I came across a post on one of the listservs I belong to that I thought was interesting from a business perspective.
The writer, an independent paralegal, was trying to deal with a two-sided document given to her by a client. Her dilemma was that while she has a scanner, it doesn’t scan two sides at once. So before she could begin on the project she was hired to do in the tight deadline she was given, she was having to spend hours on end scanning a page, flipping it over, scanning the other side, and so on and so forth for each page.
She lamented that she her only other option was to take it to a copy center and have them scan it into one PDF document at a cost to her of 5 cents a page which “cuts into my profit margin,” as she put it.
Beyond the immediate issue, these situations are always excellent opportunities to recognize where business improvements can/should be made:
1. Don’t take on projects with such tight deadlines that they don’t allow room to troubleshoot issues that arise.
2. If you do take on projects with tight deadlines, charge a premium for the immediate time, attention and potential issues they come with.
3. Part of setting yourself up for business success is establishing policies and protocols that support you in delivering great service in a timely manner. In this particular case, that might mean requiring clients to submit documents and other working materials necessary to the project in a certain condition or format in the first place.
4. On the other hand, if this is a common occurrence in your line of work, it’s time to invest in the proper, state-of-the-art equipment that will allow you to take these kind of situations in stride, work more expediently and effectively, and provide an even greater level of service. This isn’t the kind of thing that should have you stumbling.
5. Make sure you are charging sufficiently and professionally.
6. Expenses such as necessary copying and/or collating are not your business burdens to bear. Charge an upfront deposit for those expenses or set the project fee sufficiently enough to cover them. If you can feel the cost in your “profit margin,” you don’t have a profit margin and you’re not charging enough.
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, the virtual assistant term is really completely idiotic to...
