Who's a Bad Client (For You)?

As a Virtual Assistant, it's just as important to know who you want to work with and who you want to stay from.

In this episode of The RocketGirl Show, I'll share my list of "stay-aways" to avoid these clients as you go.

TRANSCRIPT 

Hey, everybody. I'm Belinda Sandor, also known as RocketGirl. And today we're going to talk about what it takes to hire great clients and who is a bad client for you?

I want to talk about what makes a good client, but I want to spend more time on who is a bad client for you. And the reason that this is so important is twofold. One is that once you get clear on who they are, the bad clients, I think you're going to be able to identify the good clients much more quickly. And the things that are the red flags are often the things that we were able to see first.

So let's focus on who is a bad client. Now, the other day in the Facebook group, someone said to me who is your ideal client? And I thought about it for a minute, and I think the answer is going to surprise you. So this is who my ideal client is, a successful solo professional who's willing to invest in their business, who's clear that they need the support I offer. They're generally at least 45 years old. They're good, communicators, nice, respectful, and generous, which is very different from investment bankers or someone in a niche.

So my niche is really it's definitely solo professionals. But the other qualities of being able to afford, my work, of being generous, of being respectful. Those are the things the qualities of my ideal client that makes my day go so well. So you might be thinking about a specific industry, which could be important, but I want you to think about the quality of the person that you're going to let into your life and that you're going to be working with.

Okay, so let's talk about who's not a good client for me. The first one is people I need to convince, and it's really easy, especially in the beginning. We're thinking, oh, my gosh. If I can just say the right thing, they'll hire me. But it's like anything. If you need to convince them once, you're going to need to convince them over and over and over.

So you want people who are lining up to be with you who are really interested in a relationship with you. I had a situation actually today where there was a client who was all ready to go. I was really excited. And then he said, we just potentially lost our biggest client. I'm getting a little nervous about it, and I wanted to say something to him about this would be a good time to bring someone on. And I thought because I do think that it would be. It's not that I'm just trying to get hired. I think that if you wait for everything to be ready before you hire someone, it's never going to be ready.

But I thought, you know what? I'm not going to convince him, because if I try to convince him, he doesn't feel ready. And that's what's really important. So think about that. People who focus on my hourly rate for the majority of the conversation, and the reason that that is not great is because if they're focusing on that versus the value they're going to get by working with me, they probably can't afford me. And working with someone who probably can't afford you is really stressful, because what happens is they're always asking you, how long will it take? How long will that take?

Now I get that people have budgets. I have budgets when I work with people, and I want to understand what the value I'm going to get for the investment. Absolutely. But if someone is really focusing on that versus the relationship versus the work versus how I'm going to help them impact how their business works, that's not a good fit. Okay. Been there. By the way, all of these people who are not a good client for me, they might be a good client for you. And I've learned so here's one right now. People who don't work at their desk, now are at a desk. These people are they don't work at their desk for the majority of their time, right.

I had a client who installed floors. He worked out of a truck, not a good client for me because I could never get his attention. He was in his business too much. He wasn't working on it very much. And that's where I can really help. Another category, real estate agents. I've worked with five not a good fit. I can't get their attention. And again, they are so in their business that they are not spending any time. A lot of them, not everyone on their business.

Hello, Sherry. Good morning. You are always here. I love that, good for you. So people who don't work at a desk are not good for me. Now, that took me, I don't know, five years to figure out. But when I did, I thought, oh, yeah, that's what it is. It's the desk. I need them to be at their desk. Okay. People who want me to be part of a big team and attend a ton of meetings. The busier I get, the more I don't like this because they're getting paid by the hour. And then there's just wasting time. And I feel like I don't want to waste time. I don't want to just tread water.

There's so many things that I want to do and accomplish and impacts I want to make that for me to sit in a meeting a couple of times a week and not really need to be there. And just sort of while someone's pushing papers around is not a good place for me to be. Now meetings where I can make an impact, where I'm part of it, where I'm learning something or I'm contributing something. That's great.

But a lot of times in my past, I have found that it's mostly people who have bigger companies so it's not my ideal client and that it's not a solo professional. It's a company that's hired me. So that's why the very first thing I say in my ideal client that took me years to figure out is that solo professional versus a company. Okay.

This is really interesting. People who are referred to me by people I don't want to work with. There is a saying, birds of a feather flock together, and it's true. And what's so funny is it goes both ways, and I tried to make this wrong. There was one client who came to me and she needed my help. Potential client. And I don't like to work with people who are on fire. It's never good. It's better to start with a project where we can get to know each other a little bit and start off on the right foot instead of me stamping out a fire. It just doesn't really work out. And I've tested that many times as well.

So this woman comes and I'm thinking, okay, she was referred by this other person who I did not have a great experience with or were not really suited. But she was so desperate. And I am such a soft heart when I wasn't thinking. So I let her hire me. So I let her hire me. And not only was it a bad experience, she actually issued a chargeback and took back the money that she had paid me, even though I provided everything that she asked for. And so you really have to pay attention to that.

On the flip side, there's the person I was talking about a minute ago, he came from someone that I like, I respect, I trust. And so when he came from her completely different conversation because I could tell already, he was really a perfect fit because she's a perfect fit for me. So pay attention to that. I appreciate that. Sherry trying to get those gold Nuggets. Thank you.

And then the last thing, people who give off a bad vibe and you can generally tell pretty quickly if someone's talking over you or they're not really listening or you say something and you can tell they have no idea that they didn't get it. They totally didn't get it, because what happens sometimes is that people are thinking about what they're going to say next, and they're not really listening to what you're saying. And that is not a good fit for me as well. So what I want.

Hello. From the Philippines. Hello. Hello. Awesome. So what I'd like you to do is think about who's not a good client for you. And like I said, it'll take time to figure it out. It took me years to create this list, but the list helps me, because when I'm having a discovery call or a 30 minutes consultation and somebody fits one of these criteria, like if they don't work at a desk or if they're a real estate agent, I ask different questions I ask questions that will get us more clear about whether or not we're a good fit, because when we're first, Cam said it took trial and error for me, I think that's what it is. It is trial and error. I mean, not to pick on real estate agents, but the first one I worked with, I was like, okay, so that must have been me. The second one. I thought that must have been me. The third one. I thought, okay, hold on. What's happening here? And it took years to figure that out. So keep that in mind when you're talking to people and maybe just keep a little post it's next to your desk of the types of industries or qualities that a potential client brings, so that you can learn over time.

But to Cam's point, it is trial and error. I don't think there's any way to figure it out except having those experiences. And that's why every time a client leaves, who not leaves, we finish up. It's not like they're quitting. They bought 10 hours. That was all they really intended. But whenever someone doesn't continue with me and I didn't enjoy the experience either, I'll think back. What was it about them that I could have seen before we started working together? So that's a real thing. Is it all right if I work for an agency rather than having a VA business immediately? Sure. Absolutely. You can definitely do that.

The reason why I would suggest that you so there's a trade-off. If you work for an agency, you're going to make less money. You also don't need to look for the work, so you need to figure out what's better for you. But you can do that. Just make sure that you have a plan to reach your revenue target, the money you want to make. If you're working for an agency because you don't want to be super busy at a low rate and then not have time and space to look for other clients.

So it's a trade-off, and everyone's not suited for looking for clients. You know, some people just don't like to do that. And that's okay. Good morning, Kristine. Good morning of Sunshine there. All right, you guys, if you're not a member of my free online classroom, it's called The Virtual Assistant Connection. It's on Facebook. Please join me over there. We have tons of resources, tons of information, videos, and a huge community. 16,000 members all very happy, willing to help. And I'd love to have you over there. So join me on Facebook at The Virtual Assistant Connection. All right. Have a great rest of your day.

I'm Belinda Sandor, signing off until next time. Okay. Bye bye.