Different types of clients will react differently to the results you bring them as a private investigator, but the reactions when you have to tell your client you lost the subject on a physical surveillance can sometimes be crazy.

There are many types of clients, but for this discussion I’ll divide them into two categories…

Two Types of Clients

1. Your regular, repeat clients. Generally these are business like law firms, human resources departments and workers compensation companies. Usually there are businesses.

2. Individuals who only hire you one time – usually when something horrible is happening in their lives like a cheating spouse or a run away teen.

The type of client who may lose their mind if you lose the subject of your surveillance is the person who only hires you once.

This is because, unlike your regular clients, the one time client has expectations for success that are far to high. They’ve spent a lifetime watching P.I.’s on TV and in the movies follow people with no problems and bringing back excellent video.

The client knows everything else on TV is fictional, but somehow they think the P.I.’s they see are real. (I feel sorry for our brothers and sisters who do crime scene work. TV views actually believe what they see a CSI team on TV do!)

How To Fix It…

The key here is to make your one time clients more like your repeat clients and you do that by…

Setting their expectations before yo take the case!

Make sure your potential client knows the odds for success and what happens if you do lose the subject.

Don’t be afraid of losing a client over this. If they don’t appreciate your honesty, they are setting themselves up for disappointment with the private investigator that do hire!

By the way, if you want more straight talk about our industry don’t miss my special report “If You Want To be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things”. You can get it for free right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.