The most important parameter for successful entrepreneurs is the human relations you generate.
It is important that your clients or potential clients you meet feel you are more than capable on a professional level, but you also need to generate a human contact.
It is easy to focus on the business at hand, trying to dazzle your clients with your knowledge.
It's all about customer care.
Before meeting a potential client for the first time, be sure to do some homework first.
Look him up on the homepage, he/she is bound to be noticed on the companys homepage or have a personal homepage somewhere.
Look them up on LinkedIn, maybe you can find a direct link to them via your network.
Make a search for their name on Google and see what you can come up with.
Maybe you can find out that they like pets, are active in special interest communities or maybe something about their educational background.
This forehand knowledge is pure gold, both for knowing how to treat them, or as gold-nuggets during the conversation.
When you first meet a potential client in person, be sure to smile a lot,and try not to focus on the actual business you're there to discuss with them.
Give them some anecdotes, tell a small story that can entertain (be sure it might not affend anyone) and do not be afraid to tell something about your personal life.
You are not there to tell them about yourself, but be sure to open the lid, and shed some light on yourself.
After having talked for awhile, try to be the one to bring back the conversation to what you are there for.
That will show the client that not only are you easy-going and talkative, but also professional, and you will set yourself in the drivers seat, and guide the conversation.
The client wants to hire you for a project, so make sure that they feel that you are able to control and guide a project from beginning to end.
After finishing the meeting, be sure to go home, and send an e-mail before the end of the day.
In here you briefly outline what you talked about and what you agreed upon.
Remember, if you can expand the professional level you are on, you can perhaps expand the business side of things, but its also a good help if something goes wrong with the project you are working on.
It is important that your clients or potential clients you meet feel you are more than capable on a professional level, but you also need to generate a human contact.
It is easy to focus on the business at hand, trying to dazzle your clients with your knowledge.
It's all about customer care.
Before meeting a potential client for the first time, be sure to do some homework first.
Look him up on the homepage, he/she is bound to be noticed on the companys homepage or have a personal homepage somewhere.
Look them up on LinkedIn, maybe you can find a direct link to them via your network.
Make a search for their name on Google and see what you can come up with.
Maybe you can find out that they like pets, are active in special interest communities or maybe something about their educational background.
This forehand knowledge is pure gold, both for knowing how to treat them, or as gold-nuggets during the conversation.
When you first meet a potential client in person, be sure to smile a lot,and try not to focus on the actual business you're there to discuss with them.
Give them some anecdotes, tell a small story that can entertain (be sure it might not affend anyone) and do not be afraid to tell something about your personal life.
You are not there to tell them about yourself, but be sure to open the lid, and shed some light on yourself.
After having talked for awhile, try to be the one to bring back the conversation to what you are there for.
That will show the client that not only are you easy-going and talkative, but also professional, and you will set yourself in the drivers seat, and guide the conversation.
The client wants to hire you for a project, so make sure that they feel that you are able to control and guide a project from beginning to end.
After finishing the meeting, be sure to go home, and send an e-mail before the end of the day.
In here you briefly outline what you talked about and what you agreed upon.
Remember, if you can expand the professional level you are on, you can perhaps expand the business side of things, but its also a good help if something goes wrong with the project you are working on.