How should I deal with clients wanting to meet me, although I work at home?

Question

I have a decent client base now, after many years of hard work; however, increasingly, clients are saying they want to come to meet me. This is a change from what I am used to, where I would always go and visit clients. The problem is I work from home and for various reasons I do not want to start using my home as a client meeting area (there is nowhere suitable for starters).

• How should I get around this, is it unprofessional to say can we meet at a nice quirky coffee shop?
• If they insist (which I have had) should I cave in and say ok?
• Is it right to say to clients quite simply: I do not wish to meet at my home for personal reasons?

Just for clarification, all of my clients know I work from home - I'm not hiding that, and clients are asking to meet me for a variety of reasons.

Answer 1

I, and other freelancers I know do a lot of meetings at coffee-shops. Also, I constantly see a part owner of a designer firm I know, who has a large office, also doing meetings in the same coffee shops.

In Canada it is also very difficult to get home insurance (if you give full disclosure) if clients come to your home, or even if they don't but you are incorporated & work at home. And, not giving full disclosure is kind of silly -- if you ever needed to make a major claim, they would have the grounds to deny it. So, if clients insist, tell them you are unable to meet clients at home because it would invalidate your home insurance. It is probably true, and you should find this out

In BC, Canada I was only able after much searching to find one company who would insure me: BCAA. I like to occasionally meet clients at my home office because I have pretty cool setup, and I also frequently pair program at my home office. But I would never do it if my insurance didn't explicitly cover it.

Another place to consider meetings are University spaces during the times they are less busy. Universities have lots of large, airy, spacious study spaces with power outlets and decent tables/chairs. On off-hours they are often nearly empty.

A freelancing colleague of mine who does not like to work at home rents an "enterprise" space. This is a very common thing for non-tech businesses -- it is a space divided into lots of tiny offices that you rent, with a shared meeting room, kitchen, mailing address and optional answering service. They are inexpensive. I believe he pays $400CAD / month for a space large enough for three people to work in (I work there sometimes too). Smaller spaces are available for as little as $300/month.

Answer 2

It is perfectly acceptable to keep clients away from your home. I have been freelancing with local clients for 10 years and have never invited a client to my home. I offer to meet with them at:

• Their offices
• Coffee shops
• Co-working spaces or other rent an office for a day locations

I've never had someone insist they should come to my office, but I'd simply say "that's not an option" and stick to my guns. No explanation is necessary, but if you prefer to have one you can try "My home office is not designed for client interactions" and leave it at that.

Answer 3

There are very good reasons to not meet in your home (at least in the US).

If a client were to meet in your home for business, then have some accident, like tripping and falling, homeowner's insurance may not cover the accident if the due to the fact it was a business transaction and not standard home use. I know, odd, but leave it to insurance companies to find a way not to pay out. So, if you don't have business insurance for your home, you may be up the creek should something completely unforeseen happen.

There's nothing wrong with coffee shops (free wi-fi). I use them quite often. However, they can get busy and distracting. Be sure to schedule meetings during off-peak hours. Nothing worse than a coffee shop around lunch time when you are trying to hold a conversation which contains critical work related content.

If it bothers you or your client you can often rent an office space for a day. We have "day offices" (sometimes called "office shares") here which can be rented for periods like 4 or 8 hours during a day for a small fee. I've found this to be the best option here if it's an important meeting where everyone needs to focus well and understand everything going on. It's professional, quiet, and free of distractions when needed.

Barring the above options, I think I'd look at other public places, a park in nice weather. The Library if you still have one around.

I've never had a client insist on meeting in my home, but I have turned away a few who simply wanted to "swing by".

Answer 4

More often than not, I will go to the client's office (I also work from home). If that does not work for them, getting a coffee usually works very well. The thing to remember is they really just want to meet the person building their site and get a sense of who they are face to face. Seeing where you work is usually never their main concern.

Answer 5

There are more options than the 3 you listed. Maybe your client doesn't want to meet at a coffee shop because he doesn't want to discuss business in a public place where everybody can hear every detail. You could rent a meeting room for a couple of hours at a co-working space.

Answer 6

You are providing your customers with a good service and good prices, but you don't have your own office to meet them. You work at home. Well, this is exactly why you can provide them with excellent prices, YOU DON'T HAVE OVERHEAD. Tell them, use your "non-office-reason" as your leverage. Is totally honest and true. Also, tell them that you are proud of being part of another 56 million successful self-employed Americans than do exactly the same thing.

Answer 7

Below, I posted a mock conversation that helps me deal with potential clients who insist on meeting me in person. When it's obviously a big client like Fortune 500, and the contact's title and authority are verifiable, hell yeah, I'll meet in person, and maybe even put on a tie! More often than not, however, there is nefarious intent or a cultural difference in expectations for in-person first meetings...which would be forgivable except that after 16 years of consulting, those meetings consistently leave me feeling used (especially when they buy me lunch)... which means cultural differences or not, it isn't innocent... it's a practiced behavior that has likely been very successful for them and they're good at getting stuff for free.

If my attempts to get them to meet remotely fail, I know my answer and change my tone to "firm". If the potential client is real, they are more likely to respect you for having a spine than they are to dismiss you for not playing by their rules. If the latter, it's likely that they're just pissed that they can't get you to sit down with them and give them free consulting for the price of lunch. If the former, I can tell you that I've gotten more signatures on proposals by being firm and adhering to my own personal standard than by pandering or allowing myself to be used. Demand respect and you'll get it.

Client: Let’s meet for lunch so I can tell you about my concept and meet you in person

Me: I’d love to learn more about your project! As a national company, it isn’t practical for me to schedule in-person meetings, so all of our first discussions are remote. Are you available on Tuesday at 1pm? I can send a Zoom link or call you on the phone.

Client: No but I really need to put my eyes on you.

Me: Unfortunately, I don’t take in-person exploratory meetings. It is vital that I learn more about your project and for you to learn more about our fees and how we work, however, we can accomplish this in a 15-to-30-minute video or phone call.

Client: But, you see, I don’t do business with anyone I don’t meet face to face.

Me: Frankly, this is a red flag for me. When a potential client wants to meet in person for lunch or to put eyes on me, it invariably morphs into a working session where they share details of their project in hopes of gleaning valuable information on the feasibility or direction of their project. I learned long ago not to do free working sessions. Working sessions with me, the principal of the company, are $1,500 paid upfront for up to 4 hours. I’d be happy to meet you for a working session. To get you a proposal for this we should have at least a brief call.

If this doesn't work, it's time to walk away... Horse Whisperer style. If they come back, you got em.

Me: I appreciate your tenacity and would love to help you. Please let me know when you're ready to schedule a video or phone call. I look forward to hearing from you. (read: "no, you pushy arse... I ain't driving across town so you can waste my time squeezing me for free information. Call me when you're serious")