First Offline Meeting = Crushed

It really depends how the 2.5 hours went. I've had some go cold, but to some people, 2 weeks is nothing. Some people act with much more urgency than others. You can generally tell by their mannerisms and the speed of which they talk and change subjects. If they're easily distracted during the initial interview, or jump from subject to subject rapidly, you need to strike while the iron is hot.

If they're very methodical about a meeting, take plenty of notes, and seem to be taking in the whole lot, then 2 weeks is nothing, it's giving them time to get comfortable with it. These are the best types of clients to have in any facet of IT in my opinion.

I was a Sales Director for a web design/development agency for years, and the hardest part of it was knowing when to re-initiate contact, and how to do it earlier than expected without intruding. Subtly send through some new statistics that you think he may find interesting in just under a week, and it will give him the option to respond back and keep moving at a faster pace. Be careful when pushing too hard, it can kill trust and feel like desperation.

goingreen said:

Getting a check right away is selling yourself short - and I was going to get stiffed. We're building relationships here that pay for a lifetime. If I wanted a check for $1,000 I could have got it. I'd rather solidify the relationships concrete the trust and get 75 checks for $1,000. Closing a deal one the first appointment wasnt even an option in my mind. Just a mere added bonus that almost happened.

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Getting a check right away is not selling yourself short! You are selling yourself short if you are investing 2.5 hours of your time and not walking away with a signed contract. Just some advice from experience running a very successful Offline business for the past 8 months, if you want to make some serious money you should always be after that money.

Practice the ABC's of sales... Always Be Closing! And a meeting is not a close until you have the contract signed. Once you have a signed contract then you can worry about building a relationship by staying in close contact with your client and letting your work speak for itself. I will work a client over the phone and it make take 2 or 3 phone calls and that's over the phone never. You should be closing face to face the first meeting sometimes it will take 2 meetings but you shouldn't let it because they forget about what was said and the excitement dies off then you have to re-pitch them over again. Do some work for very cheap or free for a couple of people in exchange for a reference, show them amazing results, and then use those references and watch how far they will take you.

i really do understand the logic OP is setting there - to get connected and not closing the or a deal...
...this can be seen as an future investment and may work out. or hopefully does.

if they have 75 deals to close instead of one - one may be a bit patient and take the approach OP did. someone who has that much deals to give might not be doing it at first sight.

nonetheless you should have closed a little deal...
...as stated above.
you should have worked out a way - even for cheap or maybe a little work for free - to prove em what you can do and that it`s really worth the investment.
...also to show that you are a buisnessmen that doesn`t want to waste time for nothing and is focussed on running a serious buisness and getting clients on board.

however this goes - i hope to hear that your approach worked out well and you can land a decent deal with em.

all the best!

If you guys want hit and quit it money - I would have gotten the deal done...personally I want to be still getting a check 12 months from now - from this client and her clients. If you dont build the relationship - thats not going to happen.

Im not debating this - its a fact

I got the meeting because somebody else f'ed up their deal. Bottom line they didnt listen. Thats a red flag to slow down and manage expectations and you'll have them...and every client they have. Two weeks is nothing when collecting a check 365 days from now.

goingreen said:

If you guys want hit and quit it money - I would have gotten the deal done...personally I want to be still getting a check 12 months from now - from this client and her clients. If you dont build the relationship - thats not going to happen.

Im not debating this - its a fact

I got the meeting because somebody else f'ed up their deal. Bottom line they didnt listen. Thats a red flag to slow down and manage expectations and you'll have them...and every client they have. Two weeks is nothing when collecting a check 365 days from now.

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I was just trying to help you out with some extremely useful advice. Yes you have the right idea by building a relationship but The Relationship Needs To Be Built Once You Have The Contract Signed! In order to build a business relationship you need to be actually doing business with them. Otherwise you are just making a lot of friends and not a lot of money.

Good Luck man you have a lot of learning to do when it comes to sale. If you take the valuable advice posted here you will do well. Let us know in two weeks how your second meeting goes.

Awesome news.

a lot of people are saying 2.5 hrs is a lot, but hell at least you're taking action and going out and doing this stuff, for that I give you props, and keep at it!

I think you left the meeting a hell of a lot more excited than who you met.

You said:

We couldnt get a price set for work...

What does that mean exactly? Did you explore pricing at all?

Congrats man.. But how did you get them ready for the meeting in the first place?

Would it be a good idea in the OP's shoes if at some point I said for the client to leave a deposit to lock in the contract, overvalue the price of my service, then get him to promise to refer me to those business contacts personally, then give him a discount to what I would originally have intended?

Great work, must feel good to take action I presume?

soooooooooooooooo00oo0 2.5 hour discussion, no money discussed = profit?

I am in goinggreen's mindset. My first client meeting was at a Japanese restaurant we talked for 2 hours had some nice food and a few beers. Never talked price, I just asked heaps of questions and answered heaps. He paid for the bill. I prepared a proposal over the next week. Full package $2500 ($1000 upfront) $249 p/m maint. Sent back the proposal. Couldn't get hold of him for nearly a month and started to think I had blown it on price and was considering a reconnecting with a discount. Turns out he had flown to Seattle in the US to meet with Microsoft (We are in Sydney Australia) on his return organised another meeting at his office. He said there was a problem, that now he had 3 sites he wanted me to work on. We agreed on a 10% discount on the second 2 sites to commence after completion of first phase on initial one. he pulled out his Iphone and paypaled $1000 initial payment while I sat there. Now have $15,371 year one $6972 ongoing per year.. He has also offered to pay and take me with a group of others on his next trip to visit his BPO team in India, later in the year. Gotta love it.. I see it a bit like dating, if you want to jump into bed on the first date, you might have some fun but chances are if you want a longer term relationship, you need take it a little slower and think to the future.

It can work both ways, build the relationship first or after the close. I guess it just depends on the client and what your comfortable with.