From the Desk of Janet Barclay

I had a disappointing experience last week. A relatively new client, with an extensive list of future projects, decided to stop working with me. Although I was sorry to see her go, I understood why she made that decision. After all, it had taken several weeks to complete the first project, which could have been done in a couple of days. This was not due to incompetence or laziness on my part, or due to taking on more work than I could manage. I believe it came down to a lack of communication.

When you have someone working in your office with you, they can pop their head in, ask you a question or two, and continue working on the project. When you’re working remotely, you do not have that luxury. It is therefore critical that you answer your virtual assistant’s emails as promptly as possible. If your schedule doesn’t allow you to respond on a timely basis, your VA may have moved on to another project by the time he or she receives the information they requested. This is especially important in the early stages of your working relationship, as your VA is getting to know you and your preferences. After you’ve been working together for a while and your VA has had an opportunity to gain a good understanding of your business and the way you like things done, these "check-ins" will become less frequent.

If e-mail is not your preferred method of communication, it would be a good idea to schedule regular telephone meetings with your virtual assistant, keeping in mind that you will usually be billed for the time. Once again, you’ll probably be able to reduce the frequency of these meetings once a regular routine is established, except perhaps when a new project is underway.

Things may have worked out differently with my client had I explained all of this at the onset, and I’ll be sure to do that going forward.

For more on this subject, read Kathie Thomas’ recent blog post, What Can a Client Expect in a Virtual Working Relationship?