Q. I had a question about your experience with face to face meetings, or lack of them, with new clients. Has it been a hindrance when you are too far away to meet clients face to face, in terms of landing them, or, is it just more crucial to have a good portfolio, and good phone skills to get your point across?
A. My experience has been overwhelmingly with local clients. I have had plenty of remote clients over the years, and as time has gone on, the distance factor has become increasingly less important to clients. Even with my local clients, I do less and less face-to-face work, and so, for all intents and purposes, for those clients, I could be in Fiji for they know or care. I think you’re right on target in assuming that for most clients, it’s the ability to get the job done – your fundamental competence as evidenced by your portfolio, testimonials from satisfied clients, your phone skills, and your ability to jump quickly into new projects, and get up to speed fast and work autonomously, that will carry the day. And realize that the whole remote client thing is a self-selecting process. If you do a bunch of marketing to remote clients, those for whom your lack of geographic proximity is an issue simply won’t respond. Those for whom it’s a non-issue will.