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Virtual Monthly Tips
May 1, 2006
Issue 5
Sponsored by JERPAT
Patty Benton, Editor
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In this issue:
Note from Patty
Article-Customer Dis-Service Today
Tips-Outlook Tips by Andrea Kalli
Putting Your VA to Work for You!
Special Offer
Note from Patty
I have received several emails wondering why I haven't sent the
Virtual Insider and JERPAT's Monthly Tips. Those of you from
the Virtual Insider know that I have decided to create a newsletter
that will merge the needs of both subscriber lists. It has a
struggle for me, as I needed to decide how to bring the best
newsletter to my clients and subscribers but I have finally created
what I feel is the format that will best represent my goals. No
matter if you are a virtual assistant or other business owner working
with virtual assistants or working in the virtual world, we all have
the same struggles when working virtually. I have created
a format that will assist small business owners, that are not virtual
assistants, to receive tips on the virtual business world, working
with a virtual assistant, and tips on maintaining your
computer/utilizing Outlook, all of which my clients have expressed as
beneficial. For virtual assistants, this format will also
provide tips on working in the virtual world in which you can use to
grow your business, share with your clients, and even benefit your
clients.
I appreciate all your patience as we continue to grow and evolve in
this virtual world!
We look forward to hearing your suggestions, questions, and comments!
God
bless,
Patty Benton
JERPAT
Virtual Assistants and Web Designs
www.moretime4u.org
JERPAT VA Coaching
www.virtualvacoach.com
JERPAT VA Hosting
www.jerpat.org/jerpatHosting.htm
Acknowledging Christ Together at Work
www.actatwork.com
Customer Dis-Service Today
On any given errand day, I can walk into almost any store and deal
with a bad customer service representative. While looking for an
item, such as out-of-stock laundry detergent, I’m met with frowns,
blank stares, and “I don’t know” types of answers. Whatever happened
to great customer service and pride in one’s work?
Customer service can be defined as simply the ability to provide a
product or service in the way promised, but it should be viewed by
business owners and employees as so much more. Customer service
should be viewed as customer care. Not only should you treat your
customers the way you’d want to be treated, but you want to go above
and beyond even that. Customer care should be viewed as one of the
basic philosophies of your business. Without your customers, you
wouldn’t have a business. They should be treated with respect at all
times. Not only should you be providing the highest quality goods or
service in your market, but you should be doing so with the right
attitude, the highest amount of knowledge, technical support and
doing so with a smile.
Customer service is a dying art form in most businesses today. It’s
like they don’t care about their customers at all. Salespeople and
store employees often display a complete lack of respect for the
customers, no willingness to learn about the products or services
they’re representing, and even the lack of a smile on their faces.
Lack of good customer care leads to disgruntled customers who
complain to other potential customers about their bad experiences,
loss of income and potentially even a complete shut-down.
Customer service skills shouldn’t be employed only when customers are
complaining, nor should it be used only as a last resort by a manager
who’s called over to deal with an escalating situation. Customer
service should become one of the cornerstones of your organization.
Every contact with your business should leave the customer feeling
respected, cared about and content with the outcome.
Train your employees to think about angry/rude/impatient customer
situations like this:
1. Am I doing something to elicit this response from the customer?
2. Do I deserve this behavior?
3. Why is the customer acting this way? What can I do to improve it?
Any representatives of your business should always answer any and all
questions from your customers as promptly as possible, as politely as
possible and with a smile.
When you utilize good customer service skills and truly value your
customer’s place within your company, you will earn more business.
They will refer friends and family to you for the same great service
they received and they’ll keep coming back themselves. Let your
customers know that they’re the backbone of your business and build
relationships with them. Give them the “mom-and-pop” shop
sentimentality, even if your company is more like a mega-mall.
Looking for more resources on customer service? Visit:
www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz
www.customerservicemanager.com
Look out next month for our article on great customer service tips
that every small business should know!
Patty Benton is the owner of JERPAT
Virtual Assistants and JERPAT Web Design,
www.moretime4u.org, which
provides affordable administrative and web design support to coaches,
small businesses, religious organizations, and realtors.
Additionally, Patty is a coach for new entrepreneurs interested in
venturing into the virtual assistance industry that is affordable to
all, and she has also written an e-book that takes virtual assistants
through the process of setting up their business. Visit her coaching
site at
www.virtualvacoach.com for program details and great business
resources. She has also partnered to establish the ministry
Acknowledging Christ Together at Work
www.actatwork.com. If
you would like to receive Patty's articles and other tips in your
mailbox every month, you can sign up at
www.mortime4u.org/home.html.
© 2005 JERPAT
You have permission to reprint this article electronically or in
print, as long as the text and byline remain unedited. A courtesy
copy of your publication would be appreciated.
Outlook Tips
by Andrea Kalli
by Andrea Kalli
akalli@virtualassist.net
Tip #1
Drag and Drop --- a key component to keeping organized! You can
easily create new Outlook items from other Outlook items using drag
and drop. The hidden beauty of drag and drop is that whatever
information is in the message or notes area of the originating item
passes on to the message or notes area of the newly created
item...making for less typing, cut and pasting, etc. To name a few:
drag an email from your inbox to a contact folder and create a new
contact item. What's handy is if the email also contains the person's
phone numbers, websites, or addresses you can drag and drop those
individual pieces of information to their appropriate field from the
new contact record notes area. Again, less typing, cut and pasting,
etc. Drag an email to your task folder to create a new task. Drag an
email to your calendar folder to create a new appointment. Drag a
task from your task folder to your calendar folder to create a new
calendar item. Did you know you can create new Outlook items by
selecting specific text and dragging it to a folder? A new item form
opens with only the selected text in the Notes field or message body.
This is handy if the email message contains a lot of information you
don't really want to carry over into your new contact or appointment,
etc. Dragging HTML from a webpage to create a new task, email,
calendar, etc. works as well. Just reduce the size of the webpage in
your screen so you can see both your Outlook and the webpage at once.
dragging selected text from a Word document to create a new Outlook
task, email, calendar, etc. works too. Notes: It doesn't work with
all items types and text formats in all versions/service pack levels
of Outlook. If you receive an error, test it by selecting a block of
plain text. In Outlook 2003, you may receive errors if you use both
Unicode and ANSI (Outlook 97/2002 format) message stores and try to
create new items from existing items in the other message store
format. Not into drag and drop? Try copy and paste - use Ctrl+V to
paste copied text on a button or folder in Outlook to create an item
with the copied text in the Notes field. Have fun!
Tip #2
Think about adding your vCard to your AutoSignature. It provides a
universal business card that is not application specific. So when the
recipient receives your email they can quickly add you as a contact
to their own address book, no matter what kind they use. Start by
creating a new contact record in your Contacts folder for your
business. Provide all the needed information you would normally have
on a business card. Then create a new Signature for your emails, add
the vCard to it, and voila! You are ready to hand out your electronic
business card to every person you email.
Free videos available for the tips at
http://www.virtualassist.net/OutlookProductivityTips.htm.
Videos require Macromedia Flash plugin (you will be instructed to
download it if not already installed).
The Convenience of Virtual Training and
Assistance
Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC provides remote,
interactive Outlook 2003 training for small groups and one-on-one
sessions, as well as online support services for all versions of
Outlook, all at the comfort of your own desk or home PC. We offer
Outlook usability support for you or for all your employees. It's
like having an in-house Outlook expert! Empower your employees to use
the powerful collaboration features of Outlook with Exchange Server.
We focus on training users to get the most out of Outlook in the
business world. Onsite group Outlook training is available for the
Denver metro area of Colorado. Think about the immediate benefits to
virtual training...no more time spent driving, using valuable gas,
and looking or paying for parking. All this at a cost that is lower
than most traditional training classes. To learn more about this
unique way of learning please visit
www.virtualassist.net.
Putting Your VA to Work for You!
(adapted from 101 Plus Ways to Use a
Virtual Assistant (VA) from coachville.com)
I have
noticed lately that clients are really warming to the idea of having
their virtual assistance not only partner in their administrative
tasks, but in bookkeeping also. Imagine the stress of having
someone take the dreaded task of bookkeeping off your plate.
What would this entail? Here is an idea of how you can make it
work for you and your VA, modifying it to your businesses needs:
Utilize
our VA for bill paying services plus data entry into accounting
software. The client's bills can be mailed to a post office box
near your VA, or gather all your bills and mail them to your VA
periodically. Your VA can then handle your bills by:
1. Set up a checking account with payment authorization for
both you and your VA. As your bills are prepared for the month,
your VA can notify you on how much money to deposit into the account.
2. Prepare the checks for payment and mail them back to you for
signature and mailing.
2. Use on-line bill payment services. As bills are paid,
your VA then enters the transactions into your accounting software.
In
addition, your VA can reconcile your bank statements, enter credit
card transaction, prepare invoices, make and/or enter deposits, and
prepare end of month reports.
No
matter how you utilize your VA in your bookkeeping services,
establish procedures and be sure to communicate on a regular basis!
Special Offer
Are you sick of doing your bookkeeping?
If you can't remember when the last time you balanced your accounts
or had your accounts balance to the bank, you are need of a
bookkeeper!
1.
Contact us and we will provide a free consultation to analyze your
bookkeeping needs with recommendations on if a virtual assistant can
help alleviate your bookkeeping stress.
~AND~
2. Decide to use JERPAT to maintain your bookkeeping, we will
give you $5/hour off the hourly rate for one full year. This
discount is can be used in addition to retainer discounts!
Is JERPAT
already doing your bookkeeping? Receive 10% off your
bookkeeping this month, just by mentioning this issue to Patty before
May 31!
JERPAT
clients who are not receiving our bookkeeping services at this time,
contact us to be set up with our bookkeeping services and receive a
discount tailored to your existing payment plan.
Contact
us for a free consultation to see if we can help you! We have a
new 800 number. Leave a message and we are notified
immediately! 877-506-2637 ext. 702
(Good only for the month of May,
2006)
Contact
Patty Benton
va@jerpat.org
www.moretime4u.org
www.virtualvacoach.com
877-506-2637 ext. 702
(Call anytime, leave a message, and we are notified immediately!)
303.766.3051 9
am-5 pm MST Monday-Friday
This newsletter
was established for client's of JERPAT, potential client's of JERPAT,
business owners, virtual assistants, and/or any other party that may
be interested in working with a virtual assistant some time in the
future. If you work with another virtual assistance company, that is
great. Our goal is that you can take the knowledge you learn from
this newsletter and apply it to your business and your relationship
with your VA. If you are receiving this newsletter, it is because
you are a client or have expressed interest in the past in JERPAT, or
have at some point requested to receive this newsletter or were a
subscriber to the Virtual Insider.
We
respect your privacy, and if you wish to no longer receive this
newsletter in your mailbox once a month, please click here and your
name will be removed from our list. I hope this newsletter has
been a blessing to you and your business!
© 2005 JERPAT
No part of this
newsletter may be reproduced unless specified in the authors byline.
Please respect all guidelines provided in this newsletter. If there are
no guidelines provided for a section of this newsletter you would
like to reproduce, please send print request to
jerpattips@moretime4u.org.
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