The Pros And Cons Of Meeting Clients And Prospective Clients Outside Of Your Office – Does It Really Build Business?

A lot of small business owners and therapists often query the viability of leaving their work places and getting out and about to meet with their clients and customers. This is understandable as it is often a mistaken belief that if you are not at work you are not actually working. However, in my opinion working away from the office depends on what you are aiming to achieve as there are some very powerful pluses to this but unfortunately also some major drawbacks. Let me explain…

Visiting your clients can have several drawbacks in that each visit is very time consuming and often not as beneficial as when the client comes to see you. Let me explain:

Firstly, there is the time involved in you travelling to these appointments rather than the client travelling to you. If it takes you 30 minutes to travel there and 30 minutes to travel back that is an hour of your time that you cannot be using for other entrepreneurial matters and an hour out of your day that you should consider charging for.

If you normally spend 30 minutes with every client then this effectively trebles what you need to charge so that you are working on the same fee per hour. However if you see clients every 15 minutes you theoretically need to charge five times as much (to make up for the four appointment times lost in travelling plus the actual appointment session when you are there). Things get a lot worse if you see a client every 10 minutes increases as this means that you need to increase your fee by a factor of seven as the time spent travelling has been the equivalent of seeing a further six clients!

Secondly, sometimes it is difficult to do as much work with the client as you would like if you are visiting with them in a place outside of your office or work place. It is a lot easier and a lot more practical if the client can make it in to where you normally work from as you will have all the information you need for any query they may raise at your fingertips.

However there are times when it does make sense to travel to see clients – and sometimes a lot of sense…

If you do not have any clients or work scheduled at a set time then you have nothing to lose from leaving your work place to visit with clients and prospective clients in their own establishment or some “neutral” ground as it can be a great way and to meet clients that otherwise would not have utilized your services. The only suggestio
I would make with this is that you avoid pubs / wine bars / cafes myself as very often there is more socializing done and less work!

Secondly if you are your business is not running to full capacity (and not out of choice!) and you are not seeing the number of clients you would like then it is very likely you are going to be time rich and cash poor! There would be nothing to stop you working in your business week day mornings from 9-12 for example and then using the afte
oons to make your out of work office visits. This way you have scheduled portions of you time to target local business, interested prospects and can establish joint ventures etc. without appearing rushed or hurried.

By getting yourself out and about you allow people to get to meet you, establish rapport and they can put a name to a face whilst you get to meet them and see if there are any problems that you can rectify face to face or find out if there are any reservations on their part when it comes to doing business with you.

The other great thing about getting into clients and prospective clients workplaces is that a lot of the people you meet there will end up coming to your own establishment at other times as general convenience makes these visits easier…

…and once your own work volume increases, you can afford to discontinue this service of going out to meet prospective clients or pass it off to an associate / colleague should you so wish.