Posts Tagged ‘Capability’

Working as a Virtual Assistant (VA) means my entire business is based on-line, either through email, Skype and the telephone.  The only time I have face to face meetings is when I attend Networking events – which are a must to keep up on social skills and to actually speak out loud. It is very easy to agree with everything you say to yourself.

One of the drawbacks that can arise when working on-line is that I may not always see what the client does.  I can’t tell what they are  feeling.  Until technology takes another step forward how can I tell if they are they having a bad day.  How will I know if they have just lost an important project or that they are running out of time to meet a deadline?  As wonderful as technology is I can’t always tell from an email what frame of mind they are in.

Charles Green – founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates wrote an excellent article on this  A Customer Service Reality Check

It’s not a new theory and I am sure you will recognise some, if not all, of what he has to say. I have often said to friends, clients and even my children when they have received an email or text message that they don’t understand or misinterpret - “they may not have meant it that way”. However, I am grateful for the reminder that you never know what someone is thinking and it pays not to guess.  A little perception is required.  Listen, ask, and then take action.

Can you relate to Charles Green’s article?

We’ve all done it at some point – “my computer doesn’t work”,” I can’t get to grips with the program”,” it doesn’t work for me” and every other excuse we can find to “blame” the tool.

Of course the program works, so does the computer, what doesn’t work is our brain – it goes off on a tangent telling us we should have been able to produce that article in 5 minutes, let’s face it that’s what the program is meant to do – save us time isn’t it?

Well yes – and it does – but first you have to learn how to use it, just like anything else we have done in our lives – step by step, day by day, we get better, more accomplished, more adept at what we are doing but this only comes with practice.

Great article here by Chris Brogan – Hemingway’s Pencil. I can still hear my Father (a solid Lancastrian) who always said in his broad accent “it’s nowt (nothing) to do with the tool, it’s all to do with the bonce (head)”! and so it is.

Take yesterday, the Ryder Cup, what a fantastic conclusion to the event.  Why did the Europeans win?  What did they do differently?  Each player had a golf club, each a master of the game, all worthy of a place on the team.  They took control, they thought their game plan through and they didn’t let their emotions or mind games take over. More importantly they didn’t give up.

How many tools have you started to use and then let go of because they “didn’t work”?

Go back now and try again, give yourself some time, work through the process and one by one the pieces will come together, you will save time, you will produce the outcome you are looking for and then move on to the next “broken tool”.

I am lucky to have dream clients – as a self-employed person I am able to choose who I work with.  How about you – are you able to choose your clients?  Have you ever been in a situation where you wish you hand’t taken on a client  - if so – how did you deal with them? Did you find a way to work together or did you politely point them to another provider? Shay Howe explains - Turning All Clients Into Dream Clients.