Fantastic post. I think many of us fall into the category of bending over backwards to try and get new clients. I find it’s helpful to track 100% of my time so at the end of each week or month I can say “hey, I spent over 4 hours trying to get that new client and nothing ever came of it. Maybe I need to revise my process.”

At the end of the day, the best part about working for yourself is that you get to choose who you work with. Hold prospects and clients to stricter guidelines and timelines and the majority of the time, they take you more seriously and consider you more of a professional – at least that’s what I’ve found.

I hardly ever but once have had to meet anyone. I’ve heard from my fellow designers and programmers even around here that they usually charge a consulting fee to meet in person. I agree that time is money and time spent with someone just picking your brain for ideas is money too. That’s why they call it consulting.

There needs to be some sort of flat rate or something. But who knows where that will ever lead to in this economy.

Have to agree with you here, have found that in the past after meeting potential clients I didn’t get the job or they end up wanting more and more meetings, which means setting aside more and more of your time.

Best thing to do is:
a) work with remote clients, then the option isn’t even there
b) work with studios or businesses that outsource to you and let them deal with the meetings

Interesting article with valid points but regardless how often do you come across clients that DO know what they want without the need for a face to face meeting? The bottom line is most of them are non-technical, that’s why they employ us so unless they are that rare breed of non-technical but internet aware customer, its the same scenario every time.

A great article.

I have to agree as well. It is a very rare occasion that I meet face-to-face with someone. Usually, I will do the phone or Skype thing and once they sign with me, I will meet with them. Today we have so much technology, unless they are really close to me, I am going to go with phone or Skype consultation.

Thanks Kristen for this post.

I agree with most of what has been said but as th son of a great entreperbeuri would like to stress to you all how important it is to build relationships with people if you are planning just to stick at designing websites and so on the maybe you can afford to leave out meeting clients but i wouuld like to talk to all those who have plans for branching out to do something else exiting, remember you are servicing companys and some very presteige clients, if your interest is just in landing a job and getting paid forget what im saying but as a young entreperneur i make it my goal to build up relationships and creat a great network of professional people of whom i keep try to keep in touch with it has always helped me receive other paid gigs which were not even related to this field those designers who are, animators, skilled graphic designers, illustrators and maybe even something else like a musician or writer. meeting clients is a great chance to sale yourself and if your talents do not fall under one hat then maybe this could be a chance to land work some other great way. I know ive dabled off into a completly different subject but i thought it would be benefitial to some ears.

I am sorry that you have had a hard time getting clients after a face-to-face meeting. My goal is to get local small business owners to come to my dining room table or sit at my living room couch. Maybe they like the Homey feeling, or maybe they like my kids. Face-to face meetings are why my clients love my work. Communication is clearer and I am able to get them what they need (not just what they ask for—because that is not what they need). I love face-to-face. A client wants a $100 job. I sell them on a $600 bigger job and many consecutive ones, as well. I love giving them my time. They love me for it. They can count on me to give them more than what they deserve, want, or ask for, and I can count on a long, happy, fruitful, designer-client relationship which brings work back to me over and over again.

Not meeting face to face is the reason why freelancers who haven’t figured it all out yet depend on online jobs for which you should be paid $1,000, which you are doing for $50. “Me, me! Pick me! I’ll give you unlimited revisions and the copyright, and I will do your logo for $50! Look! I have already done 1,000 logos this year. I do 3 a day! Pick me!”

I’ll tell you, with face-to-face, there won’t be revisions. Communication is clearer. Working for someone after talking on the phone or internet, you won’t get repeat business, because, even though they may not complain, it may be that you did not please them, after all. They just don’t want to waste their time. Maybe soon, you’ll see a new solution by a face-to-face freelancer, who will get all their repeat work. Maybe you won’t, though, because maybe you don’t want to waste your time worrying about the success of your clients. After all, you get 3 new clients a day from freelancing web sites.

I have written why I INSIST ON face-to-face meetings on my home page in the right column. It is titled “Face to Face is Best,” and explains that I will only work with clients after I have had a face to face.

Thanks for the tips! I’m trying to get a client to sign a contract right now and the advice is very timely.

What a coincident. Just had such one face to face meeting and read this post.

Great article, but it depends on scenario. If you are getting paid for time then it is good to be selective, else you have to go for face-to-face meeting.

Got good tips for future meetings…