Don’t Keep Your VA Waiting

Written on November 12, 2009 by admin

VAs: You’re knee-deep in a big project and chugging along right on schedule but you’re waiting on the client giving you feedback on an important piece. You follow up. No word. You follow up again. No word. Frustration ensues.

Clients: You’re grateful for your VA’s help with this time-sensitive task (when are they not?), you’re flying from client to client, are in the midst of several other business activities and you’re leaving town in a few days. Somewhere in the back of your mind you think you saw an email from your VA asking for approval on a key piece…”Oh, I think I already answered that.” And you carry on, not knowing you’re delaying work.

The clock’s ticking. The deadline looms. Tension mounts.

Your VA finally reaches you as you’re about to enter Gate 23 at the airport. Looks like she/he will have to pull an all-nighter to finish the task on time so you can make money online while you’re away and out of touch.

The job gets done. You’re on vacation. Your VA is exhausted.

Okay, so the above example is a little extreme. But it demonstrates how missing an important communication about a time-sensitive project can put your VA into panic mode. And no one wants to work that way. Plus you don’t want the good work your VA has been doing to be compromised and susceptible to errors she/he could make while rushing under extra strain.

So as much as you rely on your VA to keep you abreast of your projects, you need to make yourself readily available to sign off on tasks within an appropriate time line. For instance, if you are going to launch a new product and have a sales page and require all the copy, design and ecommerce components in place by X date, ready to let the world know, you have to be ready at key stages of the process to give your virtual JH.

Of course you’ve hired your VA or VA team to take care of all these things for you, to automate systems and processes, to create and manage the tasks involved within the scope of each project, but they still can’t do it all alone. You, the client, need to give timely direction and feedback to ensure the end result is what you’re looking for. How else will projects be completed to your satisfaction?

Taking the time to respond when work is presented for review/approval will not only keep things moving forward and on schedule, it will further solidify communications between you and your VA, not to mention help you get a great return on your investment in this vital relationship!

Contributed by My Creative Assistant’s Senior Writer, Kathy Smith.

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