10 Sure Ways to Lose Clients If You're Not Careful

As a Virtual Assistant, I have definitely had my share of experiences that have taught me many valuable lessons in regards to communicating with clients. And of course, like many, I had to bump my head a few times before actually learning what it was I was doing wrong. But one of the most important things that I learned is that you have to make sure that you keep the communication between you and your clients as professional as possible. If not you will lose them and not only do you lose out on the money that you could have been making, but you also have your reputation to start worrying about. Here are some of the most common ways that you can scare away clients:

1. Hearing children and animals in the background during a call.

This is not only one of the rudest things that you can do to a client, but it is very unprofessional. If a client gets the slightest sense that your work is unprofessional, they will not hesitate to go elsewhere. But would you blame them? If you called a professional and you could her a baby crying in the back ground, her husband calling her name, and the family dog constantly barking would you feel comfortable working with that person? The answer is not, so don't do that to your client.

2. Using Sarcasm.

You have to remember that everyone's sense of humor will not be like yours, therefore it is a definite no no to use sarcasm. People have different perceptions, and sarcasm can be perceived as rude, distasteful, and very offensive. And the last thing you want to do is offend a customers. That's just opening a can of worms.

3. Playing the "Blame Game"

Faulting a client for a mistake or error is an action that will cause a definite war between you and the client. You should never place blame on a client even if the mistake is their fault. The best thing to do is understand where the mistake is and offer the best solution to fix it. Always keep it professional or you will regret it if you don't.

4. Talking & Eating

There is nothing more rude and annoying that a person eating food while talking on the phone. Can you imaging calling the Cable company and a woman gets on the telephone crunching potato chips? If you are anything like me, you would lose your mind! You should never eat while working. Blocks of time should be scheduled especially for lunches and breaks.

5. Not being available during your normal business hours.

Not being available when you are supposed to be will cause an uproar with your clients and it will scare away any potential clients. How? Client's love to talk, especially when they have had a bad experience with a company. You will find reviews and opinions and reviews on websites, blogs, etc. And you don't want that because they don't go away. That can be a big hit to your credibility.

6. Impressing you clients by over promising.

It is true what they say "It is better to Under Promise and Over Achieve, than to Over Promise and Under Achieve." Everyone gets excited when they start to get new clients and they try to impress clients by over promising. You will run into a lot of problems doing this. It's best that you focus on what your client needs, make sure you don't promise anything extra, and if possible make the result better than the client expected.

7. Leaving a client's information unsecured.

When a client contracts you to do a job, he/she is only doing so because they feel you are qualified to do the job and they trust you. If you break that trust by leaving a clients information or confidential files unsecured not only are you risking loosing that client, but you should also be worried about the legalities of it because you could be breaking a law. So always make sure that your client's info and files are secure at all times.

8. Using out-of-date equipment.

Clients contract you to do a job with the latest equipment, or at least equipment that can get the job done. The worse thing you can say to a client is "I'm sorry my computer is not compatible," or "I don't have the latest version of...." Having updated equipment is a MUST!

9. Gossiping with clients.

After you have worked with a client for a certain period of time, you get comfortable. But don't get comfortable enough to begin gossiping. It not only makes you look bad to the client that you are speaking to, but it is unprofessional and can get you into a lot of trouble.

10. Failing to return a client's call.

If you fail to return calls, this is a very bad move on your part because you can hurt your credibility by doing this along with losing money. When running a business, you should always contact or return calls in a timely manner. If you don't they won't have a problem moving on to the next professional.