07 – February – 2007 – The Gritty Virtual Assistant Blog

Daily Archives: February 7, 2007

February 7, 2007 – 10:41 am

Are You Stuck at the Office?

Dear Gritty VA:

I would like to know how do you handle days when you need to be away from your home office for a long period of time, and still try to be there for your clients? Do you transfer calls to your cell phone? Do you carry a Laptop computer with you? –MM

I don’t do on-demand work or work that requires me to be in constant, on-demand contact with my clients.

Remember, they are clients, not employers, and we don’t need to be at their beck-and-call. Do you think they expect their accountant, business advisor or attorney to report to them and account for every second of their day?

Of course not, and as independent professionals, we shouldn’t allow clients to form that expectation of us either.

The way I’ve set up my operations and standards, as well as how I clearly communicate that information to my clients, allows me to have a practice where I have a ton of flexibility with regard to when I work and time I take off. My clients still get taken care of (in fact, I venture to say I have some of THE most well-cared for clients in the Virtual Assistant world), and I get to live a life that makes me joyful.

If I’m taking time off longer than a few days, I do let my clients know so that they can plan ahead. If I’m out of the office, but want to stay in touch, I use a remote access program like LogMeIn which allows me to work as if I was still right there.

With regard to phones, that’s really a personal preference. However, I will say that I don’t see any good reason to forward phones (unless you are expecting a REALLY important call) or giving clients your cell phone number so they can chase you down (and overstep boundaries) any time they please. Why encourage that?

Clients are informed of my normal operating hours, and they are aware of my return communication practices (e.g., that I check emails and voicemail at certain times of the day, and they can expect a response within 24 hours). That’s all they need to have.

Being a doormat doesn’t make you a good (or happy) service provider. How well you live up to the standards you set and the expectations you create is what will make you a great Virtual Assistant with very satisfied clients.

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By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Dear Gritty VA, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Tagged Virtual Assistance, Virtual Assistant, Working with Clients | Comments (0)

February 7, 2007 – 10:39 am

Is This Too Good to Be True?

Dear Gritty VA:

I’ve got a potential client who is looking for people to work from home cold-calling a supplied list of potential clients to arrange appointments for a personal visit. He will only pay for appointments made, but he is quoting $50 per lead. It sounds too good to be true, which means it probably is, right? –CF

Hmm, let’s look at this…

You have no guarantee as to how many people will sign up for an appointment. Yet he expects you to invest hours and hours of your business resources and billable time (not a limitless commodity) for the promise of $50 if you can get at least one person to commit.

Too good to be true? You tell me.

Do you want a work-at-home job (one that will barely net you any money, but squander a ton of your time), or do you want to be a Virtual Assistant?

Virtual Assistants are professionals who get paid for value according to their own terms and rates. Clients don’t tell us what they’ll pay; that’s an employer.

This isn’t a potential client–this is someone looking for a sucker willing to devalue themselves. I would tell him to take a hike (in a "nice" way, of course).

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