Last Friday, we learned what contracting is. Today, we’ll begin to understand some of the most important parts of that initial client meeting. All of these checklist items are pointing us back to the three main questions that your meeting should answer

Who are you?

• Who am I?
• Who are you?
• What are we going to do together?

Here are just 7 of the 18 points we covered (bet you wish you had attended this free class!). *adapted from Peter Flock’s book “Flawless Consulting”

• Make sure you are talking with the person who has the MONEY, AUTHORITY and NEED for what you have to offer.
• Be seen as a peer to your client in all areas EXCEPT your area of expertise.
• Be sure the client knows that your purpose in this meeting is to determine if you are WILLING and ABLE to help her with her problem (there’s a big gap between able and willing if the client is a bad fit for you).
• Don’t accept the client’s definition of their problem. Dig in a little.
• Determine who will do what over the course of the project.
• Decide whether you will proceed with the project or not.
• Agree on the next action (never leave this meeting without an action step in place).

Later this week, we’ll tackle the elements of a contract. Remember that this content is a summary of a fantastic class taught by Marlo Derksen.