I met with a potential client the other day and knew, even before I was able to sit down with him, that it wouldn’t work out. I arrived about 15 minutes early and had to wait for him to finish with a customer. I could hear him speaking with this person and from his demeanor and inflection in his voice I knew that he would be an extremely demanding person. Now, I don’t have a problem with someone having demands about their business. However, I do have concerns about someone who will be yelling them to me and possible treating me as an employee instead of a partner in the success of their business.
It is hard to avoid the temptation to work with anyone and everyone who might need, and want, our services. But, if you take the time to really look at what works best for you and study past business relationships you will create your “ideal” client mold. It will also keep you focused on connecting with the right people and building on those connections to solidify and maintain strong VA/Client relationships.
Knowing who will “fit” in with your ideal client is paramount to the success of any VA/Client relationship. You should be able to know if a potential client will be a good “fit” for this relationship within the first 5 minutes of the conversation. Having conducted much study on the VA industry and performing a consultation, this is one area where being unsure can be a complete detriment to the new business relationship.
So, take a moment to really understand what it is you’re looking for and you will find it.