This is a guest post by Michelle Dale of VA-Live. Thank you Michelle for penning the first ever Leaving Work Behind guest post!
I first discovered the virtual assistant industry back in 2005, after quitting my job and leaving my work and life behind in the UK, as I still needed to earn an income whilst travelling. I went into this industry at that time blind, and over the years of working and developing my own VA company, I have mastered several of the essential ways of working online, from technology through to customer service.
Over the years I have come to realise the value of running my business in a certain way, and handling client requirements to maximise productivity and quality of service, having worked as a VA myself, and also hiring many VA’s as part of my team, I have been on both ends of the scale when it comes to working as a virtual assistant and with virtual assistants, and what follows are what I consider to be 3 major signs that you have hired a ‘keeper.’
1. They Ask Questions
Unless you are very familiar with outsourcing and delegating, and you have managed an assistant or team for a period of time, you will be new to online delegation. It’s a skill that needs to be mastered over time, and I have put in place for my clients tutorials and templates that will help them work with us, and help us to provide them with accurate delivery of their work. If your VA has solid guidelines in place on what they need from you, that’s a huge bonus, but whether they do or they don’t your VA should be asking you questions, spotting the loopholes in your instructions, seeing if you have overlooked anything, considering cause and effect, and anticipating consequences.
If you want the job done right “first time,” make sure your VA isn’t just taking your instruction and hoping for the best, they should be pro-active, from experience, in second guessing your instructions to make sure they have understood them correctly.
Someone once said to me, “How am I supposed to know I need to ask for it, if I don’t know I need it?” Your VA should be actively communicating things you need, even if you don’t necessarily know you need them yet.
2. They Have Systems In Place And Keep Records
If your VA doesn’t have systems in place for working together, such as a client area or online project management system, you’ll find that you’ll be needing to keeping up-to-date records of anything and everything your VA does, which in itself takes time, and costs money. Every client in my practise has a unique login area, to access records and discussions together, over the long term, meaning we can work effortlessly, and simultaneously, on multiple projects without any room for confusion, because everything is documented and backed up regularly – meaning the client has that additional security in place, all as a standard part of the service.
By not having a system or procedure in place for effective collaboration or record keeping, you could end up potentially – losing work, not having immediate access to something you need, having to trawl through emails to find past communications, or even miscommunicating in some way – but with clear, thorough record keeping and organisation, it will give you piece of mind, and there is little room for the ‘blame game’ for example, when emails don’t arrive when they should.
I strive to offer a complete service to make sure in any way I can, that the client is well taken care of, and I know a lot of other VA’s will want that for their clients too.
3. They Are Consistent And Timely
One of the biggest concerns amongst clients is that the VA will get the work done to an excellent standard, to agreed timescales. You can see signs that your VA has a good potential for this if they always reply in a timely manner, for example, give you an expectation as to when they’ll respond, and meet it.
The channels of communication should always be open, and the deadlines should always be taken seriously. Often, in addition to the timely responses, many VA’s will have in place back up plans and alternative contacts should anything happen. I have several contingency plans in place for my clients, including a minimum of 2 virtual assistants available to learn and handle their work, and department managers if for any reason I become unavailable, because I don’t want anything happening from my own personal circumstances to impact the service my company provides to my clients.
If you hire a VA who you rely on for support regularly, who doesn’t have those contingency procedures in place, you will have to organise those yourself – and the additional cost of training and hiring, which could be an entirely unnecessary effort for you, if you hire the right type of VA to begin with.
Overall, you need to take into consideration your budget, your individual requirements, and whether you are looking for casual assistance, or someone who you can really rely on to grow with you and your business and provide a host of additional benefits along with their virtual assistance services.
Choose wisely, and always remember that a good VA could become part of the backbone of your business.
Michelle is an experienced Entrepreneur, Online Business Consultant & Manager and Virtual Assistant who supports businesses and individuals with achieving their professional goals through the provision of effective, efficient and dynamic business support services. She also has an exceptional blog, VA-Live => http://www.virtualassistant-