Hello my virtual family,

I’ve been thinking; now this has not happened to me but I’m just curious. Has anyone ever had a to work with someone who, you would personally just never really want to deal with again, and then have that person turn around and ask you for a reference. I’m speaking from a business stand point (i.e. a bad client with a poor payment record, or a temperamental client and/or assistant) those you may have had a bad or sour professional experience with. Like I said, I’m just curious as to how you would handle it?

__________________
Katrina
KRB Administrative Resources, LLC

I've been through that Katrina. The only way to handle the situation as I did, maintain being professional. There's way to deal with clients in that manner and do it professionally. After all they are still clients. Now for now non-paying clients, I'm still figuring how to get around that. You know like collections. So far I haven't cross that road with a non-paying client. I'm sure it will happen I just hope by the time I do have to cross it or it cross me, I'll be prepared to start collections.

Good luck!

__________________
Angela Rogers
Administrative Business Solutions

Interesting question - so you're asking how I would 'get out of' a testimonial or referal for a client or VA who didn't deserve one?
I guess it would depend on the circumstance but I tend to be pretty up-front about that kind of thing, so would probably just let them know as gently as possible that I didn't feel comfortable doing that.

Though I will say that in most situations where there is a bad connection between VA and client it's mutual, so I can't see that kind of person coming to ask for a referal in the first place...

What are your thoughts Katrina, what do you think you would do or say in a situation like that?

__________________

Originally Posted by Tess

Interesting question - so you're asking how I would 'get out of' a testimonial or referal for a client or VA who didn't deserve one?...... What are your thoughts Katrina, what do you think you would do or say in a situation like that?

Hi Tess and yes, that is exactly what I'm asking.

As for me, it is hard for me to say because I'm such a push over sometimes and I think to myself "how dare they ask for such a thing" but I would still want to remain professional. At this point in my professional career as a small business owner trying to find and hold on to clients it becomes terse, but I at the same time I don't want to be walked over.

I guess to really answer your question, I would hold off on a immediate response and when I do give it only speak about what the required job or task, that were performed, and leave out my personal feelings. However, that may not be the best thing to do if you want to save some poor soul from the same experience but at the same time you have to realize that their relationship may be better so, I really don't know the right answer or response.

I just hope for now that I won't have to experience this anytime soon.

Thanks to you guys for your feed back.

__________________
Katrina
KRB Administrative Resources, LLC

I'm not sure exactly what your situation is but we had a similar situation with a contractor that was helping us with one of our grants (I guess she was sort of the project manager on it). She was a thorn in our side from day 1 (would want her payment before she ever submitted an invoice, would ask us to deposit the check into her account for her because she wasn't around, always complained that she wasn't able to make her mortgage payment and THEN would never submit her reports on time which would get us in trouble with the grant committee). It was always something. Well, at the end of the grant, she wanted us to give her a reference and not only that but she wrote her own reference and just expected us to sign off on it. Well, because this is a small town and it's very easy to burn bridges we did give her a letter of reference BUT we didn't just sign off on what she wanted us to say, we wrote our own which was not as "oh, xxxx, is just the absolute best!!!" which is basically what she wanted us to say...lol

So, I would think it would depend on the sitution you're in and what was really bad about the relationship. If you don't feel comfortable giving this person a reference at all then I would politely and as gently as possible decline. However, if you think it would be in your best interest for some reason (like she's given you referrals or something like that) then maybe you could think of anything good that came out of the relationship and base it on that so that you're truthful without going all out.

__________________
Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

I believe in the long run you can give a reference based on their work and the relationship you had with them.

This is because you are saying to them the quality of work or payment (timeliness) and your letting them know there are some things they need to change in order to have a good relationship with you again.

Just my 2 cents I hope all goes well for you.

Andrea~

__________________
Action Jackson Virtual Assistant|

Hi,

I believe it would depend on the type of working relationship that you had with the person...did they do the work to your satisfaction and you just had a personality conflict or was the work not satisfactory, etc. It depends on the circumstances involved on whether or not I would give the reference.

If the relationship was not positive based solely on a personality conflict, then I would more than likely give the reference because not everyone can be compatible when working together. If I found that particular person to be abrasive, the next person may not. I could have been abrasive without intending to be as well.

So if the work was completed satisfactorily I would give the reference based on the work, I would not speak to the personality of the person, as I could have been a part of the problem.

__________________
Tracy Jones

Thanks to all of you for your comments. And as I stated this was not a real event just something I was thinking about based on a current situation. In my case the client is happy with my VA services but she doesn't pay on time and she is constantly asking me to do more. She is also a fellow networker who could possibly ask this question in the future and since I thought about it, I just wanted to see what other would do if they had a client, or anyone they've worked with, that asked for such a request from a less than perfect relationship; not to say we will all have perfect clients nor will we all be perfect fits for some of our clients.

Again, thank you all for your comment they are greatly appreciated.

__________________
Katrina
KRB Administrative Resources, LLC