Treat all prospects with respect and courtesy

Don't judge a book by it's cover -we've all heard that 101 times before but I can't stress how important this mantra is in business.

As I suspect you do, before we meet with a new client/prospect, we perform a little due diligence on them to build a picture of them, the business and their core values. This then prepares us for the meeting and allows us to show interest/knowledge in who they are and what they do.

If you don't do this already, it is important to do as it means you're not completely blind before meeting with the client. If nothing else, it allows you to tailor your offerings for them. At a minimum, for us this usually includes:

• Checking their website (if they have one)
• Searching on the company name
• If we have the registered name, search companies house
• If we know other companies or friends in the same sector, ask them if they know of or have heard of the company
• If you know any of the names of the people, a quick search on those too
• Have a quick search for any potential competitors

Although it might appear a little creepy, if the prospect contacted you then they've no doubt done the same to you and your company before contacting you.

Despite doing these checks however you can still misunderstand who the client is, what they do and what they're about or who they deal with. This might not be your fault, it might just be that they've not updated their details for a while (like us, our website mentions very few of our existing client base -all of who we're very proud of).

I doubt you'll manage to get it right every time, I can think of three separate occasions in the past few years -one of them very recently, where; despite our research, we had built the wrong perception of the company before meeting with them. However, by being interested, courteous and respectful at all times we didn't jeopardise our potential working partnership and have since worked on some fantastic and interesting projects.

Although you both might think you know each other, give them a chance to introduce themselves (keeping an open mind while they're doing so) and also take time to introduce your company. Even if you think you know the answer, ask them what they're about so you can verify the information you've found. Most importantly be interested in them, they've taken the time to meet with you -which you should be grateful of. It's all too tempting to think that it's you that doing them the favour -it's not (or at least not until you deliver them your beautiful brilliant solution).

Only once you've met with them and allowed them to introduce themselves to you will you be in a position to start deciding whether they're a client you'd like to work with.

So before you form your opinions on future prospects, show them the same interest, courtesy and respect that you would receive and get to know them. You never know where it might lead!