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Virtual Monthly Tips
June 1, 2006
Issue 6
Sponsored by JERPAT
Patty Benton, Editor
Not sure how you got
on this list, visit the end of the end of the newsletter for info on
our subscriber base.
Missed one of our past issue? Click here
to view our archive.
In this issue:
Note from Patty
Article-Delivering the “Wow”
Factor
Tips-Outlook Tips by Andrea Kalli
Special Article-Knowing Your Value
Putting Your VA to Work for You!
Special Offer
Note from Patty
I can hardly believe that summer is here. As you read this
newsletter, I am enjoying time with family in Georgia, and then off
to Vegas for a vacation (and a wedding). Many of you will be
going on vacation this summer, and I just wanted to remind you of an
article I wrote last summer after traveling while working called
Traveling with Your Business,
http://www.moretime4u.org/articles/travelwithbusiness.htm.
It gives some helpful tips on doing it successfully!
This month we will be finishing up our series on
Customer Service. Next month we will be delving in Search
Engine Optimization, a hot topic for anyone with a business that does
ANY online advertisement.
Remember, I am always just an email
(va@jerpat.org) or phone call (877-506-2637 ext. 702)
away if you have any questions or would like to see us cover
something in the newsletter! Have a blessed month and enjoy the
warm weather!
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
Delivering the "Wow" Factor
“To give real service, you must add something which cannot be
bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.”
~Douglas Adams, Author
In this age of ever-declining customer service, it’s important that
we, as small business owners, take responsibility of our customer
service skills and really take care of our customers and clients. So
what are some GREAT customer service tips to make sure that your
customers always feel like they’re number one in your business?
Don’t let the “grumps” invade your business.
No matter how bad your day is going or your week, for that matter,
don’t ever let it invade any sort of communication with a client. If
you absolutely cannot deal with a customer problem at that moment,
let the phone call go to voicemail or let the email sit in your inbox
for a moment and take a break. Go outside, get a fresh breath,
whatever it takes… When you’re speaking to your client, get a smile
on your face and don’t get upset.
Turn the tables.
Go into any situation with a client with the following questions in
mind: If this were me, how would I want to be treated? What would I
be expecting to compensate me for my time, my unhappiness, etc.? How
would I feel?
Be honest with your customers.
Set out what you can and can’t do from the outset of your
relationship with your clients. Don’t propose doing things you don’t
know how to do and don’t accept assignments you can’t complete or
don’t know how to do. If, for some reason, you can’t meet an assigned
deadline, be honest with them about why you can’t meet it and ask for
an extension. Let them know as early as possible that you can’t meet
it and go from there.
Provide alternatives.
If you can’t do something that a customer asks of you, provide
alternatives, whether it’s farming some work out to a colleague as a
subcontractor or suggesting other professionals altogether. This not
only makes customers think you’re an honest businessperson, but it
often results in positive word of mouth.
Under-promise, over-deliver…
Whether it’s “padding” the time you quote for a project or giving
yourself a cushion on delivery time, always try to exceed their
expectations of what you’re doing for them. For example, if you tell
them you’re going to have a PowerPoint presentation proofread for
them in three days, get it done in two and maybe find some additional
clip art/photographs for them to use to “kick it up a notch.”
Record special dates in your clients’ lives and remember them.
Send hand-written notes for birthdays, anniversaries, special dates,
etc. And always send hand-written thank-you notes for special gifts
or bonuses received from them. While this may seem old-fashioned and
a little quirky, it means a lot more to someone than a quick email or
phone call.
Follow up with customers.
When you complete a project or order, don’t just leave them hanging
until they get your invoice or until they need you again. Follow up
with them to ensure that they got what they wanted and don’t need
something changed. Be proactive with your clients’ satisfaction
levels.
People are more likely to refer you on to their friends and
associates if they’re content with your level of customer care than
if you deliver a superior product. If your level of dedication and
honesty is there, the word-of-mouth advertising is priceless.
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
Create your own Outlook email stationery
Outlook offers a way to spruce up your email by creating your own
stationery. Just as long as you use HTML as your message format or if
you use Word as your message editor, you can use stationery to
enhance your message. Stationery is a preformatted theme, much like a
theme in FrontPage. Selecting stationery affects how fonts, bullets,
and horizontal lines are displayed within your message. You can
utilize one of the existing stationery formats in Outlook as a
starting place, or you can create it from scratch by using any HTML
editor, such as Word or FrontPage. I think the most important thing
to remember when creating it from scratch is that you have to save
the file AND any images that you are using in your stationery in the
appropriate location on your computer, C:\Documents and
Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Stationery. I have
also found that .jpg image files are more consistent than .gif image
files. There are different ways to use your stationery when sending
emails. You can set the stationery as default so all your emails use
it, or you can set the default to “none” and pick and choose when you
use the stationery by going up to Actions>New Message Using>and pick
the stationery or select More Stationery if yours is not in the list
yet. Another tip is if you want to use this stationery for an email
to a specified group of people you have some options: you can either
create a new email from your Inbox and use a Distribution List that
you would a have already created containing specific contacts, or you
can start the email from the Contact folder. This method requires you
to have the appropriate stationery set as the default first. Then by
selecting the contacts (my personal favorite for contact selection is
using the by Categories view), you’ll use Actions>New Message to
Contact.
It’s important to remember a couple of things about email stationery:
1) They create larger messages that are often unreadable by the
recipient.
2) As the sender, you cannot
control how all your recipients will see your email. Not everyone
accepts or welcomes HTML messages.
If you are not sure you want
to mess with creating your own stationery but you like the idea of
it, then you can either purchase 3rd party email stationery from
someplace like
www.crystalgraphics.com, or you can have stationery made
especially for you from someplace like
www.e-stationarydepot.com.
These links are provided for your convenience and does not mean that
we endorse them in any way. They will, however, provide you with the
opportunity to see what type of products are available.
Tip #2
Create your own HTML newsletter template
This is really just an extension of the tip provided for creating
email stationery. The only difference is that you set it up in a
table so you have a column style format that lends itself to look
more like a newsletter. In order to comply with no-spam laws your
newsletter distribution must allow for recipients to opt-out of
receiving it. It’s a good idea to put your opt-out disclosure in your
newsletter, maybe somewhere at the bottom. Then be diligent about
identifying your contacts that choose not to get your newsletter, and
do not include them in further newsletter distributions. The Outlook
category field is perfect for identifying your opt-out customers.
Then create a filtered view to easily locate those contacts that do
not have “opt-out” as a category. It also might be a good idea to
make a short note in the Notes field of your contact about their
choice to opt-out. As an alternative, there are many newsletter
services available on the internet. The costs are quite reasonable
and have many extras available for you to take advantage of. Some of
the more popular ones seem to be: Constant Contact, Vertical
Response, eNewsBuilder, and ezinedirector. There are many more and
you can do a quick internet search to find them. Many of these take
care of the opt-out responses from the recipients. Worth a look if
you want to hand over much of the newsletter work to someone else.
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.
Special Article
I receive a newsletter put
out by Robert Middleton, called More Clients. I thought this
was a great article, because many times we under value ourselves.
Enjoy, and see the end for details on how to get this newsletter
yourself!
Knowing Your Value
The third dumbest marketing
mistake in our series is one that is so
insidious that it's invisible to most of us. In speaking with
thousands
of Independent Professionals over the years I've asked this
question: "Do you think you're getting paid what you're worth?"
And never, not once in twenty two years has anyone said, "Yes, I
am." Everyone feels they are not getting paid what they are worth,
and yet almost nobody does anything about it.
Even if I gave you a dozen strategies to raise your rates or to
repackage your services for higher value, you'd likely have a
problem doing it because your "wealth thermostat" is set at a fixed
position that always springs back to where it was.
Your wealth thermostat is set for the amount of income you feel
comfortable earning in a year. Perhaps it's $50K or $100K or $200K
or $500K per year. And anything much beyond that level is not only
uncomfortable to you, it's downright scary.
Do any of the following statements seem true to you?
- You see money as a scarce commodity that's hard to get more of
(no matter what you earn).
- You think people that make more money than you do are morally
inferior to you (even while you envy them).
- You find it hard to invest in yourself (workshops, books
programs). Investments always looks like expenses to you.
- When you make good money you tell yourself that it won't last
or that it's not enough. The glass is always half empty.
- You feel virtuous when you work hard and do a good job, but
feel a little (or a lot) guilty when you charge a high fee.
All of these are symptoms of a scarcity mindset. And for some
reason, most of us seem to be afflicted with it to one degree or
another. Having money naturally flowing into our lives easily and
effortlessly is a foreign concept to most of us.
Starting to Value Yourself
What can you do to start moving from a scarcity to a sufficiency or
abundance mindset? There are a lot of ways, and I won't pretend
that you can change your whole money mindset overnight, so I want
to focus on one simple thing - what you actually charge your clients.
What you're going to do is change the settings on your wealth
thermostat. It's a simple, 5-step process that won't take long and
will help you shift your perception of the value of your services.
1. Make a list of the things you have helped your clients with. This
should be a long list that includes everything you can think of.
2. Narrow this list down to just five clients that you had the most
success with and try to estimate the actual value each client
received from you. Make it as tangible as possible.
3. Next ask yourself, given the actual value that each client
received, what would be a fair price for your services? How does
this compare to the price you actually charged?
4. Now take this new, fairer price that's based on real value
provided and double it. So if you originally charged $1,000 and a
fair price would be $2,000, then write down $4,000.
5. Then do this exercise out loud (with yourself or a friend): What's
your price for this project? You: The price for this project is
$4,000. Repeat several times over a period of time until it feels
natural and easy to say it.
The next time you quote a price at the real value of $2,000, it will
seem very reasonable, if not downright cheap. You will have shifted
your wealth thermostat and it will feel much more comfortable
charging higher fees.
Not only that, the prospect will show less resistance in paying those
fees. As this new wealth setting becomes a reality for you, it
becomes a reality to others.
Try it, it works!
The More Clients Bottom Line: You're as wealthy, successful and as
valuable as you think you are. Before you earn more money, you need
to believe you are worth more. Change your wealth thermostat and
money will start to come more easily, with less struggle.
Share your thoughts on this topic and your experiences of charging
for your services on the More Clients Blog.
http://www.actionplan.blogs.com
By Robert
Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit
Robert's web site at
www.actionplan.com for additional
marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional
service businesses.
Putting Your VA to Work for You!
(adapted from 101 Plus Ways to Use a
Virtual Assistant (VA) from coachville.com)
Since
summer is upon us, and vacations are ahead of us, I thought this tip
was a good idea that many don't think about.
You are
going out of town for that much needed vacation. Ask your
virtual assistant if they can call in once or twice a day and
retrieve your messages from voicemail. They can then respond to
routine requests, let the caller know you are out of town and will be
back in the office on "xx" date, or contact you with any urgent
messages. OR, leave your Virtual Assistants number on your
recording for anyone with urgent needs to contact.
What
about your emails? Are you going to have limited access to no
access to your mailbox? Set up forward so that all your
messages will forward to your Virtual Assistant. They can
respond to the ones that are urgent, and for the ones that are urgent
and need to be handled by you, they can contact you.
I
personally line up another virtual assistant to manage anything that
may come up so that my clients don't come to a stand still just
because I am on vacation. For me, it is a piece of mind that if
anything comes up for my clients, they are still taken care of.
For them, it is also piece of mind also! Remember that customer
service is important, and this is just one more step to showing your
customers you care!!
Special Offer
Are you heading out of town on a vacation?
Let us help you manage your voicemails or emails. Contact us
for a custom tailored package. Mention this newsletter issue,
and get 10% of your package for new clients and 20% for existing
clients. (Please Note: We do not take incoming calls, but can
arrange to check your voicemail. If you would like someone to
answer your calls, please contact us for a reference.)
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 through August 31,
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
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