Beyond Due Diligence…Listen to Those Gut Feelings
I should have been immediately suspicious when I received a voicemail message from a gentlemen who said he ‘really’ needed my help, when he indicated he found me in the Yellow Pages, a free listing under Secretarial Services where I’ve never once received any business.
I always feel that if I can’t help someone, I sure would know of someone who could, or would be in a position to suggest other options. It’s served me well for many years.
When I returned the call, I got voicemail, but he called me right back. He spoke very quickly and told me he’d purchased a business 11 years earlier, kept the name and had been very successful. They were celebrating 35-years in 2012, so he was putting together a major push to grow his business.
He kept telling me how busy he was, he was going to school for his masters, running this very busy and successful business, and needed someone to manage things for him. His most immediate need was to provide me with a list of college newspaper contacts, this is where he hired help, in five states, where we would call and place ads. Then we would filter out the best candidates and interview/hire them for his seasonal work.
He asked me for a quote for a certain number of hours a week, and I told him that would be about $400-500 per week. He didn’t challenge that cost at all. He was anxious for me to forward my contract because he needed me to start right away. Several times he reminded me to call him at a particular number, but not the number he was calling from, since he was not in the office much. He reiterated again and again how busy he was, how he was going to school, etc.
I told him after the contract was signed I would probably need a credit card to pay for the ads, but he said that these college papers would give him credit since he’d been in business so long. I reiterated that we would not be in a position to take on any of that expense for him, if they would not extend him credit, it would simply hold up the process. He said we’d have no problem.
He asked me to overnight him the contract, via UPS, and send him some overnight UPS envelopes as well as several labels so he could start sending me information to move forward. He indicated there was no UPS store in his small town, but he could call them in for pickups. I asked for his UPS account number, which he didn’t have, but said I could put mine on it – the red flag was beginning to rise.
Meanwhile, after we got off the phone, I googled his name and company name as I prepared the contract and initial letter. I found nothing under his company name, but did find some derogatory law suits from back in 2007 under his name. The company name was not only different, but it was a corporation out of Nevada, with these complaints coming out of another state. I went to that state’s Better Business Bureau and it showed past complaints that had been rectified and no current complaints (since 2009) filed against him.
In the letter I indicated that UPS would not provide me with labels without an account number and I didn’t feel comfortable at this point in providing him with blank labels with my account number on them. If he wanted me to ship something under my account, we’d need to think of another way. I also indicated that once he returned the signed contract, he would get his first hour of services FREE – something I offer all new clients.
I also called him again, and left a voicemail telling him that I was only sending the UPS envelopes and that the cost was $30, which he said he would cover, but I would not mind handling. Heck, this could potentially be a $2,000/month client!
He called the next day and left a rather nasty voicemail. He said he really needed someone with attention to detail and that I’d spelled his company name wrong (I put an “S” on the end of it )– not like he spelled it out for me or anything, it’s what I thought he said, and he was upset that the UPS labels were not there – even though I’d already explained that in a voicemail to him.
He said that maybe it would be better if we worked it out that we made the calls and for every person we interviewed and hired, he’d pay us commission….red flag flying a bit higher now! He reminded me again, probably 3 times in this particular call, to call him on the 630 number, and not on the one he was calling from.
I went back to Google and tried finding him under the new company name, nada! I then returned his call and indicated that we might not be the right fit for each other, and that my VA team was in no way interested in working on commission. I didn’t even mention that I wasn’t going to send him blank UPS labels with my account number on them again, or that I expected he’d reimburse me for the overnight UPS charges – small price to pay, I thought!
I really thought that would be the end of it…You guessed it, he called again, and this time I was in the office. He started off by saying he thought I was probably right, that we weren’t going to be a good fit (so why did he call?), but he continued to try and talk me into giving him that one hour free and make a few calls for him (is he kidding me?), and even though I clearly said we were not interested, he said that I should think about it and call him back. Of course, remembering not to call him on the number he was calling me from.
I told him that I probably would not be calling back and thanked him for considering me. I just had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that I should run as fast as I could from this guy.
When I got off the phone, I finally decided to see what I could find out about the number he was calling me from – it just seemed like he was making far too big a deal of it every time I spoke to him. First I looked at the caller ID on my phone – it said, “State of Indiana” (not really his state), which could have made sense, he said he was calling from school several times, and the numbers were very close, although each time he called the last four digits were slightly different.
So, I decided to pick up the phone and call the number….”Department of Corrections” is how the phone was answered….Sheesh, this guy’s in prison! I guess those law suits didn’t work out so well, and the reason he hadn’t had any complaints filed against him since 2009 was probably because he was serving time. Phew, disaster averted.
I was reminded that sometimes you have to go beyond just doing your due diligence, sometimes you have to go with those gut feelings that tell you something just isn’t right here….and it certainly wasn’t!
Jeannine Clontz, provides professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). Learn more about Time Management for Virtual Assistants by downloading her FREE report “A Fresh Look at Time Management for Virtual Assistants”, or request her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”, and more by visiting: http://www.VAbizcoach.com ; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.
December 23rd, 2011 by Jeannine Clontz | No Comments »