The Virtual Wire

VA/Client partnership trust and the other team members

I came across a really great article on Trust recently that is definitely worth a read. 

Of course immediately I started thinking about how critical trust is in the VA/Client Partnership.  As a VA having a client that trusts me either immediately or fairly quickly dictates how easy our relationship would be.  As I thought about this I remembered a couple of posts that Stacy Brice wrote early last year about developing trust in a VA/Client Partnership.  Read here and here to learn more.

But what I want to talk about briefly today, is considering trust from a completely different angle.  I have come across the issue of trust in a 3^rd party relationship.  The other contractors or staff that my clients work with, that in turn means that we have to work as a team.  In these relationships, from my experience, the trust that I share with my client is not always understood, translated or acknowledged, and sometimes maybe undermined a little. 

The selection process between myself and a client takes several conversations before we decide to work together.  Then once the partnership starts, we invest time in talking further, and understanding each other’s work styles, to develop an empowering partnership.  My client trusts me to get the job done on time, or negotiate deadlines; my client trusts me to use my initiative and view their business with the love, care and dedication that they apply; my clients trust me to step into their shoes and provide them with an unwavering support that feels like an extension of themselves.  When a 3^rd party comes along I often feel a disconnect.  It is hard to explain, but it displays itself as tip-toeing around so as not to "rock the boat," or at the other scale aggressively display their superior knowledge.  It is an interesting dilemma, and because of my intuition, something I pick up on acutely.

As is my style, I always look at what I can do to make this better, and I have realised that I need to set-up a standard and/or process that I need to adopt when working with new team members so that we can quickly feel like a team, that a level of trust in the support I provide to my client and even them is recognised.  Something I think I will develop with my coaching group next week!

Any thoughts or experiences that you want to share?

Relationships in Business

Throughout the VTP we are always taught the value of the relationship in business and I recently read a great blog that Kevin Eikenberry wrote on the 7 Ways to Nurture Professional Relationships, and this had me thinking how I have been working to improve my relationships with my clients. Here are a few tips that I believe make a difference:

1. Always determine a deadline for projects. I have often heard Stacy say that this is essential to be able to work successfully with clients, and you will be amazed how true this is. Quite often my client will tell me that she wants a project completed, but does not tell me that this should come before other high priority projects already on my list. Or tell me that the deadline is Friday, which I interpret as Friday evening, and she meant as Friday morning. Part of my relationship skills is to be mindful of my client’s expectations and always qualify the exact time and day of the deadline. 

2. Respond to communications quickly. Now I did not specify a time here, because I really think that this depends on the individual, and I did not say all correspondences, because you are not a robot, but by typically responding to client communications quickly, even if it is just a holding email to confirm receipt and provide an initial thought really helps to build up the trust especially at first.

3. Communicate often. Communicating often creates trust and builds up the strong connection just like you would with any other colleague. Discuss projects, give updates, and also add a little bit about your life and what is happening with you. Although some clients may not be reciprocate, many people don’t mind because it allows them to understand you a bit better. On average though most clients will reciprocate information. 

4. Deal with issues, concerns quickly and clearly. Basically don’t be wishy, washy when there is a problem. Whether it is a communication issue, or a project not executed as your client expected. Issues need to tackled head on. Found out what went wrong, so that you know how to avoid this in the future, fix the problem or make changes for the future and move on. Issues will happen and speedy action and a willingness to find a solution and plan for the future helps your clients to feel safe in your hands. 

I do remember that Stacy eloquently deals with trust and safety in virtual relationships in a great post, and I would love to share this with you as extended reading. 

First Friday Pep

I started off February a bit down in the dumps. Not because of any one thing, but more because I had been ill a few times in January which:

1. Slowed me down with my work projects 
2. Made me realize that I need to be practicing more “self-care” 
3. Highlighted that the two above were in conflict, i.e. to catch up on my projects, I am unable to practice enough self-care.

So as I pondered the semantics of my dilemma, I became more down as the solution appeared elusive. So I stopped thinking about it and just started to create a better outcome. And in the usual theme of our first Friday post (albeit it is coming a bit late this month) I would like to share some motivational quotes that helped me to think beyond my present position and think positively towards February. 

"You are not a failure. A failure is someone who does not try. When you try, you may not hit the target, but at least you gave it your every effort and now have the opportunity to try again. That is what true success is." Copyright © 2010 Gilbert De Marco 

"The best way out is always through." Robert Frost 

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." Confucius 

"We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls." Winston Churchill 

As I found the quotes that resonated with me, I realized that what I felt that I needed was motivation to get me up and on track. I hope if you ever feel a bit out of sorts that these quotes will resonate and help you too.

Developing my 'client experience'

You know with the New Year and all, I have been thinking about my processes and procedures. I have to admit that 2009 ran me and I did not run it, so I am looking at how I get in control of the look and feel of my business and service. 

My recent thoughts have been to review the client experience, i.e. “What experience do my clients have when working with me?” Not from the implementation perspective but more from a strategic perspective. I identified 2 questions:

1. How do I welcome new clients into my business? 
2. How do I continually review our relationship to ensure that it works? 

For question no. 1 the answers that I came up with were: 

1. A fun welcome gift that is indicative of the work we will do together. AssistU has some great gifts that fit in with this, like a VA mug or mousemat.
2. A list of some of my best resources for collaboration, online communication etc.

As for question no. 2, the thoughts that I had are:

1. In the first year of working together quarterly goal-setting/reviews sessions and from year 2 onwards half-yearly goal-setting/reviews.
2. Regular status calls. I do this already, but realise that I should set out a “recommended” schedule based on our working commitment. In the first 3 months of working together weekly phone calls are advisable, moving on from there the recommended schedule would be 10-hr retainers a monthly phone call, for 15-hr retainers a fortnightly phone call and for 20+ hour retainers a weekly phone call.
3. Monthly newsletter to keep my clients updated with how I am building and growing my business and give them ideas of how we can work together.

Wow, I have got myself off to a great start. Now I need to get into more detail onw how this will look and be presented to clients. 

What do you think? Do you already have an established format for your client experience? Do you have any ideas that could expand on the thoughts I have had above?

Collaboration creates delegation, or does it?

I was on a call this week where we were talking about how to offer a higher standard of VA service to our clients. Part of what we were talking about revolves around the ways we can encourage our clients to delegate better and delegate more. This made me realize that as VAs we can spend a lot of our time seeking or encouraging delegation, that we do not have the energy or time to develop the collaborative part of the relationship.

The kicker is that through a collaborative relationship, delegation is a natural result. When we are able to work together with our clients, brainstorm, research, and help them build their dream business, delegation becomes less of a hurdle.

But are my experiences indicative of what you experience. Are you a client who has tried to collaborate and then delegate but it all seems to fall down? Or are you a VA who collaborates very well with her clients, but still has to jump through hoops to get your clients to delegate?

I would love to know more from you – do you struggle with delegation? Do you have a collaborative relationship? I want to know if my analysis of this work scenario is correct, so please share times when it does work, and times when it doesn’t it is all good information.

Dealing with those growing pains

You know with everything in life there are growing pains. I mean a butterfly has to go through a 4 stage growth process that is complex and leaves them vulnerable, but oh boy when they reach maturity the end result is truly spectacular.

What I am alluding to is that in all areas of our lives we experience the pains of growth. And it is up to us to decide whether we accept it, even welcome it as a natural part of our development, or whether we struggle, worry and allow stress to consume us. When it comes to business and its growth, I never say that it is a simple thing to accept when things don’t go to plan, but I am learning over the years (41 now) that planning well, and accepting that there will always be small or large incidents that are not prepared for, just helps life to move along easily. I am no way advocating a “don’t care attitude.” Yes if things don’t go well, sort it out as soon as possible, and learn from that mistake. I do advocate having a moan, groan or even full out scream when you need to, but honestly you also need to have systems in place that allow you to recover, rejoice in the experience and move on.

Okay I have clarity about what I am trying to convey – a desire to control each outcome of our business development is just plain crazy – seriously crazy!!! I think for as long as we have that mentality then we will either procrastinate too much, in the pursuit of getting it right, or limp forward rather than charge ahead! Growing pains are a fact of life whether personally or professionally, don’t you agree? 

Are you transparent?

Life is a funny old game!  It is so interesting how one experience can shed light on another totally unrelated issue.  I am talking about transparency!!

My blog post is coming to you 3 days late because one of my student boarders had a succession of very violent fits on Friday.  It was a totally horrendous and frantic experience which I won’t go into detail that brought to light one thing – he is epileptic.  The thing is his epilepsy was not indicated anywhere on his admission papers, either with his school or with me as his UK host parent.  In addition to this, this student has decided not to tell his parents so far of these recent episodes because he is scared of being “sent back home.” 

But this has flagged up a lot of issues because of his lack of transparency, and more importantly we have begun not to trust him, and believe what he says.  As he is only 16 I am taking the stance that his inexperience in life makes him think that it is a good idea to hide things, but I am trying to explain to him that not being transparent can have a far-reaching negative effect than he cannot comprehend at this point.

This actually made me think a lot about my business and the transparency that some people like or dislike.  Especially in the use of social networks, and marketing in general.  Some people tend to draw a much larger gap between their personal and business lives than others.  But more and more and more as prospects, clients and colleagues we are demanding and expecting an increasing level of transparency between the business and the person. 

Change is in the air

The past couple of weeks have been tumultuous for me with so many things happening in my personal life. Last week my youngest daughter, E, was on a school field trip and gone for 5 straight days—boy did I miss her. During that same week my middle child, L, was invited to go to Disneyland for three days with a friend—boy did I miss her. Then Sunday night, my son, C, was assaulted at the local skate park because someone wanted to steal his bike—boy was I scared. That necessitated several hours in the emergency room, police reports to fill out and general worrying. Tonight my son asked if his friend could move into my house—and my son wanted to move in as well (he lives with his Dad). The caveat was that he wanted his younger sister to swap places and live with Dad. Oddly enough E (the little sister) agreed to the change (she secretly wants to be an only child and this almost simulates that situation—she gets her dad all to herself).  Nobody asked me what I thought or wanted.

I felt so many emotions in such a short time--happy that L got to go to Disneyland, excited that E got to go to Santa Cruz, sad and worried because C was hurt, scared because I was getting another mouth to feed (as if I didn’t have enough already). Tonight on the way to the grocery I wondered why I was crying. Nothing had happened right then, I just needed to stock up on food. After all I was losing an 11 year old girl and gaining two teen boys and I needed food (those boys eat a lot). It suddenly dawned on me that no one really asked me if I was okay with all these changes. As the always agreeable mom I just went along with everything and didn’t really think about how all these changes and events would affect me. It reminded me of how much I don’t like change, but at the same time I know that change brings new situations and experiences.  I am just ready for a “normal” week when not much happens. Maybe that will happen next week—but probably not.

I think the thing that helped me keep my sanity this week was that I had my clients to keep me grounded. There were still ezines that needed sending, teleseminars to set up, and sales pages to tweak. Oh yeah, I also needed to market my class that starts next week. Phew, I am tired just writing about all that. But all that busyness keeps me sane and moving along. What keeps you grounded and helps you navigate the ups and downs of life?

Take advantage of this down time

I am a firm believer in staying on top of trends and learning new skills for my virtual assistance business. I know that a lot of virtual assistants are struggling right now to keep (and get new) clients. My practice is actually thriving right now. There are people calling me that I would never have ever thought would be connecting with me. They see the value in paying more to get more and part of my value is that I have a vast knowledge of online marketing. I am really seen as an expert in that area. I keep up my expert status by working with some fabulous clients that are pushing the envelope and staying on top of trends in their chosen market as well. The VAs that are having trouble keeping their practices filled are possibly not keeping up on their skills (just guessing). If you continue to offer the same services all the time to the same clients—they aren’t growing and you aren’t growing. Growth is essential to a thriving business (your business and your client’s business). So during this downtime, think about taking a class or mentoring with another VA that offers a service that you would like to learn. Take advantage of this extra time on your hands and learn a new skill. There are plenty of classes out there (AssistU has some great grad classes and that is a good place to start). Some of these classes are even free and you get to know some great instructors.

Last week Stacy blogged on Virtual Moxie about “low associative borders” and I was blown away. I truly believe that is one of the other reasons why my practice is thriving (even though I charge a lot more and people gladly pay it).  It is because I have very “low associative borders.” I can see what they are trying to do and see the big picture, see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and then the technology to do what they want. So in addition to having some great technical skills, I also have great big picture skills. Now all clients may not need that type of assistance. Some might just want admin tasks taken care of, and a lower priced VA is perfect for that. But if you want to truly partner with your clients (and charge more), you really need to stay current with education and really look at Stacy’s post on “low associative borders.” I forwarded Stacy’s post to several of my clients because I really think it illustrates the different between a regular VA and an AssistU VA. We really partner with and think about the big picture for our clients.

Again, education is the key to really growing your VA business. And if you don’t have “low associative borders” right now, just the awareness that some people do have that can be empowering for you. Don’t try to fit a square peg in a round hole. Do what you are best at and thrive!

The right choice for you

As I am getting used to blogging for The Virtual Wire and reviewing posts by my fellow TVW bloggers, I have given some thought to my practice and my authentic voice. Petra so eloquently spoke about possibly losing your authentic voice in a multi-VA team and I wanted to address that as a seasoned VA who has been at both ends of the spectrum.

I have worked on a multi-VA team where I wasn't allowed (or asked) to make suggestions or even see the big picture or vision of the client. And I absolutely disliked working for that client (and don’t work for them any longer). I learned a lot from being a VA on that team but I am a big picture person and it wasn't a good fit for me. That doesn't mean that it isn't a good fit for another VA. I have to know what I am working toward and without the vision and mission of the client in my head, I can't effectively do that.

On the other hand, I am currently on an amazing multi-VA team where I absolutely have access to the big picture and I am actually asked for my input about the vision for the business--and I would do anything for that client. We have weekly team meetings where that is all that is discussed--what is happening that week, who is handling what and WHY! I love to know the WHY. And I love to know my client's goals so that I can make better decisions and make better suggestions based on those goals.

So, my closing thought isn't that multi-VA teams allow you to lose your authentic voice but rather that it really depends on the team and your personality. Some VAs are very task oriented, others are project driven. Make sure you choose the team (and client) that will support how you think and work best! Because it really is all about choices and as business owners we are in total control over who we work with and why. Just be sure to keep your authentic voice!