by: Naomi Skarzinski

I have built a practice I consider quite successful. Part of that success is the fact I have chosen to work with some absolutely fabulous clients. Of course, it took some trial and error on finding the right clients. The biggest lesson I learned was to avoid the clients who came to the table waving a humongous red flag.

No matter what service business you are in, there are a couple areas you need to have established before you will be able to accurately hone in and avoid the red flag waving client. First, you must have an ideal client profile. Try and make this as detailed as possible to fit your business and personality. Some things you might want to think about when developing an ideal client profile are:

• What type of personality do you get along with the most?

• What are your requirements about communication style and consistency?

• Do you want to work with someone in a fast paced environment or a slow laid back environment?

• Do you want to work with someone in an extremely formal environment or an informal environment?

• Do you have an age range, gender, or income level with which you prefer working?

• How do you want conflict to be handled?

• Do you have any specific industries in which you enjoy working?

Second, you must have your boundaries set in place. What are you willing or not willing to accept within the structure of your business? Where are you willing or not willing to be flexible?
Once you have these areas set, then you will be able to start avoiding the red flag waving clients.

Here are my red flags to avoid.

• Potential clients who miss two interview appointments, agreed upon deadlines, and promises. Think about it. If potential clients are truly interested in working with you, they would keep their interviews and not have a problem completing any prerequisite work. If they miss two interviews (one missed interview is okay because stuff happens), tell you they will have your prerequisite material to you on a specific date and keep moving the date (prerequisite examples: preliminary interview questions, Client Welcome Package), what do you think your partnership is going to be like? The potential clients will never hand anything over to you on time. It will probably all come in at the last minute. If the potential clients can’t honor your time, or their commitments to you, then do you think they are going to pay you on time?

• Potential clients who keep talking about how they don’t have any money and are just scrapping by. You are doing potential clients a disservice if you take them on. They need to feel secure and confident in their partnership with you and not be thinking about money. Rather, they should be thinking about the value they will receive by partnering with you. If they cannot focus on the value, then their focus is in the wrong place.

• Potential clients who want to negotiate your rate or complain about the cost, stating you are too expensive. The reasons to avoid these potential clients are the same as the above bullet. If they cannot focus on the value, then their focus is in the wrong place.

• Potential clients who only have negative things to say about everything. This should be very straight forward. Who in the world wants to partner with individuals who are completely negative, so negative they only see the glass as bone dry empty! If you go into partnership with these individuals, you will never be able to satisfy them.

• Potential clients who indicate they have already gone through several service professionals and have not been satisfied. Find out how long they gave the partnership time to work. I can’t tell you how many individuals have told me 30 days. If your service business is based on long-term partnerships, you and I both know it takes longer than 30 days to develop a strong, trusting, and powerful relationship. If you go into a working relationship with these individuals, you can pretty much guarantee the partnership will be over in 30-60 days.

• Potential clients who do not listen. You will be able to tell they are not listening when they repeatedly ask the same question over and over. If they are asking the same question over and over, this is a good indication their communications with you will quickly become tiresome. Life is much easier when you can work with clients who you can answer a question 1-3 times before they understand. Having to answer the same question 6-10 times can become quite exasperating.

There you have it, some of the major red flags to look for when interviewing a potential client.

These flags apply to almost all service businesses, with maybe a tweak here or there.
Important: If a potential client has these major red flags, don’t waste your time trying to convince them, change their opinion, have them look at it a different way, etc. Your time is valuable and you don’t need to waste it. These individuals spent a long time developing their major red flags and they probably are not going to want to give them up. They may be the ideal client for someone else; however, they are not right for you.

During the interview process, be honest and up front about what your expectations are from the partnership. Don’t beat about the bush. Let potential clients know your requirements for communications and how you will work during your partnership. If you should ever have the need to say no to the partnership, you will have the foundation laid upon which you can stand.

Copyright 2005 Naomi Skarzinski and Top Shelf VA Services.

Top Shelf VA Services is a virtual assistant administrative support service that collaborates with successful and professional small businesses, providing first rate assistance for a virtual world of difference! To sign up for her free Top Shelf Virtual Report!, visit http://www.topshelfva.com.