We are going to be discussing some webhosting and website deisgn with a local client. Project estimated to be worth over $1000 USD. What is the best attire?

Blue oxford, khaki's, tie, black shoes?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Dressing well is good for creating a good impression. A suit with tie looks good, but well dressed without a tie looks good too and depending on what type of client you will be meeting, might be appropriate

Just avoid jeans and t-shirts etc

Good luck with the meeting :)

Hi there! Thanks for the tips. I am trying to stay away from the business suit type attire. Something casual would be more appropriate.

Subject: Golf Country Club Owner

Well your potential customer is prolly thinking you'll be geeky looking and you dont wanna disappoint him.
Thick black framed glasses, plaid shirt with one side untucked, beige or plaid pants and golf shoes with wings should do the trick.
Don't forget the pocket protector. :D

P.S. Good Luck!

Originally posted by Centralized
Blue oxford, khaki's, tie, black shoes?That'd probably be fine considering the client's a country club and you're a web developer -- people don't expect a suit, but you'll be presentable. And an oxford and khakis is exactly what they expect from a "techie" (unless you want to take it to GoldenWeb's extreme). :)

My previous company was a web design outfit, but our biggest gig was doing subcontracted seo for another company that did web development in the financial industry -- Wall Street firms. That was different, if you weren't in a flashy suit they wouldn't take you seriously!

The point is, choose what's appropriate for your location and your clientel.

Shorts, tanktop, sunglasses, and sandles.

I'd wear tie, black shoes, black dress pants, blue shirt. Wear a suit jacket if you have a big stomach ... if not, don't worry about it. :D

Originally posted by Benjamin
I'd wear tie, black shoes, black dress pants, blue shirt. Wear a suit jacket if you have a big stomach ... if not, don't worry about it. :D

Blue Dress Shirt ...

A blue cotton shirt won't do it? LOL! :)

If they've never seen you before... Dress to Impress. Think about who you want to be during the meeting and then dress the part (It's one of the first steps to actually being that person!)

If they have actually already seen you, then just dress up a bit more than the norm. This way you aren't shouting HEY I'M PRETENDING JUST FOR YOU TODAY but rather "Hello, I am looking forward to working with you"

Above all, take a shower, comb your hair, rinse, brush, and floss and be sure to wear clean clothes ;)

Whatever you do, don't spend more on the clothes than the account will be able to pay for :D

It would also depends on the setting too.
You didn't say where the meeting would be held.
Office? Restaurant? Home?

Not sure...What is usually best? I know its going to be on my buck. But what do you folks recommend?

Well if you took me to the Super Bowl you would get my biz for sure. :D
But seriously, I would avoid the home.
Treating him to a free lunch or dinner prolly will give you a better chance then an office meeting.

I'd recomend nice pants, nice shirt and a tie. No need to go the full suit route, especially for a golf club. For real, go to JC Pennys or a simliar store and pick up a shirt and tie combo for 60 bucks (if you don't already have one) And add that to some dress pants and shoes.

no need to completely intimidate them by strict business attire. I interviewed with some people a few weeks ago and a nice shirt and tie was more than enough as they were just dressed in say polo shirts. It isn't like you are going to a multi-million dollar corporation, so I'd say don't overdo it :)

Restaurants are a great place for a meeting where privacy isn't a concern. They provide a relaxed environment with many ins and outs for the conversation.

At a loss for words? Excuse yourself, chew your food, or spill the beans.

Everything going well? Order desert, enjoy the coffee and talk about the kids ;)

Just be sure to pick a restaurant that you know you'll have available seating so you don't have to spend the meeting in a line and ensure the restaurant is quiet enough to allow for calm conversation.

Originally posted by Centralized
Not sure...What is usually best? I know its going to be on my buck. But what do you folks recommend?

If its going to be a large client.. Take them out to a nice restaurant to have lunch, just don't drink to much :D

When working for a computer shop a few years ago, when were going to buy about 150 premade computers for a large sale, we had del and compaq quote us. Compaq sent us a letter, and Dell came and took us out to lunch, picked up the bill and we had a good talk about business and how they can help us make the most of our dollar and increase profits. Frankly, I liked how they got interested in us. Now I know 150 is nothing to dell, but atleast they took us serious, I don't think they do that with everyone though :D

Dress nice, but dress comfortably.

If you aren't use to wearing a tie, you may feel very uncomfortable and the client will pick up on this, possibly misinterpreting what's really going on. Slacks and a button up will likely be sufficient if you're expecting your client to dress casual. Go tie if there's any remote chance that they will be in a tie also.

Restaurants are great places to meet. If $ is an issue - meeting at a nice coffee shop is a great alternative.

Ryan

Good luck with your meeting. I am a web developer (php/mysql ,etc) and don't really go chasing anything under US$1,000 either, unless it is something small for an existing client where I don't have to go throught the time wasting process and the risk of that prospect turning out to be a china egg (an egg that never hatches).

Anyway, clothing - stricktly geek at all times. Last client meeting was last week with a web designer and her client. Venue was a cafe. Meeting took 2 hours (very involved discussion). My attire was navy blue linen shirt, tan cargo shorts, sneakers and my trusty new sun hat (which I bought to wear to the cricket and is now my favourite item of apparel).

Remember this. Wear your ears - listen to the client and help them work out what the problem is and what their needs are. Use your mouth. Ask them what budget they had in mind. Give them an indication of how you might be able to solve their needs within that budget. Ask them what timeline they have in mind. Ask them when they would be looking to start.

Good luck :)

Just remember that it is possible to overdress.
I would not wear a suit or sports jacket

what brand of clothing do you wear?

Some nice slacks and a button up shirt tie would be optional depending on the fashion.

I love the Claiborne, Perry Ellis, Kenneth Cole lines
something along those try and look snazzy and in style.

I would not try and look nerdy or geeky. Try and look as succesfull as you can.

Originally posted by Centralized
We are going to be discussing some webhosting and website deisgn with a local client. Project estimated to be worth over $1000 USD. What is the best attire?

Blue oxford, khaki's, tie, black shoes?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Depends on where the meeting takes place - just try to where something appropriate that you would find impressive..

Ooh this is why I hate meetings where I am trying to get money, I prefer meetings where the other side wants MY money (colocation or bandwidth providers, etc) because then I dress however I want, I mean, hell they want my money they're trying to impress me, not vice versa :) haha shorts, sandals, tank or muscle shirt or something tie dyed, maybe a hat if it's sunny and I recently shaved my head (sunburn of the scalp = YOIKS and I tend to drive with the top down in summer).

LOL! This thread is quite interesting. I believe the car is also important in determining professioanlism. I was able to attain a BMW 3.30 from a friend for the day, so that won't be a problem.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions! They are greatly appreciated.

Haha oh yeah the car :)

My custom Geo Tracker with the 1600 watt stereo system :D

Took the head network dude for the colo I use locally for a ride to grab some servers from my old colo in it. Haha he was like "eesh that's loud".

LOL! That must have been great. I assmuing for web design clients you need the BMW or the Benz.

Golfing/Country Clubs are generally quite formal in attitudes - be careful of appearing as though you were going to play 18 holes - I would be most surprised if they didn't expect you to turn up in suit and tie!

Go for khaki's and a navy blue polo shirt. :)

Make sure there's no logos or anything on it unless it's your company logo or a designer brand. :)

Don't put gel or hair grease in your hair. :)

And if you have some nice boots, like Lugz (my favorite :D) wear those or some black sneakers or dress shoes would work too.

Originally posted by TheTech

Don't put gel

Why?

Originally posted by Centralized
LOL! That must have been great. I assmuing for web design clients you need the BMW or the Benz.

We don't do web design so the amount of schmoozing I have to do is minimal to say the least. I think I've met 3 of my customers in person :)

Originally posted by Dixiesys
Ooh this is why I hate meetings where I am trying to get money, I prefer meetings where the other side wants MY money (colocation or bandwidth providers, etc) because then I dress however I want, I mean, hell they want my money they're trying to impress me, not vice versa :) haha shorts, sandals, tank or muscle shirt or something tie dyed, maybe a hat if it's sunny and I recently shaved my head (sunburn of the scalp = YOIKS and I tend to drive with the top down in summer).

haha. I must agree, Dixiesys. It is quite fun being on the other side. I dress in relaxed attire when meeting with a person from a company who I may buy from. I doubt it really matters for the customer to wear a dressy suit.

Although, in the case of the yellow pages agent I talked to at a restaurant, she started immediately talking ... asking me a hundred questions at one time. She was starting to eat, but I couldn't because I had to answer her silly questions like ... When did you start your company? How many customers do you have? Where do you think you'll be in 3 years? Why in the world would you want to advertise in this phone book? ... questions like that.

I must say ... very annoying. I felt like I was the one being drilled instead of her! Why in the world would it matter to the yellow pages that I want to advertise (and also simply be listed) in the local phone book!?!??! I don't get it. I didn't exactly have any questions to ask her too much, so couldn't exactly change the subject.

Oh, and some more advice -- don't drill your potential customers during lunch like the yellow pages agent did to me. Oh brother. Anyone got any reasons why this happened?

Originally posted by Benjamin


asking me a hundred questions at one time. She was starting to eat, but I couldn't because I had to answer her silly questions like ... When did you start your company? How many customers do you have? Where do you think you'll be in 3 years? Why in the world would you want to advertise in this phone book? ... questions like that.

:::snip:::

Anyone got any reasons why this happened?

Yep - she wanted to figure out how much she could milk you for. Yellow Pages sales reps make almost all their money from commissions (some phone companies pay a salary in addition to commission, but not all of them do, and those that do the salary is usually small and the commission large). She wanted to get a sense of how much money you were likely to have (I'm sure you want in with a budget in mind - she wanted to guage whether she should bother trying to convince you to buy a more expensive ad or not).

These types of questions also help her to guage how much attention she needs to give you *next* year. You've already got your meeting for this year, that can't be helped, but if she thinks you're likely to buy a big ad next year she'll put you on a list of companies to talk to right away. If she thinks you'll be going nowhere and sticking with a small ad next year, she'll put you on a list of companies to send a letter to and not bother meeting with.

Most sales reps, *especially* those for advertising, want to put their time into getting the big sales, and don't want to waste time on the small ones. Asking questions about your business helps them guage whether they should put a lot of their time into your account or not.

When I'm in a meeting like that, I always try to send mixed signals - try to convince the sales rep that I'm likely to buy a lot of ads but that my actual ad budget is small. That way the sales rep figures out they can make money selling me volume but not try to sell me huge ads every time. This usually results in getting a lot of special "one-time" buys and such that actually save me money in the long run. It also doesn't turn the sales rep off if I say "no" a few times - if a sales rep expects me to buy every time, and I start saying "no" consistently, they go away and don't bother. If I set their expectations to the idea that I'll buy regularly but will have to say "no" sometimes, I continue to get their attention even when I'm not buying from them.

Of course, Yellow Page ads are a once-per-year thing, but the approach is much the same as recurring purchases.

Jason

Originally posted by Centralized
Not sure...What is usually best? I know its going to be on my buck. But what do you folks recommend?

How long do you expect the meeting to run? How many people will be there? Motels/hotels have small conference rooms you can rent for a couple of hours if that's a more comfortable setting.
If it's just two or three people talking, a restaurant is good. For a group, get a room. Some restaurants have private dining rooms they may be willing to put you in.
For dress, the khakis-oxford shirt-tie sounds good, as long as they're clean, pressed and in good condition and fit well. Add a nice blazer. It should be something that you feel comfortable in and that you feel you look good wearing.

No car - strictly bicycle! Don't get caught in the mud of old economy sybolism - it's all new economy baby. Remember, the internet is going to solve the worlds problems. The automobile is one of the problems left of over from the jurrasic period of the old economy.

Electronic trinkets are the go. When you sit down to lunch make sure you pull out your PDA, cell phone, and your web-cam enabled watch.

Originally posted by Benjamin
[B]

haha. I must agree, Dixiesys. It is quite fun being on the other side. I dress in relaxed attire when meeting with a person from a company who I may buy from. I doubt it really matters for the customer to wear a dressy suit.


If they'll turn down my money because I show up in natty shorts and a tank top that's their problem, very rarely is there one game in town ya know? There's always some competitor slobbering on his chain to get a crack at your money.

Although, in the case of the yellow pages agent I talked to at a restaurant

I feel like yellow pages advertising is too expensive.

Do what I'd have done:

Her: "where will you be in 3 years?"
Me: "probably out of business, good GOD are your prices high"

Anyone have any tactics to lower advertising down? (Dressing up probably won't help lol...) When a sales person tells me the price of advertising, any comments or ways to try and lower the price?

I've simply remarked, "that pricing is kind of high, anyway you can lower that?" But the sales person isn't able or tells me I have to buy a longer contract.

Well smart, but maybe not too formal these days people seem to dress slightly more casually and some people even feel uncomfortable with people sitting their in a suit and tie