Hasta La Ideas

Image: Paul Goyette

Are there any reliable signs that your potential client is someone you’d wanna work with? Well, Liz Danzico’s got you covered in her Hack2Work Special piece entitled “Check Please – How to Learn About Your Clients From Their Table Manners.” It’s got lots of helpful hints, but here is our fave, of course:

3. The Paradox of Choice. If there is to be alcohol (and there may not be, in which case, skip ahead to “4”), there are several ways drinks can unfold, depending on the client’s background, the attitude of the restaurant, or what sort of deal is on the table. Anything “on the rocks,” “straight up,” or even a classic cocktail is the cleanest. It suggests this person is focused on you, rather than spending time on the drinks menu. Perhaps there is a history with the drink, again suggesting a loyalty to a thing or a brand. You might say that alcohol may not be the best loyalty to have (and I see where you’re going with that), but consider a consistency with people, brands, and environments, and you have a strong potential client across the table from you. Wine is complex in its red/white, bottle/by the glass choices, but safe. Wine reveals a stable comfort with the meal and the relationship. Then of course, there is simply “beer” and “not beer.” Enough said. Most of all, you can be confident that if there’s cola alone at dinner, it’s clear this may not be a good client.

>> Read the rest of Liz’s piece here
>> Check out more more shortcuts & advice from Hack2Work: Essential Tips for the Design Professional

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