Is the VA Industry on Shaky Ground?
Every now and then I hear from business owners who share their story about a frustrating experience with a Virtual Assistant. It’s normal … and really, it should be expected, after all we’re still learning how to work well together and build great relationships.
However in discussions last week at the Wealthy Thought Leader event, I was absolutely shocked to hear that the reputation of the Virtual Assistant industry is on serious shaky ground.
Are you surprised to hear this?
Here’s the scoop … business owners do not feel like they are well looked after by their Virtual Assistants. In conversations with different business owners there were some common ‘complaints’ that I was hearing. Things like working with a Virtual Assistant who does not:
- provide timely responses to their clients
- assist with the occasional request that requires quick turn around
- complete tasks before the agreed to deadline
- communicate appropriately or asking questions to clarify details
- pay attention to details - making sloppy errors regularly
- manage the priorities of all their clients well (leaving clients to feel
their stuff is unimportant and at the bottom of the list)
Enough business owners out there are unhappy in their experience with a Virtual Assistant and they’re talking to each other about it… and this can affect the reputation of the entire industry. Which of course is something that makes me sit up and take notice.
As someone who is passionate about our profession and as an active advocate of this industry I want to look at how we can fix this. I’m a firm believer that when we hear complaints from our clients on a regular basis it is an opp for us to step up and respond.
Of all the complaints I was hearing one that really stood out for me is that clients don’t feel like they are important. They feel like their stuff “doesn’t matter” or “falls to the bottom of the list.” Now I know as a VA that this certainly isn’t our intention! We are working to juggle all our clients and their various projects, and that last thing we want is for them to feel like they don’t matter.
As a starting point I created a checklist of things we CAN do to make sure our clients feel like they are the only ones we work with. It’s usually just simple tweaks that can make all the difference for clients, and make them feel taken care of. How many of these can you check off?
What are some other things we can do to make our clients looked after?
Enter your name and email address below and get immediate access to the checklist you can use to identify how well you’re looking after your client.
We’d love to hear from you, please share your comments with us below.
March 31st, 2010 at 10:59 am
It is really unfortunate, I agree. However I have learned that when a prospect complains about a former VA, and I don’t engage in the bashing part, but I try to uncover the real root of the complaint, it is often that the client is a “problem” client who contributed to the way things turned out. Case in point, this prospect became my client and in a matter of months I learne that she was very hands off, didn’t respond to my emails or calls, didn’t respect the hours, research, suggestions (only she can execute), and when she did communicate with me, it would b thru a 3rd party-a less skilled VA. I ran her social media without any direction and initiated alit of work to find content, to engage and mingle on her behalf which you can only Go so far as….in the long run, I decided to cut my losses as I felt a disconnect and as much as I wanted to really provide criticism, I just moved on in a tactful manner. Working hard and remaining faithful with a client who was “unavailable” and didn’t pay me on time, I would really try to uncover the real root of the complaints from a client, because most often, the client has an issue and replacing a VA for a “better” VA is like putting a bandaid on an infected wound.
Granted som VAs could improve their time management and project skills, but there are two sides to evvery story (client complaint) and the client could be a major contributor !
March 31st, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Interesting post - a lot of these complaints centre on time management.
The thing is, VAs are generally TOO helpful, and it causes them to miss deadlines for other clients. You need to learn to say no when things aren’t possible and be realistic about what is possible in any one day. If we said “I’m sorry that’s not possible” more often, we’d ironically get less complaints!
April 1st, 2010 at 1:11 am
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April 1st, 2010 at 2:06 am
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April 1st, 2010 at 2:28 am
Being very new to the VA industry, I’d just like to put the other side to this “my VA doesn’t care about me” debate. I recently cleared space in my busy schedule to make way for a rushed job for a client only for her to disappear off into cyberspace, never to be heard from again. You can imagine how pleased I was that I turned down two week’s work to accommodate this person before she disappeared. In this age of technology, I find it incomprehensible that this “client” couldn’t let me know that she wouldn’t be needing me after all.
Another bad experience : I was asked to make around 100 sales calls per week in French for another client who wanted to pay me $9 an hour plus 22 cents per phone call. The minimum wage here is $12.20 an hour. What clients need to realize is that “caring” is a two way thing and as for the quality of their VA – they are bound to get what they pay for. These two bad experiences have made me seriously doubt whether it is possible to work at home as a VA and still put food on the table for my children.