Move at the Speed the Client Decides

Imagine a family photographer named Corin Wexley whose first meetings all run the same way. She spends an hour at the client’s house with her albums, asking about the family. Two days later, she emails a proposal with the price. A week after that, she calls.

In November, Mr. Sorensen asks her to his house. He has seen the portrait she took of his sister’s family. Before Corin has her albums out, he says, “The whole family, 11 people, here, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. What does it cost, and do you have the date?”

Corin has a good hour planned, and she does not want to rush it. “Let me show you how I work first,” she says. She goes through two albums and asks about each grandchild. Mr. Sorensen says the albums are lovely, and he asks again what it costs. “I’ll send you everything on Wednesday,” Corin says. On Tuesday, he writes that he has booked a photographer who gave him a price on the phone.

Suppose instead that Corin hears the question and answers it. “The date is free. For 11 people at the house, it’s $6,500, with a framed print and the full set of photos.” Then she asks the one question the session needs. “Is anyone in the family hard to get in front of a camera?”

Mr. Sorensen laughs. “My father. He’ll want to be done by lunch.” Corin says she will start at ten and take his photos first. Mr. Sorensen pays the deposit before she leaves. The meeting takes 20 minutes.

The next week, Corin meets Mrs. Quint, who wants a portrait of her parents for their 50th anniversary. She and her two brothers are paying for it together. Mrs. Quint asks to see more albums. She asks what happens if her father is tired on the day. “I’m not even sure what we want,” she says. “And I can’t decide anything until I’ve talked to my brothers.”

Corin does not ask for a deposit. She answers each question in full, and she says what she would do. “I’d take the photos in their garden, late in the afternoon, with the roses behind them.” Then she says, “I’ll send you a page tonight that you can forward to your brothers. Could I come back next Thursday at five to see the garden with all three of you?” The three of them book on that Thursday.

Corin brought the same care to both meetings. What changed was how fast she moved toward the decision. Mr. Sorensen knew what he wanted, so she gave him the price and the date at once. Mrs. Quint needed time and a talk with her brothers, so Corin made room for both.

What did not change was Corin. She asked the one question the session needed, even in 20 minutes. She still gave her opinion, even in a slow meeting.

In any conversation, it helps to match how fast a client gets to the point. In a sales meeting, a second speed matters too, which is how fast the client decides. Here is how to tell that speed, and how to match it without copying the client.

A Toronto broker moved fast for an investor, then wished he had slowed down for a seller

David Fleming is a real estate broker in Toronto who writes the Toronto Realty Blog. In September 2019, he wrote about two condos he sold on the same Tuesday. One went to “a very experienced investor, who didn’t need to see the unit, or include a condition in her offer.” The other sale was for a first-time seller.

The investor made her offer without seeing the condo. Fleming gives the four reasons she did. She knew the value, and she knew the unit was underpriced. She already owned a condo in the building, and she knew the purchase agreement “inside out.” So he moved at her speed. “This process was expedient, but not cavalier,” he writes.

The seller was selling for the first time. His condo sold with four offers, and the deal was done. Afterward, Fleming felt that he “could have explained the Agreement of Purchase & Sale in greater detail.” To Fleming, the agreement came down to a short list: “Price, deposit, closing, chattels/fixtures included, clauses, conditions.” Then he asks, “But in his mind? Perhaps there’s more.”

His rule for the two clients fits in one sentence. He writes that “if I take the same approach with both clients, then I’m making a dire mistake.”

The investor decided fast because she already knew what she needed to know. The seller needed more time with the agreement than Fleming gave him, and Fleming saw it only once the deal was done. So the quick client gets your speed, and the newer one gets your time.

“Not cavalier” is the other half. Moving fast for the investor did not mean moving carelessly.

A Rhode Island designer sets the length of each meeting by the client

Patti Watson runs Taste Design, an interior design firm in Middletown, Rhode Island, near Newport. In August 2024, she told Business of Home how her firm changes its process for each client. She said that “every client is going to synthesize information differently.” So her firm keeps a handful of ways to present information, “in order to help them feel confident in their decisions.”

The meetings change too. “Some clients need fewer meetings but really long work sessions; others don’t want to process that much information in one sitting,” Watson said. Some need more time with the firm and “a lot of mock-ups.” Her firm’s library of materials shows the same split. “Some clients walk into the library and feel overwhelmed. But others say, ‘Oh, this is like a candy store. Can I?’”

Clients also set the speed themselves. Watson said that “it’s quite often clients who raise their hand and say: ‘There are a lot of decisions here. I didn’t realize; let’s slow it down.’”

Watson was talking about clients who had already hired her firm. The step to a first sales meeting is the course’s own. Here is the step.

A client makes up their mind at their own speed, before they hire you as well as after. One client wants the whole plan in one long sitting. Another wants a little at a time, with more to look at. Watson builds her meetings around the client. A client who asks to slow down has told you their speed.

A Minneapolis designer learned that a client in a hurry may not have decided

Laura Ramsey Engler is an interior designer in Minneapolis with nearly 40 years in the trade. In 2018, she told Business of Home about seven kinds of clients she has learned to avoid. It took her “about a dozen years” of running her own firm to see them.

The first is the client “in a hot rush to have the first meeting, get the first output, order things.” She describes what goes wrong. “They don’t want to give the project and process its due, and ultimately don’t understand the effort involved.” Then she says how it often ends. “Often, they flit off in a new direction as quickly as they burst into our studio.”

A client who decides fast usually knows what they want and what the work takes. Engler’s client in a hot rush wants it done before they know what the work takes. Measured against this lesson, her sign is the part to keep.

Be brief with a client in a hurry, as with any quick client. Keep the steps the work needs, though, and say why each one is there. Engler chose to stop taking that client. The course’s suggestion is gentler. Tell the client which steps stay, and let them decide.

The signs of how fast a client decides

A client usually shows their speed early in a first meeting. Look for a few signs together:

• The client knows a lot before they arrive. They have seen your work, they know roughly what you charge, or they have hired someone in your trade before.
• The client’s first questions are about the price and the date. A careful client asks to see more, or asks what happens if something goes wrong.
• The client names someone else who has a say, such as a spouse, a brother, or an accountant. That usually means a slower decision.
• The client wants the whole plan at once, or a little at a time with room to think. Watson’s clients differ this way.

The list is the course’s own, drawn from Fleming and Watson, and here is the reason. Each sign shows how much the client still needs before they can decide. That might be facts, time, or another person’s word. A client who needs little decides fast.

These signs show from the start of the meeting. A client who starts quick and slows down after an hour of choices is a different case. That client is tired of deciding, while a careful client is careful from the first minute.

When the signs are mixed, ask the client how they like to decide. That is the course’s suggestion, because the client knows their own speed better than you can guess it. The question takes ten seconds.

What changes with the client’s speed, and what stays the same

The speed you match is how fast you move toward the decision. With a quick decider, give the price, what it includes, and the next step as soon as they ask. Offer to book the date before you leave. Leave the rest of your presentation in your bag, because more of it only gives the client something new to weigh.

With a careful client, show what they ask to see, and answer each question in full. Offer a second meeting with a date, and send a short summary they can show the person they will talk to. Do not ask for a decision that day. Many clients weigh a large decision and talk it over before they commit, so that time is part of how they decide.

The reason to match is the course’s own, and it is a short one. A quick decider who has to wait for your price has time to call someone else, as Mr. Sorensen did. A careful client who is hurried has to decide before they are ready, and the easiest answer is no. Unhurried means more time and more meetings, not slower speech. A slower pace on a single answer is its own habit, and it suits a quick client too.

What stays the same is you. Your price, your recommendation, and the steps the work needs do not change with the client’s speed. Matching a client’s speed is not copying the client.

Do not copy a quick client’s hurry by skipping the question the work needs. Corin asked about the father even in a 20-minute meeting. Do not copy a careful client’s doubt by keeping your opinion to yourself. Mrs. Quint was not sure what she wanted, and Corin still said where she would take the photos.

A client in a hurry needs someone who keeps track of the work. A client who is unsure needs someone who is sure.

Why copying a careful client’s doubt goes wrong

Imagine a music teacher named Lena Moravec who meets Mr. Farrow about piano lessons for his daughter, Iris, who is nine. Iris taught herself a few songs on her grandmother’s piano, and she asked for lessons. Mr. Farrow takes his time. He asks to sit in on a lesson, and he asks what happens if Iris loses interest by the spring. “I’m not sure she’s ready for proper lessons,” he says. “What do you think?”

Lena has learned to slow down for a careful parent, and she does not want to push. So she answers at his speed, and she sounds as unsure as he does. “It’s hard to say. Some children are ready at nine and some aren’t. Whatever feels right to you.” She tells him there is no rush, and to get in touch when he has decided.

Mr. Farrow thanks her. A month later, Iris starts lessons with a teacher at her school. Mr. Farrow tells his wife that Lena “didn’t seem sure either.”

Lena was right to slow down. Her mistake was copying Mr. Farrow’s doubt along with his speed. He asked what she thought, and she handed the question back to him. She also left no next step, so his time to decide had no end.

The version that works keeps the slow speed and gives the opinion. “I think she’s ready. She taught herself those songs, and she asked for lessons herself. Come and sit in on Saturday at ten, and decide after that.”

How to match the speed of a sales meeting to the client

1. Before a first meeting, write your next step two ways. The quick version gives the price, what it includes, and a start date. The unhurried version says what you will send and when you will meet again.
2. In the first minutes, look for a few signs of the client’s speed. Notice what they knew before they came, what they ask first, and who else has a say. If the signs are mixed, ask. For example, a caterer can ask, “Would you like to settle the menu today, or after you’ve talked it over at home?”
3. With a quick decider, give the price, what it includes, and the next step as soon as they ask. Then ask the one question the work cannot do without, and stop presenting. For example, a personal trainer can say, “Three mornings a week is $1,800 a month, and I can start Monday at seven. Do you have any injuries I should know about?”
4. With a careful client, show what they ask to see, and answer each question in full. Give your recommendation outright, with its reason. Then offer a second meeting with a date, and send a summary they can forward. For example, a personal stylist can say, “I’d start with the clothes for your trip to Milan in May. I’ll send you a page tonight, and we could go through it on Thursday at four.”
5. A client in a hurry may ask you to skip a step the work needs. Keep the step, and give the reason in one sentence. For example, a dog walker can say, “I meet every dog once before the first walk, so I know how he is with strangers. It takes 15 minutes, and I can do Thursday.”

Next: You will see how to mention a larger version of the work once a client is ready, without pressure.