Loading ...A big shout-out to Ana Lucia Novak of CyberQueen for sharing this video with me.
Omigawd, how many of you Virtual Assistants out there can TOTALLY relate?! I love this video because it brilliantly illustrates exactly what is going on for so many business owners.
I know to some it may seem like I’m always complaining about clients, but that’s not the case at all. I personally have some of the most fabulous, wonderful clients in the world. They are an absolute joy to work with and know. And it’s all because of the simple fact that I don’t suffer any of the kind of clients portrayed in this video. They just don’t exist in my world because I don’t give them the time of day. As a result, I make great money and live a fabulous life.
However, it wasn’t always that way. Trust me, I’ve lived to learn and tell every about every stinking pothole you’ve ever found yourself in, LOL. And so I talk about this stuff because bad clients happen to good Virtual Assistants all the time, and I want to help them see how they can avoid becoming hostages to them.
(And just to be clear, I go to bat for clients as much as I do for Virtual Assistants. Good, honorable clients deserve no less than skilled, competent Virtual Assistants who know how to run their businesses and thereby provide clients with great service and value.)
The bad clients I talk about are exactly the ones portrayed in this video. They are the clients you don’t want to work with, who will literally steal your soul. I have zero sympathy or tolerance for them because at its core, what’s really going on with these people are that they are self-entitled, self-absorbed cheapskates who think the world revolves around them. They would have you treat yourself poorly and operate in detriment to your own personal or financial well-being so that they can profit at your expense or get something for free.
That’s not brotherly/sisterly love, much less a mutually respectful or equally beneficial relationship. That’s not caring about your fellow human being and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s a selfishness and soullessness that is at the root of so many problems in the world today. I have no use for folks like that and unlike the bleeding hearts who are probably busy as we speak twisting themselves into pretzels over the poor, poor clients who just can’t afford things, I refuse to make excuses for them. And it’s not your job to make excuses or allowances for them either.
8 Comments
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing this.
I can relate to the video completely! I have just invoiced my first VA client and got a reply “I think the time it took is excessive”. And asked for an explanation. Well, I did the job as quick as I could and billed her for only seven hours – which included duplicating and printing 40CDs and printing letters that I had to package and post to a list of clients. I am still waiting to be paid.
I know those people! They’ve all been my clients – in the past that is. Not today and not ever again. I don’t even entertain these guys any more. Thanks for sharing this Danielle.
Thank you for sharing this video and your thoughts. The video made me smile, seeing the excuses given in situations that people would never,ever think of trying to negotiate prices. Yet some clients and potential clients think nothing of trying to negotiate a service providers rates. We all need to remember these people don’t bat an eye at $20 for a pizza delivery.
I think everyone in business should watch this video, it’s an eye opener on both ends.
And for Alex who posted about the client who thought the time spent on a job being excessive, that’s the reason they hired you, if it had been quick and easy they would have done it themselves.
Excellent point, Tina!
Also, I saw your blog post and the lesson you shared is so incredibly valuable to other Virtual Assistants:
“What really made me sit up and notice is the fact that at times when I’ve had potential clients approach me with these type of ‘deals’, instead of reacting like the business people in the video and insisting upon the payment due, I’ve actually negotiated and made special exceptions. And I called it good customer service.
“The funny thing is, none of the folks I made special arrangements for ended up becoming regular clients. And I think now I know why. By allowing them to negotiate, I ended up de-valuing my services and the worth of what I do. Maybe it was unfair of them to think they could talk me into lowering my price, yet I made the ultimate choice to agree to them. I allowed their words to make me doubt what I know to be a fair market price on my services, skills and experience.”
Providing top of the line service never requires a service provider to lower their fee or negotiate their value. Learning how to employ value-billing methodologies helps providers avoid those scenarios entirely.
Oh this is so good and so bad on many levels. Bad because I know many business owners deal like this. You don’t want them as clients. Danielle is so right, you are a business owner, and deserve to profit and work with those clients who value and respect your services. From a marketing psychology perspective, it’s better to price higher, and be more exclusive – deliver value and command that respect!
Thank you for sharing. I’ve been lucky enough not to have had any of these people as clients, but really feel for those of you who have!!
An excellent post and the video is great. It highlights so clearly the craziness of letting clients bargain you down on price. I did this in my very early days and I quickly realised that these clients are always the ones that turn out to be the biggest pain. More importantly, as you get busier with clients paying your proper rate you just end up resenting the cheap work you are doing for others. Not a good place to be!