Top 10 VAluable Client Lessons Learned
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How to handle DIFFICULT CLIENTS? Top 10 VAluable Client Lessons Learned to guide you!
I am a Virtual Assistant (VA) currently based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, one of the main reasons why I've titled this lens VAluable Client Lessons Learned. Valuable in every sense, but VIRTUAL ASSISTANT VA-luable to me. As a sub-contractor, small business owner, and entrepreneur I cannot express enough to you how valuable it is to record and monitor lessons you learn from dealing with difficult clients, odd personality clients or ideal clients on a weekly basis.
It becomes a totally invaluable tool at the end of each year to reflect on your list of Valuable Client Lessons Learned, scan over them, think about the progress you've made, how much you've (and your business) grown. BUT most of all those INvaluable lessons learned are only VAluable if you implement them, if you put systems and procedures in place to address them!
Please note these lessons are numbered for ease of reading the ONE is not particularly or more important than the OTHER.
It becomes a totally invaluable tool at the end of each year to reflect on your list of Valuable Client Lessons Learned, scan over them, think about the progress you've made, how much you've (and your business) grown. BUT most of all those INvaluable lessons learned are only VAluable if you implement them, if you put systems and procedures in place to address them!
Please note these lessons are numbered for ease of reading the ONE is not particularly or more important than the OTHER.
Lesson #1: CLARITY is Power
As a Virtual Assistant (VA) in the Middle East and individual contractor my most valuable client lesson learned that I want to share with you is:***** clarity is power!
Clarity means saving both the client and the contractor precious, valuable time and money! There's no catch: if my client knows exactly what they want, when they want it, how they want it, and (sometimes) where they want it; well then I can perform autonomously and instantly.
Let's zoom in with those binoculars and have a close-up at that formula:
- NO Clarity = infinity # of time wasted + infinity # of money wasted!
- Clarity = LESS time spent + LESS money spent!
CLARITY is not only for dealing with clients. CLARITY is uber essential when setting:
clear, defined and detailed business (or personal) GOALS!
Lesson #2: One for ALL and ALL for one
One of the most import client lessons learned as a contractor:*****follow the procedures you've put in place for
ALL clients!
I took a client on that I know well, the person was reluctant to fill in my Interview Form, which is part of my Interview Process. So I decided to wave it, and convinced myself that this is a special case. And, I wanted to speed things along anyway.
And that dear reader are all fables!
1. There is NO such thing as a special case client, treat them ALL the same.
2. There is NO such thing as waving procedures to speed processes along.
You have put these policies and procedures in place for a bloody good, calculated reason. If the client has chosen you as their VA (or contractor), and s/he is serious about the job on hand: the client should play by your rules, follow your procedures, and time should be naturally of the essence!
It is damn hard to apply the one for ALL and ALL for one RULE when you do business with family/friends.
If you have to DO business with friends/family - both parties:
(1) need to communicate and identify the fine line between business and friendship;
(2) agree that the business side should be kept strictly professional and confidential.
Lesson #3: Keep things SIMPLE
Lesson #3 can save you copious amounts of time and money:*****SIMPLICITY is the pro-active, counter ammunition to kill confusement and inefficient time management!
Keep ALL things as straightforward and simple as possible. I was doing a very nice client a favour by liaising (outsourcing) services I do not provide. This favour almost turned into a nightmare.
Any situation that you do not have set guidelines or T&Cs in place for, can get extremely complicated, and propelled out of control!
Who has the authority to sign-off the sample, you or the client?
Who is paying the subcontractor, you or the client?
As a result of this lesson I now have a paragraph in my Contract stating, clearly, that outsourced work is 100% paid and approved by the client. How SIMPLE is that? If you are outsourcing any services, in other words you are the middleman overseeing the service, please make double-decker sure it is covered thoroughly and consistently in your T&Cs, ie Contracts, Invoices, Payment Terms, etc.
SIMPLICITY means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.
Dr Koichi Kawana
SIMPLICITY hinges as much on cutting nonessential features as on adding helpful ones.
Walter Bender
Lesson #4: TIME is MONEY - take care of the PROLONGATION clause
Man, was I eager to start my own business. My agreements and contracts were all in place, and ready to go.
BUT, I neglected to consider a paragraph re PROLONGATION in my Contract. And somehow you have to find the wrong client to open your little peepholes to the right stuff.
This client drove me up the wall due to inaction. What do I mean? Well, some people are not as organised as you are, they are not as eager as you are to complete the project. In fact, they are unenthusiastic; don't respond; on holiday; they have more important matters to attend to. So although they want something done, no evidence can be found that they are keen to get it done. BUT in the meantime they are totally thick-skinned as to how much of your time (and money) their wasting.
Remember, as much as the client wants a project done by a certain date, cover yourself, as you want it done too>, and you want to move onto other clients' needs and projects too.
If time be of ALL things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.
Benjamin Franklin
Lesson #5: Align with your IDEAL CLIENTS
I am first to admit the word IDEAL is quite vague and relative. BUT there is such a thing as an IDEAL Client. Deep down you wish ALL your clients were like him/her.
How can you find your *****IDEAL Client?
Start with a detailed Ideal Client PROFILE: age, gender, sexual preference, religion, passions, likes & dislikes (inc books, movies, etc), computer skills, occupation, address/suburb, etc. And always have this person you fitted precicely into a can, in the back of your mind. Target that market niche and as far as possible ALIGN with those types of clients.
I know it is easier said than done. And sometimes you NEED the money, and you are willing to suffer for that reason. But you have to ask yourself the question: Is it worth it in the long-term? Is it not far more worth it to spend your energy and time looking for the ideal client, that can become a long-term investment?
I was always under the impression ALL people are prospective clients as long as they want my service. That's unfortunately BS! This is what happened to me before I had an ideal client profile:
I ended up with a client that was totally computer-illiterate (nothing wrong with that).
Just to mention: ability to operate a computer and basic computer skills is actually one of the questions in my Interview Process, the one I waved (again, remember #2: One for ALL and ALL for one)!
As a Virtual Assistant (VA) it is unimaginable to have a client that do not know how to operate (basic skills) the three basic computer programs: Outlook, Word, Excel. Why? Well we are back to client lesson learned #1: clarity is time is money. A computer-illiterate client is extremely high-maintenance and eats time like PacMan.
So unless you offer computer tuition as one of your services, and you charge for the time that you explain HOW TO (x100 in some cases) it can work. Don't be cheap and sell yourself short just because you want or need a client:
(1) YOU have morals and values in terms of YOUR Ideal Client, stick to them!
(2) Align with ideal clients that makes business pleasure, not hardship!
I even have cultural preferences in terms of my ideal client.
And I am not xenophobic. BUT experience have proofed to me that certain cultures are prone to be slow to finish the job at hand, and even slower payers.
I prefer to deal with people that are self-motivated and does not choose to thrive in chaos!
Lesson #6: PLAN & PREDICT and you will not get caught
By planning an predicting OUTCOMES you can save yourself mega tons of time, energy and money.Conclusion - it is worth it to get your crystal ball out and put your clairvoyant hat on:
*****the (little) extra TIME spent to predict the OUTCOME and PLAN towards achieving the GOAL is priceless!
This lesson encompasses ALL the previous lessons learned:
(1) CLARITY is power;
(2) one for ALL and all for one;
(3) keep things SIMPLE;
(4) TIME is MONEY;
(5) align with IDEAL CLIENTS.
Once upon a time... I was in the giving spirit, it was my virtual business' first X-mas. I was very enthusiastic to promote new business by giving away several working hours to the first client that scored the highest in the X-mas Quiz. Jobs-a-goodin, a sound-as-a-pound marketing approach too!
Everybody loves a gift or an adorable coupon! BUT if you give it to a client with an outstanding balance, well, consider being challenged.
Yes, the T&Cs on the gift voucher stipulated clearly this voucher is not cash redeemable. I was challenged! The client DID argue the point. I stepped right on that slippery banana peel. Auch!
Lesson learned: I will NOT worm myself into such an awkward little hole again.
I was too fair and stubborn, and kept on arguing with myself But the person DID win the Quiz!. In this situation it should have been more important to have considered the practicality of my fair decision.
Moral of Lesson #6: PREDICT and PLAN and you will avoid or be prepared for complicated, costly situations and OUTCOMES before they arise!
Lesson #7: Be HONEST - communicate the RISKS
*****HONESTY should be top of your list in general, as it generates trust, credibility, and most of all establishes a LOYAL, valuable and long-term client/customer relationship.
When it comes to delivering a service or product ALL is definitely not black and white.
In some cases the client needs to be educated that the only guarantee at certain intervals of the project is NO-guarantee.
That a laissez faire approach will be followed: lets worry about it when we get there!
Some tasks (projects, assignments) will always be unpredictable, no matter how many times you've done it, it has a certain amount of mystery and risk.
But YOU know when and what risk(s) from experience, and from experience, you have tested several options and solutions and they all have different outcomes.
I've quoted a client previously 2 hours for a specific marketing research task, but due to inaction and vague information from my sources, and a seasonal factor I was surprised at how much deeper I had to dig!
I ended up spending 10 hours on the task. It is a very good client of mine, so instead of communicating the factors that were busy eating the hours, the reasons and possible solutions, I made the choice of keeping my mouth shut and swallow it (8 hours unpaid)! It is not fun to keep on being a machochist, you have to put measurements and T&Cs in place to warn the client of the existence of unpredictability and risk.
Accept the FACTS, and implement possible SOLUTIONS:
Fact #1 - In some cases you cannot accurately quote the hours for certain tasks, due to too many complicated and unpredictable factors out of your control.
Fact #2 - In such a case it is advisable to propose several options to your client.
Fact #3 - Be honest about each option's risk(s).
Fact #4 - Due to the risk involved inform your client that you will ie reassess the task (project, assignment) after a certain period (interval), mention specific possible (as far as you can predict) outcomes and solutions from experience.
Moral of Lesson #7 = Mark Twain's saying:
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember ANYTHING.
Lesson #8: Promise what you CAN deliver
We are back at Lesson Learned #7: HONESTY.(1) Don't promise what you CAN'T deliver.
(2) Promise what you *****CAN deliver
OR (better)
(3) Promise LESS than you can deliver!
I am working on it, but I tend to be a pleaser. It is both a negative and positive characteristic, and hard to find the balance.
Enough psychology, back to the lesson.
I use to always give a client rather a best case (good weather) estimate/quote because I want to reassure the client now/today that s/he will get a good deal (both re money and time). So in a way I am giving the client an estimate/quote from his/her perspective, I am ignoring my own (experience, knowledge) perspective, and this will eventually lead to major frustrations for myself!
Remember: clients will always push you for a shorter timeframe. Seldom (mostly not) have they done what they're asking you to do. They are unaware of the time and money involved to achieve a simple (or complicated) request. Always see it as your duty to educate them re the time and resources you will have to use to complete their request.
To promise what you CAN'T deliver can have two negative and damaging impacts on your business:
(1) Doing YOURSELF in - underestimating your quote (both time and money); as in lesson #6 you can sell yourself short due to being unrealistic; you will be the one who will suffer; having to forfeit unpaid work; trying to cope with an overload, neglecting other clients; but the client will be happy.
(2) Doing the CLIENT in - overestimating your quote; you are making promises re products/services you know in your heart you cannot deliver, OR to the standard the client is requesting; you end up with a very unhappy client that can ruin your reputation.
Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.
Edmund Burke
Lesson #9: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!
Probably THE most important lesson learned in dealing with clients. AND the most important component in keeping ANY relationship healthy and transparent, is:*****COMMUNICATION!
If you want to invest in property with a good resale value, the answer is: great LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
If you want a credible website that will bring in mega loads of click-traffic and rank well in the search engines result pages (SERPS), the answer is: great CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT!
If you want a happy client and build on a long-term retainer relationship, the answer is: efficient, regular and effective COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION!
If you do NOT communicate with your clients thoroughly, efficiently, and on a regular basis:
(1) you will NOT know what it is your client exactly wants (Lesson#1: Clarity is POWER),
(2) you will be OUT of sinc with your client and totally unprepared (Lesson #5: PREDICT and you will not get caught),
(3) you (and the client) will be CONFUSED as things can get far more complicated over a period of a week, rather than tackling issues and tasks on a daily basis (Lesson #3: Keep things SIMPLE).
Yeah, so maybe you've experienced that clients don't read your emails. But sometimes they do scan over it very quickly and it gives them reassurance to know what you are doing. So if you keep your updates and thoughts short (bullet lists) it creates a regular opportunity for both parties to agree or disagree AT or ON any point. And that will save you both (Lesson #4) TIME and MONEY!
When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.
Abraham Lincoln
Lesson #10: You CALL the shots!
When a client hire your (contractor, entrepreneur, small business owner) services OR buy your products, you are NOT that client's employee. No Jose!*****YOU call the SHOTS!
You are your own boss. If you are asked : What is your payment terms? You do NOT respond weakly: What is yours, I will just fall in with yours?'.
It is SO worth it to spend a lot of time on your Terms and Conditions (T&Cs), and stick to them (Lesson #2: One for ALL and ALL for one)! I spent endless amounts of time on mine initially, and in the beginning I really thought 'Man, you are wasting precious time!'. BUT each time something weird came up with a client, (in most cases) my T&Cs was already in place to cover for the unforeseen client lesson to be learned. So today I am extremely thankful for ALL that time I spent on the detail, consistency and thoroughness of my T&Cs.
You were an employee once upon a time. But you quit your day job, because you wanted the freedom of being your own boss. You had the guts to become a contractor, an entrepreneur, a small business owner! It is not an easy road. So if you call the shots: do it with pride and dignity!
If you don't drive your business, you will be driven out of business.
BC Forbes
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by express-va
express-va
Am a Virtual Assistant and freelance writer based in the Middle East. My express-VA motto: leave the micro-management to me and get on with macro-mana... more »
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