Being a virtual assistant can be a very rewarding career. You have the opportunity to work with clients across the country or around the world. You can choose to specialize in one specific area or offer a variety of virtual assistant services. With every job, though, comes tough situations. One of those tough situations can be clients that have little regard for a business contract. The question then is, “How do you handle these clients?” At VA Biz Lady, we recommend taking the following steps when trying to manage these difficult clients.
Clear Expectations
One of the best ways to prevent any conflicts with clients? Begin with clear expectations. It’s a great idea to have a business contract that clearly spells out what is expected of your client and what is expected of you. This should include:
- Rate of pay.
- Hours to be worked.
- Tasks to be completed.
- Methods of communication.
- Hours of business.
- And the like.
Be sure to add a section clearly explaining actions that will be taken if the contract guidelines are not followed.
Gentle Reminders
When any of the business contract guidelines are not followed, a gentle reminder should be quickly sent to your client. A polite email should do just fine, along with a copy of the contract language that refers to the action in question. As an overwhelmed business owner, they may have made a simple mistake. Many things can happen such as overlooking your business hours and forgetting to pay an invoice. Most of the time it only takes a quick email to remind them and they’ll respond right away.
Firm Boundaries
Unfortunately, there are times when gentle reminders, no matter how many you send, are simply not followed. At this point, you’ll need to take the next step which is to send a firm, yet polite email, stating the following:
- Action/actions in question.
- The number of emails sent and on what dates they were sent.
- Copy of the business contract language describing the consequences if the contract is not followed.
- Actions that need to take place in order to follow the contract.
- A clear deadline for when these actions should be completed.
Polite Dismissal
The time may come when you need to take a more permanent action with a client. Quite honestly, if they are not paying invoices or are contacting you all hours of the day or night, it will be a blessing to dismiss them. If the deadline has arrived and they have not adhered to your requests, simply send a simple, polite email stating details of their dismissal. You should include items such as:
- Reason for dismissal.
- Shortlist of all reminder emails that were sent.
- The date the dismissal is permanent.
- Any contract stipulations, such as “no refunds” or “no access to work already completed”.
Be sure to thank them for their business and wish them the best. It’s very important that you do not burn any bridges during this step. We know you are frustrated, confused, angry, and probably even a little hurt. Although this client did not work out, he or she may recommend you to their colleagues, especially if you handled this difficult situation with grace and poise.
Free Resources
At VA Biz Lady, our priority is to assist you in your own online business journey. We do this by providing several resources such as affordable website hosting, WordPress training videos, and free business forms that can be easily customized to your own virtual business. For any questions, email us at vabizlady@gmail.com. We look forward to serving you!