Meeting clients at a home office [Tips to look professional]
If you are self-employed or telecommute, a home office would be a welcome idea.
With the internet and other available resources, working from home as a self-employed or a small business owner is a much more affordable and viable option.
Many small businesses have become dependent on home office space especially with costs rising.
People who work in certain professional industries may also choose to set up home offices.
Some of these professionals include the following.
- Consultants
- Lawyers
- Accountants
- Real estate agents
They may choose to use the space simply to work on their own or even meet with clients in their home office spaces.
Many people find working from a home office beneficial for a number of reasons.
First, it cuts out the commute time, which can be frustrating, time-consuming, and costly. This ends up helping save travel-related and other expenses.
Home offices also need no formal dressing and often allow the employee to manage work on their own schedule.
All that means a better work-life balance, which can lead to an improvement in an employee’s overall health and wellness.
Those who have embraced working from home also have the choice to have successful home office meetings with clients without the hassle and expense of commuting.
There are countless agreeable advantages to working from home. But what about your clients? Are they as comfortable in your home office as they would be in a standard office setup?
Inviting a client into your home for a meeting can appear unprofessional.
Without a designated office area, a client may feel like he or she is invading your personal space.
This is worse if the environment is too homey. Potential distractions, like children and pets, can unintentionally derail a meeting, making the client feel awkward.
How do you make your client meetings in your home office a success?
The ability to conduct a successful home office meeting is a learnable skill.
It is an important element that can stimulate the growth of your business.
Do it poorly, however, and your business can come crashing down.
A productive meeting, whether virtual or in-person, has lots of advantages. You can attract more customers, increase your sales, and build your brand significantly.
Here are strategies that will ensure you can seamlessly conduct both successful virtual and in-office meetings.
1] Tips on meeting clients face to face in your home office
Here’s the info you need for your face-to-face home office meetings.
a] Create a schedule and set boundaries
Creating a daily or weekly schedule not only helps you better structure how you spend your time when working remotely, but it’s also a big help to your clients.
As an independent contractor, how and when you do your work is up to you—you’re not required to be in front of your computer all day or on-call 24/7.
Think about the hours when you are most productive and consider scheduling the bulk of your work around those times.
Try and set a time to complete work each day as well. Shutting down your computer and only responding to urgent emails and calls after a certain hour will help you maintain better work/life flexibility.
With your schedule in mind, talk to your clients about your work hours and how they can best get in touch with you during those times. If something urgent does come up, discuss a communication plan for those instances.
By setting these boundaries with clients, you give yourself more flexibility and authority over how your day is structured. In turn, clients will appreciate knowing your schedule so they can better plan their own work.
b] Keep your outside premises appealing
Having well-maintained premises will give your clients a favorable impression when they visit your home office.
That means keeping your outside premises as attractive and inviting as possible.
If you own a house, the exterior siding should be clean and the paint or siding in good condition.
Lawns need to be religiously mowed and garden beds should be kept weed-free. Shrubs, trees, and bushes should be neatly pruned.
If you can’t keep up with the yard work yourself, hire a service to do it for you. Toys and garden implements should be out of sight.
c] Make sure the route to your client space is visible and clear
Clients should not have to go around the house, up a stairway, and through a passage, before they get to ring a bell and get escorted to your meeting room.
If the door they should be knocking on is not clearly visible from where they are expected to park, you need to put some signage (discreet enough not to annoy your neighbors but visible enough that clients will see it when they get out of their vehicles).
Clients should be able to move unobstructed from their vehicles to the room where you are meeting with them.
Safety first! Prune shrubbery as necessary.
Clear potentially slippery moss and/or ice and snow from walkways. If outside stairs are involved, make sure they are kept clean and have proper railings and a no-slip surface.
Be especially vigilant for accident causes such as children’s toys left out where a client could potentially step on one and fall.
If you have or expect handicapped customers you should make your premises handicapped accessible (the cost of any handicapped upgrades can be deducted from taxes as a business expense).
d] Arrange for parking to be as unobtrusive as possible
Having suitable parking for guests is important if you wish to conduct business from your home.
Give clients specific instructions on where to (legally) park when arranging appointments.
If you own a house, in your driveway or in front of, or on your property is best, so do what you can to make that happen. Put your own vehicle(s) in the garage or elsewhere if needed. Try not to park (or have clients park) in front of anyone else’s house on a regular basis.
If you are in an apartment or condominium, see if you can secure additional parking space for visitors. Having clients constantly using up the “visitor” parking space will eventually cause problems with management.
Creating a parking annoyance for your neighbors will not improve your standing in the neighborhood, nor will having a client’s car ticketed and/or towed improve your customer relationships!
e] Have a separate, appropriately decorated space for meeting with clients
Depending on your business, having a separate space in your home such as a home office to conduct business is important – you should not be conducting business with clients in the kitchen or living room.
If, for example, you are a travel agent or notary public or financial adviser, you should have a separate office in the house with access to the technology you need to do your jobs, such as a computer and multifunction printer.
Also, have a comfortable seating arrangement where you and the client can meet face to face or side by side as necessary.
f] Pay attention to the decor
Appropriate decoration of your home business space depends on what you do. Tasteful, inoffensive, and politically correct reigns.
You don’t want anything distracting or potentially offensive in your client’s view. You want them to focus on you and what you’re offering them, not on the things that are in the room.
You also want to make sure your décor creates the professional image you want to project. Your young children’s drawings are great if you are running a daycare in your home but not so good if you’re trying to impress clients with your professional acumen.
Pay special attention to the condition of your furnishings. Anything that looks tatty, overused, or like it came from a bargain bin somewhere has to go. You want to look successful, not needy.
g] Keep it clean and uncluttered at all times
Clients are not going to be impressed with dust bunnies, old coffee spills, or extensive clutter in your home office.
If you are not cleaning/decluttering your home business space on a regular schedule, make sure you do so before client visits. If you don’t have time consider hiring a cleaning service.
For additional information on keeping your home office shipshape see 12 Steps to organizing your office. For a quick cleanup, you may also find five small manageable things you can do to organize your home office right now useful.
h] Try to have the calmest, quietest surroundings possible
If your home includes small children or dogs, this can be difficult! But even small children have routines and you may be able to schedule meetings at quieter times in your household, such as nap times.
Another option is to have someone else look after your children or pets (either in or out of your home) while you meet with clients.
Depending on what you do, you might be able to schedule your meetings for two or three days a week only, cutting down on the childcare you require.
i] Contain your pets
Many people love animals — but that doesn’t mean all your clients do unless you are running a pet grooming business.
Some will be afraid of them. Some will have allergies. Others just plain won’t like them. If your home includes pets, you need to make sure they are under control when you are expecting clients.
For example, if you have a dog that tends to bark or bound to the door when the bell rings then contain it elsewhere in your house or on the property for the duration of the client visit.
Because many people have allergies to pet hair, you should try to eliminate the risk as much as possible in the spaces your clients will visit by regular vacuuming and cleaning. If possible, you may want to keep your pets out of your home office at all times to cut down on the problem.
j] A home and a business can peacefully co-exist
If you can keep them separate enough that one doesn’t interfere with the other. Remember, clients, are coming to your residence to do business, not to visit your home.
And it’s your business you want them to remember when they leave and the benefits of the product you’ve shown them or the great service you’ve performed for them
k] Dress the part
We all love to work in our pajamas (perhaps no one more than me!), but no one besides you has to know that. You might be able to keep it casual, depending upon your business, but dressing up couldn’t hurt either.
“Business casual” is still business-appropriate, so this is a good barometer. Wear something that would be appropriate in any office.
Also, keep your shoes on.
Never make your clients feel as though they need to “dress down” to you.
They’ll be uncomfortable, or at the very least confused about whether they need to take theirs off too. Keep shoes on, even if you normally take them off when you’re at home.
l] Don’t make appointments at obscene hours
Your flexible schedule is great for you, and it could even give you a leg up on the competition.
Just make sure your clients aren’t encroaching upon your personal time. It may be convenient for them to visit you after 5 PM, but if you see clients any hour of the day or night, you won’t be setting good boundaries.
Clients could take advantage of this; if they don’t respect you as a professional, they are more likely to do other disrespectful things like not paying you on time.
Your time is part of your “office space” too—make sure you manage it properly.
2] Tips on meeting clients virtually
Virtual meetings are different from physical ones. Want to ace your virtual meetings, here’s a list of things you need to do.
a] Use visual content and graphics
One best practice is to try to leverage the amazing effects of using visual content and graphics. Your client, just like any other human, is a visual creature.
Therefore, they will more likely be able to remember a lot of information shared with them during your online meeting if you use visuals.
With this, you will be able to create a meeting session that is memorable and informative because of the high engagement with your client!
b] Turn on your webcam
Turning on your webcam boosts communication with your client since they will also be able to “read” your non-verbal cues and engage better with you.
c] Focus on your client
Another awesome practice that will ensure a smooth interaction between you and your client is to focus on your client.
This is a very effective yet very underrated strategy that can make your meeting so productive.
Always look straight into the camera whenever you are talking to your client during your virtual meeting.
It is also important to practice the art of active listening especially when your client is talking to you or sharing their thoughts regarding your topic of discussion.
d] Be a good listener
Your client will pick out that you are fully invested in the meeting and will therefore be able to engage with you more.
Though virtually, you have created the feeling of a face-to-face conversation with your client that will go a long way in helping you to establish a personal rapport with this client. It will build up a connection with your client.
As we know, a close and personalized interaction with a client is one of the most ancient tricks of making a sale.
Therefore, never appear distracted when meeting with your client online!
e] Choose the right technology
No virtual meeting can exist without technology.
There are numerous video conferencing solutions on the market, and while plenty of them have the same set of features (audio and video communication, screen sharing, chat boxes, recording options), the options available and user interface might make or break your virtual meetings with customers.
With the right solution implemented, it’s crucial that you first make sure you have all of the kinks figured out well before your virtual meeting.
You want your customer meeting to run as smoothly as possible. To make sure that happens you need to identify any issues beforehand.
Run a test meeting with a coworker, and then a friend or colleague at an external business. Any problem you can think of that might present itself, should be solved promptly.
There will always be things you can’t control, but it’s important to be as prepared as possible.
f] Pick the right background setting
A simple yet effective tip for running a virtual meeting with a client is to carefully choose the setting in which you hold it on your end.
If you decided that holding the virtual meeting was necessary, there will likely be discussion involved, and you don’t want to miss out on anything because you were in a noisy environment.
Within your home, find a quiet, carpeted room (hardwood floors can tend to make meeting audio echo and difficult to understand).
Sit in front of a neutral background so the meeting goers on the other end aren’t distracted.
Make sure the lighting in the room isn’t too bright that it’s a bother, but not too dim that it puts everyone to sleep.
Again, some things are out of your control, like random family members entering the room or a loud plane flying overhead. But preparing in every way you can make the situation all the better.
g] Prepare adequately
Some people might think that because you aren’t standing physically in front of your client, it relieves some of the pressure.
While this may be true, this in no way means you shouldn’t prepare. If anything, you should put more effort into these virtual client meetings – it’s harder to woo someone through a screen than in person.
If you’re qualifying a customer to see what solution might be best for them, make sure you have all of your lead qualifying questions and pain point discussion topics ready to go.
Or if you’re giving a product demonstration, you are going to need to nail those value statements.
h] Be picky with who can join the meeting
Another part of preparing for a virtual client meeting is determining who should and shouldn’t be involved. Be picky with your guest list.
Virtual meetings often involve some awkwardness and a lot of interruptions. Don’t invite people from your business that aren’t essential to the conversation.
i] Set a clear time limit
Finally, consider how long the meeting should take and keep in mind the varying time zones. It is best to keep the meeting within everyone’s work hours if possible. Also, be prepared for any potential technical issues you might run into.