Discovery call is a preliminary conversation where potential clients and virtual assistants assess compatibility and discuss project requirements. This serves as the initial step in building professional relationships and understanding client needs. However, it can be easy to blur the lines between gathering useful information and overstepping into sensitive or inappropriate territory. These conversations must be conducted with great care, ensuring that ethical boundaries are maintained from the outset. To foster professionalism and trust, virtual assistants must be mindful of what is appropriate to ask. Here are three of the many things that should never be posed during a discover call.
Do not ask sensitive personal information
Questions about personal matters such as age, marital status, health, or financial details are not only unprofessional but can also breach ethical guidelines in client-business relationships. The focus should be on understanding the client's business needs, not their personal life. It is crucial to respect the privacy of the potential client by not asking for sensitive personal information.
Research on workplace boundaries highlights that prying into personal details can diminish trust and create discomfort (Clark & Roberts, 2010). Maintaining professional boundaries ensures that the relationship stays respectful, and business focused.
Refrain from inquiring about discriminatory factors
Inquiring about a client's race, gender, religion, or other protected characteristics is not only irrelevant, but it can also result in ethical and legal consequences by fostering a perception of bias and potentially breaching anti-discrimination laws. Studies emphasize that such inquiries could be perceived as discriminatory, even if unintentional (Lippert-Rasmussen, 2014).
Ethical principles in virtual assistance stress the importance of fairness and non-discrimination. Maintaining a focus on business-related matters while practicing inclusivity and impartiality reinforces professionalism and promotes an environment of equality.
Do not request proprietary business information
While it’s critical to understand a client’s business needs, asking for sensitive proprietary information during a discovery call can breach professional ethics. Studies on information privacy stress the importance of safeguarding confidential business data (Mason, 1986). A discovery call should aim to gather general information to assess how your services align with the client’s goals without delving into intellectual property or trade secrets. Building trust means respecting a client’s confidentiality from the outset.
Ethical conduct in discovery calls is vital for establishing trust and professionalism in the virtual assistance industry. By avoiding inquiries into sensitive personal information, refraining from discriminatory questions, and respecting the confidentiality of proprietary business data, virtual assistants can uphold high ethical standards while building meaningful relationships with clients. These early interactions set the tone for future collaboration, and adhering to ethical guidelines not only ensures legal compliance but also fosters a sense of security and respect. As virtual assistance continues to evolve in a globally connected world, maintaining these ethical boundaries will remain crucial for long-term success and credibility in the field.
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This article is written by the Ibayo Admins Ph media team with the help of AI. Here are our references:
Clark, M. A., & Roberts, S. J. (2010). Employer’s use of social networking sites: A socially irresponsible practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 95(4), 507-525
Lippert-Rasmussen, K. (2014). Born free and equal? A philosophical inquiry into the nature of discrimination. Ethics, 125(1), 91-120
Mason, R. O. (1986). Four ethical issues of the information age. MIS Quarterly, 10(1), 5-12
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