I’ve already talked about how I pre-screen and email with my potential clients. Today I want to talk about how I actually go about scheduling a consult.

I’ve had to rework this whole consult arrangement over the past few years and I finally feel as if I have some control over my schedule. I generally do my consults on Monday and Fridays. There’s no particular reason other than those are two good days for my schedule. There have been occasions when I’ve broken that rule because of a client’s schedule and done consults on the weekend, but I like to reserve the weekends for engagement sessions, relaxing, family time, and, obviously, weddings that are already booked.

I used to be afraid to ask potential clients to meet during the day. I just assumed they would all have 9-5 jobs. I quickly realized that in a university town very few people work “regular” hours, whether it be working at one of the hospitals, a restaurant, retail, or a thousand other jobs in the area. Meeting during the afternoon works best for my schedule so, if possible, I like to schedule then.

If the client hasn’t given me a general time or day that works best for them, I go ahead and give them a list of a few different days and times in the next 3 weeks of my schedule. I put it in nice bullet points (because I love bullet points) so it makes it easier to read and respond.

In most cases, the clients will just pick one of those and I’ll put it on my calendar and send them an email confirming the time and date as well as a Google Maps link with directions to our home. If we still need to make adjustments, I’ll continue the email conversation with them until we can find a good time.

Even though I have my general days/times that I like, I always work with my potential clients to make sure to get a time that’s also good for them. This is made easier because my husband is really flexible with my schedule and because we don’t have children.

If the client is out of state or out of town, we schedule a Skype or FaceTime consult. It’s not ideal since I do prefer to meet in person, but it works better than email alone or even a phone call. Scheduling a video conference is actually much, much easier to schedule than an in-person consultation because my clients don’t have to figure in travel time or even worry about getting dressed! (Confession: a perk of Skype/FaceTime is that I can wear pajama bottom with a nice shirt and no one knows! … until now.)

So the consultation is scheduled over email, it’s on the calendar, directions were given. Now it’s time to prep my house for the consult. And that involves more than just making sure the dishes are washed and the floors are clean.

Coming up: Client Consults Pt 4: Prepping for the Consult