All Alone

Today was a big day. I had my first solo client meeting. My boss couldn't be there because of a family emergency, so I armed myself with designs, estimates, pictures, the works, and it went surprisingly really well. I explained the design and the costs, they asked a bunch of questions that I couldn't answer right away, and we planned for another meeting. They liked the plan and gave me good feedback that I can work with. I'm going to rework the design a bit and revise the estimate, and hopefully we'll get started on installing this fall! I have my next solo meeting tomorrow, and I hope that goes even better!

So, here's a recap of the key points:

1. Know which plants in the design have seasonal interest (before the client meeting), because they're going to ask which have fall color. (I had to check and email them later.)

2. Re-read any/all notes in the client folder prior to the meeting in case there's anything I missed. For example: they have deer (duh, I included a deer fence in the estimate), and so they might ask what plants deer prefer and which are "deer-proof" (I had to check).

3. Listen and write down every single thing the clients say so that I can refer to it later when I'm redesigning (I did do that)!