Oh gee, Oh gee, Oh gee, I'm meeting my first client

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So, in lieu of the fast-food job hunt looking like it was going to take well over 2 months to come to fruition in the local area (And because of the abdominally low wages), I've started a lawn-mowing business. As I'm notorious for making others feel "awkward" and other "normal people" tend to avoid me (Maybe because I'm dislikable though not it in an "enemy" kind of way, but I don't know about that one bus driver...) despite me "Just being me" (Which is polite most of the time, I think?), my other business partner is specializing in customer service and acts mainly as the social liaison between the customer and the business. However, it's clearly a me-and-him business and we have to meet up with the client today to evaluate his lawn and give him a quote, so I don't know how that's going to work out...

Ultimately, I will have to interact with the client and there's no way I can change who I fundamentally am within the next 2 hours, so I need to figure out the best way to act.

Should I speak loudly?
Should I speak humbly?
Should I stand erectly?
Should I speak confidently?
Should I speak boisterously?
Should I speak minimally?
Should I act enthusiastically?

I'm looking for the best set of characteristics for my interactions with the client, and I need to figure it out with my particularly thinking and verbal characteristics.

The reason why I'm bringing it up because I've noticed how the "subtle" things about body language and tonality can affect interactions, and sometimes it's contradicted my expectations. For example, as a guy who stands erectly and confidently without nervousness, I've noticed this tends to attract female attention. But, if you stand too erectly, guys tend to take it as threatening and display avoidant behavior so it's not universally "appropriate" as a guideline (Unless you want guys to avoid you -- this may not work for females), especially not in a team environment. So, I'm assuming this body language probably wouldn't be best for client interactions.

As far as tonality, I'm going with my "normal" (Which is obnoxious sounding?), but I wonder if there's something that'd be better to act with?

As far as speech patterns go, I'm assuming politeness would be ideal for me. I mean, I guess "neurotypical chumminess" would be better for most neurotypicals, but, haha, that communication style doesn't fit me... or, it doesn't fit me well. Well, maybe I'm kidding myself. *shrugs*

Wait..... You're a dude!

Whoa....

Thought you were female all this time.

Why not try humbly confident. IOW, put out the air that you know you can get the job done but don't be an ass about it.

You are interviewing for a lawn cutting service, NOT a COO position. The expectations of the people hiring you will be set pretty low.

Yup. I really don't your client is going to expect much of you. You are probably taking this much too seriously, although I have no doubt that I would too.

Agreed.

This is one of those things where doing a good job matters more than personal presentation. If you are on time, don't mow down the roses, clean up the clippings, and all around do good work for a reasonable price, you will have plenty of people using you.

Humble and enthusiastic. Confidence is good, but arrogance is not. Don't trash talk your competition. If you don't have an answer right away, it's ok to tell them you will get back to them. Always polite, even with difficult customers. If a customer asks you to do something extra and it only takes a few minutes, do it. If you can't make an appointment call the customer and let them know. If your customers like your work they will sell it to their friends for you.

Yes; they may peg you as eccentric, but that is okay. Doing a good job will go a long way. Businesslike is probably the best way to go about it. Make sure you know exactly what they want and where everything is. Communication for you in a lawn-mowing business would be mostly functional, getting the information you need, and then generally "thanks and have a nice day" stuff at the end when you leave.

You have a choice about how you behave? I'm amazed. Even if I'd decided on one approach in advance I'd still fall back into my normal persona.

I thought you were a software engineer. Or is this hypothetical?

I'm surprised you aren't in college or have a degree. Landscape maintenance can pay some good money, so it's not too bad. Ever think of painting houses? They make good money, sometimes, too. Glad you got a customer.


Not too loudly. Speak normally and pronounce words clearly but try to keep that working class, blue collar edge and don't sound uppity.

Somewhat, but don't grovel.

Stand up straight and look the customer in the eye

Without a doubt. You want to give the customer the impression you are a competent groundskeeper

Be enthusiastic, but don't overdue it.

Be chatty. I just had a contractor give me an estimate on vinyl siding, and he was really super chatty and talked about the tornadoes and the latest going on. He seemed friendlier that way. You have to learn to tell if the customer is tired of the conversation, though, and gracefully give them the opportunity to back out of the conversation when they look bored or if they have something they need to do. This is the hard part.

Oh yagh. Sure. You want to sound happy about mowing.

Yep, normal tone is great. Be respectful, be courteous and do a excellent job mowing and you'll do fine. Always be on time on the day you say you will mow. This is very important. People hate it when others are late for stuff. So be prompt, and friendly and wear deodorant and you should make a marvelous impression.


Politeness is very important, so is tone modulation. Don't yell at them by mistake. Sometimes, I can talk loudly, People might feel intimidated by that so try to be cognizant of that.

I'm sure you will have mucho success, Bluto - and happy MDW, too

Did it go well for you, today?

I'm currently in college studying computer science and I do have experience designing and building software (Open source at this point with many satisfied users; I actually created an electric vehicle simulator that's widely used in the EV world.). However, at this point, it's not really realistic for me to pursue work in commercial software development due to RSI issues so, in my local market, I'm limited to lower paying work at the moment but I am adapting by creating voice-controlled programming software. By the time I graduate, I predict I'll be able to program by voice, and then I can possibly start a software company and sell that software (if the market seems viable), or work somewhere else in the tech industry.

Actually, tying into that EV interest of mine, it's actually an electric lawn mowing business and it's a part of the marketing angle. With my electronics and software experience, I'm going to create custom packs and electronics for the lawn-mowing business to make it commercially viable to be entirely electric. Also, the battery packs for the business can also be used for my personal use in my EVs, so the main expense will find two uses.

Anyways, it went well! We got one regular customer signed on and got contracted to eliminate this jungle of a yard, so it's looking positive at this point. Once I prove we're capable of working efficiently and with high of enough quality(And subsequently can keep customers and work economically...), I'll rapidly expand upto our working capacity through aggressive marketing. [There was actually a mix-up in addresses which caused us to miss an appointment and the customer called angrily and my "customer service representative" didn't exactly do a good job of handling the situation, so I had to call him back, profusely apologize and explain our error and then we rescheduled. So, I now have proven experience in calming an angry customer... over the phone.]

Does that mean I'm definitely NT? If females are the opposite of males, and autistics are considered the opposite of neurotypicals, and autism is thought to be a form of an "extreme male brain", would the "female brain" be the characterization of an average NT?



Thanks. We ended up securing both jobs at a pretty good rate (or so we think. Professionals probably would balk, but then again, we aren't looking to support a family too soon -- however, we do plan on maximizing productivity and efficiency like professionals in time, especially as we start nearing maximum working capacity.), so it's like expectations weren't exactly that high.

HUH??? WTF does being male have to do with being NT or not?????

I am female and apparently am also pretty ASD.

Glad to hear you landed the jobs.

LOL. I was just making a (what I thought was humorous) comparison between "extreme male brain" theory of autism and what would supposedly be an "extreme female brain" theory of neurotypical-ness, assuming analogical opposites are 'valid'. And, this whole "male brain" / "female brain" theory isn't directly linked to your sex, as it is more linked to your psychology. So, if my brain is apparently female because you, and many others, have thought I was female from my communication, then that must mean I'm NT, right? [/"friendly-teasing"]

http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/understa ... male_brain

I hadn't heard about the "extreme male brain" thing before, but there is lots to read about it. Don't know if I will bother though.

Dude! your cutting grass, as long as the customer agrees on the price just let the motor blade do the talking.