You’ve Hired A VA…Now What?!

With your virtual assistant being…er…virtual, the most important thing is to get your communication mojo happening right away.  I’ve used VAs since 1996 and after some successes, some…learning experiences and often “assuming” things that didn’t pan out  – here’s what I know for sure:

1.  Use an Online Collaboration Tool

Even if it’s just the two of you, start using an online collaboration tool now and you’ll avoid many hassles as you grow. (centraldesktop.com, zoho.com)

• Use it to assign tasks and due dates. It’s much better than email, especially since you will be assigning more and more tasks. It’s easy for things to get lost in the shuffle or for the VA to assume a priority – that you didn’t.
• Use it to share documents. Now you know you’re both using the latest version. This is especially critical and useful for contract templates (for clients and vendors).It’s a bit of a behavior change to remember to go to the collaboration tool, instead of your documents folder on your computer, but it’s worth it to stay in sync!

2. Give Communication Guidelines On Day 1

DOs

• Use bullet points
• Be brief and concise – summarize
• Lead with the point, not the back story or the process
  
• Be clear where the decision is that needs to be made ie:  DECISION:  do x or y?
• Include the date decision needs to be made by
• Do a little research, take a little initiative, ask the next level question so I don’t have to and Make a recommendation
• Write DECISION NEEDED in the email summary, then ping me if you don’t hear back right away.

DON’Ts

• Don’t give a complete history or back story (I’ll ask it if I need it. Be concise)
• Don’t write a multi-page email that rambles on and never gets to the point.  Do this with a girlfriend if you need to, then give me the summary, bullet points and decision needed
• DO NOT make me go back and forth with emails and pull the answers I need out one by one in order to make the decision.
  
• Don’t make me listen to a long voice message to find out why you called, lead with why you called.

3.  Praise

Remember to praise when they do a good job, come to you for clarification and take the right level of initiative.  Just like us, they don’t have a cheerleader and it feels great to be seen and recognized.

Oh, excuse me now. I’ve got to go tell my peeps that they’re doing a great job!

Anyone else got tips from the VA trenches?

Jenn

The Virtual Assistant Series:

• You’ve Hired A VA…Now What?!
• Doing “The Vulcan Mind” Meld With Your VA
• How To Manage Me – Tips From The VAs
• How To Manage VAs – 5 Tips From The Pros
• What Tasks Can I Assign To a VA?
• VA Coveted Skills & The Interview Questions You Need
• The #1 Hiring Mistake I’ve Made
• 4 Tips To Succeed As A Virtual Assistant

The Virtual Business Series:

• Lessons Learned Managing A Virtual Team
• 5 Tools For The Virtual Company
• Creating A Virtual Business
• No More Herding Cats – Easily Coordinate Meetings

Image purchased from istockphoto.