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Whose Fault Is It?

By Danielle Keister |
6 Comments

Can I vent a little? Do you mind?

More importantly, there are a few business lessons in this post for you as well (you know I’m always using these experiences as teaching moments, lol).

Whenever you promote something that (gasp) people have to actually pay for, you inevitably get a few unsubscribers from your mailing list.

No problem. This is a good thing. Never, ever worry about that.

Because you want those who begrudge you charging for your time, knowledge and expertise off your list. They just suck up space and create negative energy.

Who knows why they’re even on a business list in the first place because, um, business is about earning money after all. Or did they miss that memo?

I guess they should stop expecting clients to pay them as well, right? I mean, by their logic, we should all be doing everything for everyone for free all the time.

Oh wait, earning money and expecting to be paid only applies to them; everyone else is supposed to be giving to them for free. ;)

Anyway, I digress, lol.

Here’s what I really want to talk about…

So, I get this unsubscribe message from someone who writes about the ACA Industry Survey:

I shared confidential information for the questionnaire and was never offered a copy of the results. Sorry to go.

Here’s what I want you to know (because what a lot of these people like to do is turn around and badmouth you to others, mischaracterize things and spread incorrect information—or flat out lie):

  1. Our survey is confidential. We don’t know who you are when you complete the survey. You aren’t sharing anything “confidential” or personally identifying with anyone.
  2. If you have a problem with sharing your “confidential information,” why did you take the survey in the first place? You chose to take the survey, no one had a gun to your head. This is called personal responsibility.
  3. “Sorry to go.” That’s such passive aggressive bullshit. Because obviously, if you were genuinely and authentically sorry to go, you would have instead sent an email and made some polite inquiry. Business lesson: Don’t be disingenous. It’s not gracious. Get a backbone and tell the truth.
  4. I have no clue who the person writing is. She’s not someone who ever interacts or corresponds with me. I sort of get the impression she thinks I should know who she is, but here’s the thing. If you never open your mouth and speak to people on a regular basis (like on their blogs, forums, listservs, social networking, etc.), no one is going to remember you or know who you are. People can’t get to know, like, trust and remember you, much less build any kind of relationship with you, if you sit there like a bump on a log. (That’s another biz lesson, by the way.)
  5. I am always interested in making sure we do a good job and do what we say we will. So I went to investigate to see if I could piece together what may have happened. I put her name and email address into Aweber and she’s not on our current survey mailing list. Our survey page very clearly states (with several reminders throughout the process) that participants must sign up to the survey mailing list in order to get their free results report. If they fail to follow that step, they won’t get a copy. Simple as that. So, if it’s the current survey this person took, since she’s not on the mailing list, I can only assume that she didn’t complete the survey or the sign-up. Only you are responsible for your ability (or lack thereof) to follow directions or follow through.
  6. It occurred to me that maybe she was talking about a previous year and we archive those lists offline. So I went to the archives and was able to find her name and email—FROM OUR 2009 SURVEY LIST. So she’s waiting over 3 years to bring this to my attention now and wants to act like she was somehow wronged? Really?
  7. We keep meticulous records on this stuff, and our records show she was in fact sent an email from the mailing list back in 2010 with the download link to her free copy. If she didn’t download it, whose fault is that? Here’s how we do this: participants on the mailing list are sent an email with the link to download their free copy once the survey period is over and the report has been compiled. They are informed that they have X number of WEEKS (not days) to download their copy. They are told, in no uncertain terms, that the link will expire after that date and there will be no requests indulged after that point. We even send one or two courtesy reminders. The survey is a huge undertaking that takes a ton of time and energy. We have to automate and systemize in order to manage everything effectively and efficiently (another biz lesson). Plus, you have to keep in mind, this is a free service. It’s a big pain in the ass to be dealing with requests dribbling in the rest of the year from folks who didn’t follow directions in the first place. I and the people who help me in this endeavor have our own businesses to run and other things to do. We simply have to put these boundaries in place. So we spell out how things work, tell folks how to download their free report, give them a deadline with plenty of time to do so, and the rest is on them. If someone doesn’t  download their copy or report problems in a timely manner, that’s on them.

Remember, (here comes more biz savvy) business requires policies and procedures, standards and boundaries.

As Administrative Consultants, reading, paying attention and being able to follow directions and follow through in a timely manner is our stock in trade.

It doesn’t say anything good about your competence or abilities if you can’t do those things.

We all make mistakes; we’re all human. That’s okay. But own your own mistakes and failures and learn from them. Don’t blame others for them.

Dear Danielle: How Do I Market to a Target Audience I Have No Experience With Yet?

By Danielle Keister |
4 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I’ve been using your products to help me figure out my target market. In your materials, you encourage us to not be deterred by a niche just because we haven’t yet gained experience with it. So, the question I keep asking myself is how to confidently market my services that I know I’m adept at, but don’t yet have the concrete evidence to support such statements when meeting with potential clients. —Jayleen Hayden, Administrative Consultant

Hi, Jayleen :)

This is where the research phase of defining your target market comes in.

Your job, once you’ve determined (or are looking into serving) a particular target market is to STUDY UP and learn everything you can about that particular profession/field/industry. There are all kinds of ways you can do that (and you should do all of them!):

  • Use the Internet to learn more about that particular profession/field/industry.
  • Read books (buy some and/or check some out at the library)
  • Check out their industry journals and publications
  • Contact their industry professional associations and avail yourself of their information and resources (including TALKING to people there and asking for their thoughts and guidance on how you can learn more about their industry)
  • Create a free online survey and then shop it around in their industry networking forums, listservs, etc.
  • Call a few people in your chosen target market and conduct some telephone surveys/interviews.
  • Take someone in your desired target market out to lunch and pick their brain.
  • Join your target market’s forums and listservs and start asking questions.

Use your imagination and creativity! Any way you can think of to learn more about your target market is perfectly valid.

And what exactly do you want to know about your target market? Anything and everything; it’s all useful! But here’s a simple list to get you started:

  • You want a firm understanding of the work they do and how their businesses are commonly run.
  • What kind of overarching goals, dreams and desires do they have for their businesses (and their life)?
  • What are their common needs, goals and challenges in their businesses?
  • What kind of administrative work is involved in running their business?
  • How do they make their money?
  • Where are their stuck points? What kind of roadblocks keep them from moving forward (e.g., work they hate or don’t know how or don’t have time to do)?
  • Who are their clients? What kind of needs, goals and challenges do they have in supporting their clients or customers?

Value is always relative to the subject. Value is never something you can articulate in any general kind of way. This is why you always have to know who you’re talking to specifically in order to be able to articulate your value in a way that is going to be the most meaningful, relevant and compelling to that group.

When you don’t know who you’re talking to, this is when people default to talking about themselves and their businesses from their own limited and self-indulgent perspective—things that prospective clients are the least interested in, and which is the least client-centric.

Therefore, this background work in knowing and understanding your target market is vital in getting a grasp for and determining how and where your support will be most useful and meaningful to them. As you get the answers to these question, you begin to see where your support can fit in and help them in all kinds of ways:  running smoothly, keeping organized, moving forward, helping them become more streamlined, systemized and automated. It’s this thorough research and subsequent understanding that will help you show potential clients in your target market how you can truly help them.

When you’ve done your homework like this, it shows. It will show up in your marketing message because you’ll be able to relate your work specifically to your target market’s particular industry and their specific needs, goals and challenges. They will recognize that you understand their businesses and their challenges, and this will make your value more readily apparent to them.

When that’s the case, experience with a particular target market (or lack thereof) is never a roadblock. You’ll get that soon enough!

 

Dear Danielle: How Do I Get Over Blogging Writer’s Block

By Danielle Keister |
2 Comments

Dear Danielle:

There are so many things to consider in starting or re-starting a business, as I’m sure you know. At this point, there are so many different marketing avenues to promote our business and the industry as a whole.  Let me tell you, I am so excited about this up and coming ‘virtual’ profession.

One of the areas I was going to start off with again is a blog. And you are correct – sometimes it’s difficult to come up with ideas or topics to talk about. Frankly, sometimes I even think before I start to write ‘What could I possibly have to say that may make a difference in someone’s life?’ or ‘Do I really have anything to offer to benefit the VA industry – individually and as a whole?’

Do you have any suggestions on how to overcome this writer’s block or how to research what topics would be interesting to my peers and potential customers?

Oh, you know I do. ;)

My first bit of clarity for you is to stop thinking you need to write for your peers and the industry. You are wasting your business building time and energy.

I can’t tell you how many people I see and mentor who complain about not having clients and needing to get more clients–and then waste all their time and energy talking to and blogging for each other instead of their would-be clients!

You may have heard the phrase “wasted real estate” when experts talk about how business owners waste valuable website space with content that has nothing to do with anything when it comes to attracting clients and being of interest to them.

In the same way, you don’t need to be writing for your peers or for the industry. They are not your clients. If that’s what you’re doing, you’re wasting one of your most valuable pieces of marketing and networking “real estate.” If you are starting your business or trying to grow it and attract more clients and be of service to them, write your blog for them.

And my second bit of advice for getting over writer’s block is to get a target market.

(For those who don’t know, a target market is a specific field, industry or profession you focus your business support on.)

Of course you will be at a loss as to what to write about when you don’t know who you are talking to. When you try to write for anyone and everyone, you end up being interesting to no one.

This is yet another way having a target market helps you:  it gives you clarity, focus and direction. When you know who you are talking to, it’s easier to know or figure out what is going to be of value, use and interest to them. And this is what will help make your content far more interesting, useful and compelling.

A few other little blogging tips:

  • Make sure you have several ways for your target market to subscribe to your blog. First and foremost, use a service like Aweber which will help you build your list and automate the distribution of new post notifications to these subscribers. Make the subscription form your most prominent feature in your upper right sidebar (“above the fold”).
  • There will be people who prefer to subscribe by RSS or with things like Networked Blogs. Give them those options as well. However, if you are interested in building your list, you may want to feature those options less prominently.
  • Give your blog a title and/or tag line so that your target market knows instantly that your blog is especially for them.
  • Survey your subscribers periodically. Pick their brains. Ask them questions. Your blog isn’t just a way to connect with clients. It can also be an excellent research tool for getting to know them better and find out more about what their challenges and common goals and interests are in business–which is going to help you in your business and offerings to them as well as knowing what to write about for them.

Dear Danielle: Will Certification Make Me Look More Professional?

By Danielle Keister |
4 Comments

This question comes up frequently. And I often see  newcomers to the industry being preyed upon due to their mistaken belief that “certification will make me look more professional.”

The fact is, no one’s little piece of paper is going to make you look more professional. The only thing that will make you look more professional is by DEMONSTRATING your expertise and competence and skills in everything you do. That includes how your website looks, how you speak, your message, your business operations and processes. These are the things that make you look more professional.

In over 14 years of business, I have never once been asked by a client if I am certified. They simply do not care. Sadly, many people will waste their precious time and money on certifications that will have absolutely nothing to do with getting clients and whether they succeed or fail.

I’ve written about this topic extensively on my old blog and have just moved all these posts over to the new blog here under their own category called “Certification Is a Joke.”

If you are thinking about paying for certification in our industry, read the posts I’ve written on this subject first.

Dear Danielle: Client Wants to Do a Background Check on Me

By Danielle Keister |
5 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I have recently purchased a few of your items and love them. They have helped me tremendously! Thanks. :)

I have a question: I have done a couple of consultations and the client has asked if they could run a background check because they will be disclosing some bank and financial information to me. I have no problem with them doing this and can’t blame them for asking; however, I was wondering if you had heard of a service where I could get the background check for myself and just be able to send it to the clients when they ask for it? The main reason for this is that in the same way that they don’t want to hand over their banking info to me, I do not want to hand over my SS#, birth date, home address, etc.

Great question and thanks so much for asking. I don’t have any recommendations for you when it comes to background checks. Obviously, it’s everyone’s personal choice, but I highly discourage allowing clients to do personal background checks. Even if they themselves have honest intentions and are not some kind of shady character, if their computer or systems or office security are compromised somehow, that information can get leaked out in all kind of ways through no fault of their own. Having been a private investigator in a former life, this is a really bad idea for all kinds of reasons.

Plus, it’s just the wrong mindset to cater to. If you were an employee they were considering hiring, it might be appropriate, but this is a business relationship, not an employment one. A background check also doesn’t guarantee that someone can be trusted. There simply has to be a certain level of trust extended to each other or there isn’t room to do business together.

You didn’t say what kind of work you will be doing for them, but generally, trust in business is something that grows and is earned in stages. With some exceptions, of course, it’s very often not necessary to need that kind of sensitive client data right off the bat. You can let the relationship grow naturally as you continue working together over those first months and getting to know each other. As they see things progress and they get more comfortable, they will know the right time to share that information if and when it’s needed.

I do want you to think about this from a different perspective. Have a conversation with the client. What might really be going on behind their request? Do they simply have trust issues beyond what is reasonable? Is there something they aren’t seeing or feeling from you that they need to in order to feel more trusting?

There are all kinds of ways you can help instill trust and credibility without submitting to background checks:

  • Put your name and face on your website. People connect with people, not anonymous, nameless, faceless entities. This is one of the most potent, instant trust and rapport builders you can employ!
  • Put an address on your website. Not your home address, but some kind of mailing address as well as an email and contact number. This satisfies an emotional (not logical) need people have to see that you can be contacted in the “real” world if need be. It just gives them added assurance. When you don’t provide that info, they feel there is something to distrust.
  • If you are in the U.S., get an EIN number from the IRS (this is so that you don’t have to provide your SSN when you are an unincorporated sole proprietor), and then provide new clients with a completed IRS Form W-9.
  • Put a copy of your business license/registration in PDF format so you can provide that to clients as well. This shows that you are credible, legitimately registered business.
  • Have errors and omissions (E & O) insurance and provide a PDF copy of your certificate to new clients.
  • Provide a values/promise statement on your website. Tell clients that you have a feedback process instituted in your business and will solicit their input at regular intervals throughout the relationship. Let them know if they are ever unhappy, you encourage and welcome their feedback and will do everything in your power to rectify any unsatisfactory performance.
  • If you belong to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and have a spotless record, place your membership seal on your website (their code will link to your BBB profile where they can read your record for themselves).
  • Provide clients with testimonials on your website. Have a PDF list of clients who are happy to talk with your prospective clients about you and your work.

As you can see, there are all kinds of things you can and should be doing that will help new clients feel comfortable and safe with you. But do politely decline the background checks. It’s far too intrusive and just not the right place to start the relationship off.

Do you have others to add to the list? Please post in the comments!

Does Your Image Match?

By Danielle Keister |
4 Comments

So, I took the car into the shop for some routine maintenance. I go to a place I’ve been taking it to for the past couple years now. They are so awesome. The front desk staff is so friendly. Unlike lots of car shops, this one is actually clean and tidy. They give complimentary engine light checks if you have one come on. They’ll drive you home if it’s going to be awhile for your car. The mechanics are clean-cut, take time to explain things to you clearly, and don’t leer and drool at you if you’re a woman. (Ladies, you know what I’m taking about!)

Anyway, as I was waiting in the reception area for one of the guys to drive me back home, I was nosing around the business card table. This is a little spot where the shop owner lets his customers leave their business cards and flyers. I like to see who else is on the local independent business owner scene (indy businesses are my favorite!), and I came across a card that had me feeling so sorry for the owner.

You see, the biz card said it was a marketing business, but everything about the card loudly contradicted this and instead indicated that this wasn’t someone who understood marketing at all. The card was a stock template from Vistaprint I’ve seen a million times with “business cards are FREE at vistaprint.com” on the back. On the front, the font was so small I could barely make out the name of the biz owner. There was no website listed so I couldn’t go online to learn more about the business and what it offered. And the email was a gmail address.

You don’t have to be a great designer to be in the marketing business. BUT someone in the marketing business… that is, someone who really is an expert in marketing KNOWS (as this is one of the most basic things to understand) that image is everything. If you say you are an expert and professional, your marketing materials MUST demonstrate that. That being the case, this business owner who was supposedly in the marketing profession should have known to hire a designer to put together a proper and professional-looking business card.

So instead of a business that I would ever call for marketing, I get the impression that this isn’t a real expert at all. Now, maybe they really are an expert and really great. But as the only thing I have to judge them on right in front of me, their business card tells me otherwise.

I don’t know this business from Adam. As the first introduction and presentation of that business, their business card is a either a deal maker or a deal breaker. It’s either going to instill confidence in me that they are a successful, expert marketing business that I’d be interested in looking into further, or it’s going to tell me, either consciously or subconsciously, not to bother. And this goes for anything that represents your business–your website, your content, your brochures and cards, etc.

So why is a well-designed website important? Why do you need a properly designed logo? Why spend money on a designer when you have tools on your computer that you can use yourself? Because your business image tells a story to your prospective clients. It gives them clues as to whether you really are a successful professional who is expert at what you do or merely an amateur they shouldn’t waste money on. It helps them connect the dots and encourages them to take the next step (whether that’s going to your website or contacting you for a consultation).

If this biz owner really knew what he was doing, he would have a properly designed, original card–not a template and definitely not one that told the world he was too unsuccessful to afford to pay for his own business cards. He would have a website for people to go to so they could learn more. He would have some kind of offer or call to action on the card. He would use a proper email address on his own domain.

Image is everything people. Don’t skimp on yours.

Commanding Professional Fees

By Danielle Keister |
6 Comments

Finally getting around to reading Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Fascinating read.

Interesting anecdote:

“The economist Richard Thaler, in his 1985 Beer on the Beach study, showed that a thirsty sunbather would pay $2.65 for a beer delivered from a resort hotel, but only $1.50 for the same beer if it came from a shabby grocery store.”

How does this relate to your professional services business? They might be talking about beer, but it harkens to a fundamental truth in business: Image is everything.

What that means is that clients and customers are influenced by your professional image. They’re led to believe or make assumptions about how good (or bad) the service/skill/product is based on nothing more than the professional image that is presented. They directly correlate the quality of your skills, services and products with how things look. Very often, it’s the only thing they have on which to base their decisions, and it’s not entirely conscious.

This is especially true with professional services.

Clients can’t pick up and hold in their hand a “service” like they could with an actual product. A service is intangible. It’s invisible. Because of this, it can be argued that your professional image is even more important in a service-based business.

The look and feel of your website, your writing and communications, the experience of dealing with you–literally everything that prospective clients have any contact with–all make up your professional image. It’s going to be one of the most important ingredients in shaping clients’ perception of you and the value, quality and skill you help them believe and see demonstrated.

So, if you are trying to command the higher professional level fees you want and need, you have to “look the part.”

If you say you are worth $X a month, but your website and other marketing collateral look like the “shabby grocery store,” you’re going to have a hard time convincing anyone you’re worth it. Because you haven’t showed up dressing the part of the successful, competent, qualified expert. The incongruency between your words and the “environment” of all those things that make up your professional image will stop them.

Often, prospective clients don’t have any other way of judging how you might be better than the next professional who says the same thing. But when they see an image that backs up what you say you are about, you are giving them visual proof to believe you. The “environment” of that top-notch professional image sends a message of congruency and instills trust, credibility and confidence.

Your copy, too, is part of your professional image. If you write about yourself and your services in lowly terms, as if you are merely a peon or gopher and that the work is only “grunt” work, people will accordingly only view–and pay–you as such. If you don’t respect the work and understand its value and importance, clients won’t respect or value it either.

Your words also shape how clients treat you. So if you are wanting to command professional fees and be treated as an equal partner, a skilled professional with an expertise to share, you’ve got to also re-image your words. You aren’t some lowly peon. You are not a “generalist.” You are an expert and specialist in the art of administrative support and you have an expertise to share that truly does change the lives of your clients.

Dear Danielle: Is Virtual Assistant Certification Necessary?

By Danielle Keister |
4 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I have wanted to start my own Virtual Assistant business for a while now. I’ve been with the same large corporation for 12 years, some of that time spent in the Medical Law department, as a human resources assistant and about six years as an executive assistant juggling multiple managers. Prior to that, I worked from a woman’s home as her assistant as she ran her own company bringing in over $400,000 gross per year. I have the experience, I have the drive and motivation; I learn quickly; I’m resourceful; I am able to work independently and have a record of excellent customer service and problem solving skills. I am concerned that not having a Virtual Assistant certificate from a college may hinder client selection. From your experience, are degree-less Virtual Assistants making a living out there? Do you know of a legitimate online Virtual Assistant certification?

Fabulous! You have listed just about everything you need to start an administrative support business:  experience, drive, resourcefulness, ability to learn quickly and excellent customer service and problem-solving skills. The only other requirement is going to be excellent business sense. Because running a business and doing the work and taking care of clients are two completely different things.

I’ve written extensively on the subject of certification. You do not need anyone’s piece of paper to “certify” that you have the administrative expertise to offer your services. I say this as someone who has been in this business for over 14 years and never once been asked by a single client–ever–whether I was “certified” or not.

Most of the certification programs in our industry are a joke. I’ve even had colleagues go through some of these programs where the administrators themselves can’t spell, litter their correspondence with typos, and get their own exams wrong. There’s a proliferation of opportunists and exploiters out there who are just using these programs as personal sales vehicles and will certify anyone willing to pay. These “certifications” will have absolutely no influence or affect on your success or client attraction whatsoever.

Pay for skills training. Pay for business knowledge and education. Pay for products and services that have actual, practical value and use in your business. But when it comes to “certification,” save your money.

There is only one thing you need to prove to clients and that is done by simply demonstrating your qualifications, competence and service in all that you do. Your site, your messages, your writing and articles, your networking and interactions… every bit of it is an example and sampling for clients of your skills, expertise and professionalism.

When you demonstrate a professional level of expertise and competence, no one is going to ask you about certification. Those questions only come when prospective clients don’t see those things exampled on your website, your business image, your content and your communications. But when you do demonstrate those things in all those places, you instill credibility. You instill trust. They don’t need to ask because they already get that sense of your competence through all your displays of marketing, presentation and interaction.

No piece of paper will prove those things. And any certification you get becomes meaningless if you can’t demonstrate on a daily basis, in everything you do, the qualities that the certification is supposed to “prove.”

Here are some other posts I’ve written on the topic of certification that may be of interest to you:

http://www.administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/blog/2008/05/11/are-you-trying-too-hard/

http://www.administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/blog/2008/01/08/demonstrate-your-competence/

http://www.administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/blog/2007/10/10/dear-danielle-what-can-you-tell-me-about-credentialing/

It sounds like you’ve got all the qualifications and experience you need to open a business as an Administrative Consultant and offer professional level administrative support and expertise. Learning to be a good businessperson may take some additional skills and education, if you don’t have those already.

Don’t bother with certification, though. Just become a good student of business. Read business books. Find business mentors (formal or informal). Ask lots of questions. If you do take some kind of course, I highly recommend training and guides related to business management and marketing, not a certification course.

And don’t confuse skills training with certification. They are not the same thing.

Good luck to you and thanks for the great question! We need more highly skilled and competent people like you in our field!

Business Owners Don’t Provide Resumes

By Danielle Keister |
22 Comments

I wanted to focus today on another of the words to delete from your business vocabulary: resume.

Business owners don’t provide resumes. Employees do.

Here’s how to understand this stuff:

When you were an employee, the cover letter is what got your resume read. The resume is what landed you an interview. And the goal of the interview was to cinch the job.

But once you are in business, you need to use business terminology to set proper expectations and understandings in clients. When you use employment terminology and apply employee-minded ways to business situations, you confuse and miseducate your prospective clients about the nature of the relationship. It actually causes the kind of problems you live to regret later down the road.

In the business world, your marketing and networking become your “cover letter.” This is what lets your target market and prospective clients get to know, like and trust you, and leads them to your business website to learn more about you and how you can help them.

As a business, your entire website and other marketing collateral become your “resume.” This is what should be working toward educating qualified and interested would-be clients about how you can help them and lead them towards engaging with you further in a consultation.

And the consultation is what is used to learn more about the client, determine if and how you can help and that there’s a mutual fit of needs and interests, and ultimately decide whether or not to work together.

Here’s the visual:

THAT WAS THEN (EMPLOYEE)
Cover Letter > Resume/References > Interview > Job

THIS IS NOW (BUSINESS OWNER & ADMINISTRATIVE CONSULTANT)
Marketing/Networking > Website/Testimonials > Consultation > New Client!

Just because someone asks you for a resume, doesn’t mean you provide one. If you continue to indulge requests for resumes and references from clients, you have no one but yourself to blame when you keep getting clients who don’t extend you professional respect nor view the relationship in its proper context–namely, one of business owner and client.

Instead, steer them toward your website. In fact, you could even say something like, “Oh, my website is my business resume. It will give you all the information you need about the work I do/my company does, how I help clients and what kind of clients benefit most from working with me. There’s even a page where you can learn more about me personally, and I’ve included some words from some of my happy clients!”

You have to understand that many clients have been completely miseducated about the nature of our profession, the relationship and the work we do thanks to incorrect (and, frankly, idiotic) articles about our industry. When most of them ask for a resume, it really is because they think we are a sort of offsite, telecommuting employee.

The term “Virtual Assistant’” doesn’t help things either–when you call yourself an assistant, that’s exactly what people think you are. Go figure. ;)

Call yourself an Administrative Consultant instead and just see what a difference it makes in peoples’ demeanor and understandings. It’s like night and day!

Professional respect and understanding of the relationship are very important ingredients in shaping client perceptions, showing them how to treat you, and commanding professional fees. Insist on being treated as a professional. Use the right language to reinforce that expectation and understanding.

Ultimately, this is about providing superior service to clients. If you create misconceptions and confusion because you’ve used or allowed clients to continue using wrong terminology at the start of your business relationships, you make things more difficult for them in working with you because I guarantee you, it will cause problems and misunderstandings in the relationship in some form or fashion down the road.

Using correct terminology and engaging in business practices that subtly educate clients that you are a professional they hire for business, not employment, facilitates great working relationships.

Should There Be a Probationary Period?

By Danielle Keister |
10 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I’m wondering if I should offer a three-month probationary period to new clients to make sure we are a fit. Is this customary? Is it a good idea?

A probationary period for what? Are you applying for a job?

“Probationary periods” don’t have any place in a business relationship. Probationary periods are for employees. The term reveals someone who is thinking with employee mentality. But you’re not applying for a job. You’re running a business. Aren’t you?

Here’s how I would advise you to shift your thinking on this. First, the concept of a “probationary period” in your business is really akin to auditioning. And auditioning is obsequious. It portrays you as someone who doesn’t think of herself as a business equal with something of quality and value to offer.

It’s also narcissistic and condescending. Who are you to second-guess a client’s decision to work with you? It says to them, “I don’t think you are an adult who can be trusted to know whether the decision you made to work with me was a good choice or not so I’m going to patronizingly give you a few months to still decide.” You’re basically telling them they are too stupid to make their own decision and commitment.

Worse, it tells them to second-guess you… after you went to all the effort to let folks know that you are someone with something great to offer who can really help. It puts them in a “testing” frame of mind that actually delays the start of the “real” relationship.

And that’s just flat out stupid. You don’t need to be tested. You just need to get down to it.

Here’s how business works…

You study your target market. You get to know the people in it, how their businesses are run, what their challenges and objectives are and how your solution can fit into resolving those challenges and achieving those goals. So you put up a website that speaks to them and those things. You create compelling, resonate messaging and package your solutions in a way that is most attractive to them and draws them to you. You hang out and network where folks in your target market can be found and you have real, genuine conversations with them, allowing them to get to know you as a person while  getting a sense of your competence and expertise at the same time.

Eventually, someone with a need for your solution and who is attracted to you and what you have to offer will want to talk with you about working together. That’s where your consultation comes in. You might have one conversation, you might have more. After that, each of you are grownups who get to decide for yourselves whether there is a mutual fit or not.

And if there’s a mutual fit, you enter into a business relationship (that’s your contract) and begin working together. That’s it. But what you do is replace a “probationary period” with a clean and easy termination clause in your contract that allows either of you to end the business relationship with X amount of written notice (personally, I use 20 days notice).

Simple as that. There doesn’t need to be some irrelevant, drawn-out “probationary period.” At any point that the relationship becomes not a fit anymore, for either of you, for any reason, you can easily walk away according to the terms of the termination clause. It really doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

(By the way, all of the contracts in the Administrative Consultant Success Store include legal language for this.)

The only “auditioning” you should be doing after you have entered into your business contract/retained administrative support relationship is the continued competent demonstration of your skills and following through of the things you promised you could/would do for clients–basically, just doing good work. That is what will secure their desire to keep working together and growing the relationship.

And any client who truly is wishy-washy, can’t make a decision, and wants you to keep jumping through auditioning, probationary hoops is not one you can afford to waste your time and energy on. Next!

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