Archive for the ‘Virtual Assistant Info’ Category

I’ve seen several topics in the VA world about how long VA’s should wait to respond to email and voice mail requests for tasks/projects.  While most of us do have a set turnaround period in our contracts, we generally don’t have a “response” time in our contracts.

And even though it’s not written, this is an aspect of the customer service in your business that can make or break you.  So while you are not bound or obligated to respond to your clients’ emails and voice mails right away, here’s something to think about.

When you get contact from your clients, I believe you should always respond back to them to confirm the contact.  A simple response saying received or will start tomorrow morning or can’t start until Wednesday afternoon or whatever will set you apart in this industry.

Here are some reasons why a quick confirmation is a good idea:

1. Emails and voice mails sometimes aren’t delivered due to glitches.  A confirmation puts their mind at ease that you did receive the communication.

2. A prompt response from you lets your clients know that you are serious about your business and not out fishing all day under the guise of a business name.  (I have actually met people who called themselves a virtual assistant but spent all day avoiding work.  If I’ve met them, I know clients have.)

3. This lets them know when you’ll be working on their project, so they’re not sending you ten emails driving you nuts asking if you forgot about them.

4. It shows that you are serious about the level of customer service you want to provide with your business as well as the fact that you are proficient in communication.  Communication skills are crucial in any business, but especially in our virtual world!

So next time a client contacts you and you aren’t available immediately to answer/respond, please always try to do so within a few business hours by scheduling at least 3 email checks during the day for yourself.  It will put you a notch above your competition and will earn you some excellent client loyalty.

Keep moving toward success.

So you have your virtual assistant business up and running. Now you face the problem of organization, because your clients are bombarding you with emails. It’s so easy to lose track when you’re getting 30, 40, or even like me 500 emails per day. How do you keep up with everything without being overwhelmed?

This issue, I’ve decided to share with you a few pointers that I use to keep organized, schedule my tasks for my clients, and help keep chaos from making me C-R-A-Z-Y!

First, always use email software like Outlook where you can create tasks from emails and/or categorize. This alone will help you TONS when you are trying to get an idea of what has to be done in the next couple of days. From those tasks, you can prioritize based on your clients’ needs and your own needs–using the high, medium, and low priority. Your tasks can also have a start date and a due date.

Sometimes Outlook can’t keep up with you though. I’m one of those people. I use online software called WebOffice that helps me keep organized with my VA or anyone else who subs under me. Other VAs use things like Basecamp and there are tons more. It’s not as important as to which service or software you use, but it is important that you use a service you can utilize fully to your advantage.

Currently, I coach a young woman who loves Excel, and she puts all her tasks in a spreadsheet in Excel with a new worksheet for each client that she has. Then at the start of every day she opens up that spreadsheet, starts to clear out her tasks for each client that day. And as new emails with new tasks come in to her email software, she types them right into the spreadsheet as she’s reading them. This way nothing is missed or left out.

I also recommend keeping old-fashioned paper and pen handy. Remember those? If you run across a question or something that comes over while you’re in the middle of something else, you can quickly jot a note to yourself to come back and check it later. Don’t rely on your memory no matter how good it is, because you will be sorry at some point that you did.

Finally, at the end of each business day I recommend you go back through your inbox and re-read all of the emails that came in that day to be certain you’ve addressed and/or scheduled each one. Double-checking a few minutes each day will save you tons of time and stress when a customer calls you out for forgetting them!

Keep moving toward success.