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When should you be Honest with the Client?

June 17, 2019

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  May 1: “Dear Client, Sorry I can’t be online today because I am attending a ceremony for my son. Hope it is fine to skip the work today.” May 2: “Hi Client, I just woke up and will still prepare food for the family. I might be able to come online in an hour. Also, I will be out after that to run errands.” May 3: “Hi Client, Sorry but I just had an argument with my co-worker in the agency and it distracted me so I’m sorry for the mistakes I made to the tasks. “ May 4: “I really don’t like my co-worker at the agency, they are not very good to me. Anyway, I will try my best to finish the work today.” We are guided by the most common adage that says “Honesty is the best policy”. It holds true, especially when working virtually because you are in the position of building a relationship with someone who is located on the other side of the world. But how honest should you be with your clients? Do you think the “honest” statements above are what we mean by being honest? We’ve experienced having a VA who tells the client almost everything that she is doing. And it turned out that it is annoying for the client because clients don’t have time to take in the problems or concerns of their Vas. Yes, they may need some updates but not the eeny-teeny things that you do. In fact, they find it unprofessional when it seems like you are trying to chit-chat with them and not focus on work. It’s another thing, to be honest, to make sure that the client will not feel disrespected, but it’s also another thing when you sound like a child giving every detail of what’s happening to your mom – and to a client at that! So to set the records straight, let’s look at the possible situations when you need to be honest to your client:
  1. When you can’t meet a deadline or can’t make it to the scheduled meeting, let the client know in advance so that expectations are managed. Don’t just disappear.
  2. Match the amount of work or quality of work with your report. Don’t say “this has been done” or “these are my findings” when there is really no proof of the work done.
  3. If you use time tracking, match the tracked hours with the volume of work done. Don’t charge 2 hours for work done in only 30 minutes.
  4. When applying for a job, don’t oversell yourself. The proof that you are that good is when you actually deliver quality output on time. So unless you have the opportunity to show what you can do, don’t boast about what you can do yet. Just show it!
  5. It is better not to promise. This is the safest way of being honest. Don’t promise, especially when you are unsure if you can actually keep it. Just say you will try or do your best.
There are probably other situations where honesty is tested. But the essence of it all is that you should manage expectations at all times. As a virtual assistant, you need to go beyond what is expected of you and also be able to manage the common expectations from the client like the schedules, the deadlines and the quality of the deliverables.   So telling the small happenings in your life may sound “honest” but actually it is not always helping the relationship. Clients don’t want to add more worry to their lives and be bombarded by information about your life that sounds like you are unable to do the work. Simply, just manage their expectations in a realistic and honest way, do the best you can to meet the expectations and be professional in the way you communicate with them.  

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