Find Your Ideal Virtual Assistant Client

Before you decide to take on a new client for your virtual assistant business, you will want to assess whether or not this is an appropriate client for your business. If the client does not have reasonable expectations about the services you can provide, or you do not have the skills the client needs, it is better to refer the client to another professional better suited for them.

Before working with a new client, you will want to conduct a brief interview. A good practice for virtual assistants is to offer a free consultation. The purpose of the consultation is to learn as much as possible about the potential client and their business. Assess what their business service needs are and what services they are looking to outsource to a virtual assistant. Just as you would conduct an interview before accepting a job, you need to interview clients before deciding to form a long-term business relationship.

Take the lead during the client interview. You will impress a potential client if you are confident and take charge of the initial consultation process. Many clients are not fully aware of what a virtual assistant is and what they can do for them. The client may not even know what questions to ask and will be quite relieved when you lead the process. You will also need to stay in charge of the initial client consultation to ensure you obtain the necessary information in a timely fashion. There are many people who will talk excessively and may stray from the topic. You will be surprised how quickly your 30 minute consultation can go by. You don't want to take too much time that can detract from other duties and you don't want to run out of time before you have gathered all of the necessary information.

The client consultation process is not something you will want to just do without some planning in advance, particularly when you are just starting your virtual assistant business.

A good practice is to have the questions you will ask a potential client planned and written down in advance. You can have a little script written down to guide you as you go through the phone call, but remember to be flexible as every call will be unique.

Have an idea in mind of what your ideal client is so that you are screening this potential client according to your business goals. You will not be the best virtual assistant to every client and need to be clear as to your skills and service offerings. There are also some clients that just are not a good fit for any virtual assistant and you will want to ascertain that before you start working with them.

Take some time to think about what your ideal client will be and what questions you need to ask before you start your first consultation. There is an excellent client consultation form you can use and adapt to your business to help you get started.

It is a good idea to have a form on your website that potential clients can fill out when scheduling a consultation with you so you can do some research before your first conversation.

Information you will want to collect:   

• Business name, name of main contact person

   
• Phone number

   
• Email address

   
• Website address

   
• Brief description of the type of business

Take a look at their website before your consultation so that you have a pretty good understanding of their business beforehand. This will help save time during the phone call and will present you as a well-prepared professional who knows how to conduct business. Just as you would look up a website before a job interview, you are preparing to work in partnership with this business and want to be as knowledgeable as possible about that business before your consultation.

The Virtual Assistant consultation and assessment is the best way to determine if a potential client is suitable for your virtual assistant business. Be prepared in advance, learn to conduct a good interview and you will build a business you enjoy with clients you enjoy working with.