What Virtual Assistants Love and Hate About Clients? (Part 2)
Working with clients is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a virtual assistant, but not every client relationship is easy. This article explores six challenging client types, from indecisive decision-makers and last-minute task assigners to disappearing clients and excessive micromanagers. Discover practical strategies for setting boundaries, managing expectations, improving communication, and building healthier, more productive client relationships.
My idle musings the other day over that framed inscription, “treat your clients the way you’d like to be treated,” made me wonder whether a virtual assistant who has made it a rule to follow this pattern has instantly made a turn on a two-way road where clients are racing headlong towards their virtual helper. Chances are, a virtual assistant has chosen a rough ride or even taken a risk to hit a dead end. Suppose your clients wish to be treated well; then you are lucky to meet them halfway, and how lucky you are, we discussed in a previous post.
But there is another category of clients that gives a virtual assistant a hard time and makes it extremely tough to meet them halfway. For this reason, virtual assistants need to exert themselves and treat such clients as if they were the best of humans, but waiting until those walls tumble down and these customers turn into your great experiences is a lost cause.
Who are they and how do we deal with them?
Those who expect to be treated even better
They have never considered how to treat a Virtual Assistant the way they prefer. They may also define being treated well in an eccentric, personal way.
On the way back to the office, memories of my work with clients and my co-workers’ stories came flooding back, and I started mentally assigning customers into categories. From my observations, the following names fill this category.
1.Mr/Mrs. Constant Change of Heart
Inconsistent clients are your biggest time wasters, energy and strength sappers. Variety can boost motivation. However, clients who change their minds more often and faster than a speed reader are a turn-off. Nothing is more demotivating than finishing an ample scope of work. Hearing your client by phone or email about second thoughts or a different strategy is discouraging.
To avoid major course correction, I put everything on paper once the approach is chosen.
2.Mr/Mrs. T-3000
This one has totally lost track of time. Time is infinite for clients who act as a Prototype Series 3000 Terminator. Jason Clarke plays the character in Terminator: Genesis. They plaster you to the wall with numerous duties. They bury you under piles of work and drill into your head with “asap”. No one can bargain with it. No one can reason with it. It feels no pity, no remorse, or fear. It will absolutely not stop, ever, until you are dead. We can’t reason with it. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead”.
To break free from these shackles establish your working timetable, set deadlines, and share them with Mr/Mrs. T-3000 and hold on.
3.Mr/Mrs. Houdini
Named after a celebrated illusionist noted for his sensational escape and disappearing acts, these customers project this skill into their working style. They ping you on Skype, send you an email with one-sentence instructions, and 5 minutes later do not answer back when you ask to clarify certain issues or remind to set a deadline. Worst-case scenario: they disappear for weeks, and then they unleash an endless stream of tasks on you.
Customers like this won’t bend you out of shape if, from the very outset, you arrange scheduled calls, weekly status reports, and discuss the working process
4.Mr/Mrs. Puppeteer
A nightmare client holds your business hostage. Exactly, nightmare. Virtual assistants start seeing them in their nightmares as often as during their waking hours. Prepare to grow into your new role as a breathless, lifeless puppet in the hands of your puppet master. The puppeteer is not familiar with the concept of weekends, holidays, or small hours. Your client is your master who owns you and expects full obedience, loyalty, and servitude; be it day, night, weekend, public holiday, or otherwise, a thread will tear and leave you a jobless, useless wreck.
Well, don’t leave your life hanging by a thread by coordinating your working hours with customers.
5.Mr/Mrs. Jack Robinson
With Jack Robinson, you have definitely scored a Pyrrhic victory. They send you last-minute tasks and require you to finish them immediately, or they want them done yesterday. They believe that assigning work will complete it immediately. Do not hesitate to educate such customers, explain to them the meaning of the word impossible, and set a reasonable deadline.
6.Mr/Mrs. Money-puncher
You must decide whether you are willing to provide acts of charity for clients with temporarily limited funds. These clients always complain and keep asking to lower fees.
Things are, of course, different with budding businesses. However, do not fall into the trap of Mr/Mrs Pincher, who is struggling only in your eyes.
Did I miss something? Have you seen more? Share your experiences
