Hey Evan,

Let me start by saying that these are not hard and fast rules. I've found, as a consultant, that you
have to be able to adapt to clients. Almost every client will have different needs and expectations
(99.99%). Thus, it is important to qualify and engage in several "first" meetings, before ever
working together. I'm going to do my best to decipher my interpretation of your question (How
do I approach working with new clients?). The way that I like to handle consulting, I have "met"
my clients a handful of times before I do any face-to-face. The reason being, it's much less of a
time/money/energy commitment to have a phone call or email conversation rather than meeting
face-to-face. With that said, I'll try to answer your question by explaining how I handle, in a
broad sense, my first-time clients. 
 -- "How do I handle first-time clients?"
1st. It starts before my first communication. If someone reaches out to me for consulting
services, I first research that company and more specifically, that contact. I check their LinkedIn,
I look at the company's Glassdoor reviews, I do my best to make sure that the interested
company is one that I would want to work with. 
2nd. Once I've done my due diligence, I add the contact to my CRM and tag them appropriately.
Then I send a customized, yet moderately templated, email to that individual. The email gives a
very short overview of my experience in that vertical, with a link to a questionnaire that allows
me to collect the client's needs/expectations in more depth. I close the initial email with the
expectation that after receiving the completed questionnaire, that I'll be following up to schedule
a phone call. 
3rd. After receiving the questionnaire I outline any specific questions that will need to be
addressed on the "first" phone call and then prepare for that phone-call by looking over the
individual I'm meeting with and any other pertinent company information. 
4th. The first phone call is almost ALWAYS about them. This is the first time that I'm truly
"selling" and I like to have the client really hone in on their "need." Afterall, many of these calls
are with people who have reached out to me -- thus, they have a need that they are actively trying
to resolve. Ask a ton of questions, leverage the information from the questionnaire (i.e. They
want to produce 10 articles a month -- "How many articles are you currently producing? How are
you producing them? What sort of pressure does that put on you specifically?" Focus on the
individual and why they need a solution to a problem, they will be more prone to fight for you if
you "understand" and "resolve" their problem. 
5th. I never discuss pricing on the first phone call. I also do not give them any specific solutions
-- Rather, I emphasize that the phone call is an information collection period and that I'll be
sending over a customized proposal after the phone call with pricing and general suggestions. "If
they want more customized solutions, they will have to select me as their consultant"  -- I will
answer questions they ask about me and my experience, but the phone call is about them. 
6th. Usually by the time I send the proposal they have an idea of whether they want to move
forward with me. Depending on the size of the client, I'll do a face-to-face meeting. I would love
to do them for every client, but the constraints of traveling and the time/money/energy it goes
into personal meetings are not easy. 
Overall: I do not discuss pricing until the proposal which is usually the 3rd-4th communication
I've had with the client. I have marketing collateral that I will use when needed (usually just to
get them to jump on a call). After the questionnaire, I have enough ammo to provide a proposal,
but I use the phone call to really pull out the issues that were discussed in the questionnaire and
try to understand where that specific person is having issues. My proposal is where the magic
happens -- I take all the info I've collected and leverage it to provide an insightful, yet not-to-
specific, proposal that shows my direction, pricing, and the reason I'll make that individual's job
easier. 

I'm currently working on launching a freelance team and was just reviewing some of these
strategies for initial client discussions. I realize I haven't been able to implement these strategies
yet, so they may be for naught, but with my experience in customer service and the marketing
industry up until now, I expect (or at least hope) they they will be reasonably successful.
My partner and I don't have much in the way of a portfolio yet, so my hope is to start with almost
a Q&A session with the client. What are their intentions and expectations from me, and how will
I meet those expectations? Are there expectations that are beyond my scope? Having this
dynamic back-and-forth creates a partnership between myself and the client, recognizing who is
the expert in which areas. I plan to do research on the client's current state of marketing affairs, if
possible, and bring with me some case study material we can use as a baseline for where they
expect to end up after our contract obligations are over. 
I feel that using your contract as an outline for the discussion will also help. This will make the
details of the contract much easier to explain and will make the client more comfortable with
signing the agreement to move forward. 

Good Question Evan

I would focus on a couple of things;
1. Craft a success story in such a way that it will trigger their emotions and interest
2. Identify their pain points (shortcomings) and how it might relate to your success story
3. Study their industry and look for gaps to penetrate (people want actionable suggestions)
4. Discuss time frames on how long it might be to integrate the above as well as get results
5. Market share of anything related to their market position (competitor analysis). They hate their
competitors' achievements
E.g. Roughly 7 years ago, we crossed paths with an engineering firm to reach new prospects
online. At first inspection, they reached roughly 25 unique users per month. With a
comprehensive and actionable strategy, we've helped them boost it up to 230 unique users
reached on Social Media networks ALONE! 
The above states a problem they can resonate to, it paints the picture of their current efforts, it
reflects how the agency have helped them and you basically showing the tactics used (social
media marketing). Now they will be ready to listen to more details on how you can actual help
them succeed as much as you've helped the other business.
I hope the above pointers might fill your presentation and proposal to make it deliver a higher
impact.
Always try to differentiate your position, services, value proposition etc
I'll file my thoughts under your category of "Anything Else"
I've written two posts in the past week specifically about the first meeting with a prospective
client.
The first post is The 5 types of prospective clients: how to “read their mind” and deal with each
one. Over the years I've found that a successful first meeting hinges not on my "performing," but
on doing my best to understand the prospective client's mindset and true level of interest. I
profile 5 types of clients (ranked best to worst) and how to interact with each one:

1. The Sharp Professional

2. The Referral
3. The Obedient Employee
4. The Frantic
5. The Lazy

The second post I wrote is called Interrupting people and 6 other ways to rock your first meeting
with a prospective client. The first meeting with potential client can be really challenging. Each
prospective client has different levels of urgency, expectations and experiences with agencies.
Over the years I've found some basic ways to quickly establish rapport and as well as my firm's
expertise while still getting critical information out of the prospective client. Simple is better.
Give the client a good listening to, demonstrate expertise and come prepared with knowledge
and questions that provoke client thought and candid information.
Hope this helps. Ping me if I can be of any help.