Why You Should Pre-Vet Your Consultation Calls

As a virtual assistant or online business manager, your consultation calls with potential clients are an essential element of the onboarding process. It’s the step that helps you determine if you are a good fit for each other and how you can help them in their business. It’s also where you can ask clarifying questions about what their business goals, needs, and budget are. Read on to learn why pre-vetting your consultation calls is a MUST in any service provider onboarding process. 

Why Should You Pre-Vet Your Consultation Calls?

As a business owner, your time is already so precious. Between growing and marketing your business, improving your systems, and serving your current clients, there is little time to spare. That’s why it’s so important to pre-vet your consultation calls, because the fact of the matter is, you won’t be a good fit for every potential client and vice versa.

Pre-vetting your consultation calls can help weed out some of those potential clients who are not a fit before wasting precious time getting on a call with them.  

How To Avoid Wasting Time On Consultation Calls

To avoid wasting time on consultation calls, you can implement a simple system for pre-vetting potential clients. 

Here’s what our process looks like:

⁠Develop a flushed-out questionnaire process. 

If a potential client isn't willing to spend 10 minutes filling out a questionnaire to help you understand their needs, they probably shouldn't be your client. ⁠

Discuss Budget. 

I know talking about money can feel awkward, especially with a potential client that you’re just connecting with, but it’s so important! If you're not in the client's budget, everyone is wasting their time. ⁠

⁠Follow an Agenda.

A consultation call shouldn't be a brain dump session for the potential client. We should be going into these calls with an agenda and a clear goal. The purpose of these calls is to be efficient and utilize the time to make a connection with our potential clients to understand their business the best we can. ⁠

⁠Not only does this help weed out those who might not be a good fit, but it helps us as the service providers understand the client's needs so we can discuss what actually matters to them on the call and how we can help them. ⁠

Systems and processes are all about saving time for everyone involved, including potential clients. There's no need to reinvent the wheel every single time. ⁠Create your questionnaire and consultation call agenda template, customize as needed, and re-use it every single time you go to pre-vet and hold a consultation call. Remember, running a successful business is all about working smarter, not harder! 

If you need help getting your onboarding systems and processes in place as you build your business, come join us in The Foundation, my self-study course for aspiring kick-ass virtual assistants!