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Question: Hi Anne, The training program manuals are great ‘after training’ references. I have been reviewing the information and I have a question about the actual work with clients. I understand the "30 second hook" has the first phase as the complimentary needs assessment.... Is this done over the phone or in the client's house? Has there been a commitment to use your services at this point? Actually onsite certainly allows for better assessment but this could get expensive if they don't follow through. What are you thoughts on how this is usually handled?

Answer: Good question. First of all, the needs assessment doesn’t need to be complimentary. Second, the assessment can be done other than on-site. You can do assessments by phone, e-mail, web site form, in person, or however you choose. I would suggest you do all of your assessments onsite until you are comfortable with the needs assessment questions and have performed enough onsite assessments to understand what you might be “facing”. However, if your client can send you pictures of the areas they need help with that can give you a pretty good visual too. I didn’t start doing “off-site” assessments until last year (year 4). And, I still perform assessments on-site in combination with preparing an Organizing Plan of Action.

All the best,
Anne
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