Working With a Variety of Client Styles
Feb 04, 2019
As Virtual Assistants, most of the time, we work with people we’ve never met. It took me a while to get used to this, particularly since different people can have very different work and communication styles.
Every client is different.
Some prefer emailing me their work, some want to talk to me on the phone, still others use project management software to delegate to me.
Given all the styles and personalities, there’s a good chance for miscommunication about expectations.
Here are some tricks I’ve learned along the way:
- Take notes. When I talk to clients on the phone and they’re giving my assignments, I take copious notes in Evernote. I write down almost word for word their instructions. That way, when I come back to the work hours (or days) later, it’s as if they’re explaining it to me all over again and in their own words. Before we hang up I read back the highlights of my notes to my client to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
- Plan before taking action. If I’m reading the request, for example, I read it more than once before I jump in. I think through the sequence of how the work will be done so I can be efficient and thoughtful about the end result.
- Ask questions. If I’m not sure or something doesn’t seem to fit together, I stop and ask questions. I include screen shots when I can and review my questions a couple of times before sending/calling to make sure they’re clear (sometimes, just doing this helps me figure out the question by myself).
- Suggest improvements. As a VA, I do much of the same work, over and over again, for different clients. That means I often have a better handle on what and how things need to be done. I’m not shy about making suggestions that might work better or save my clients some money.
Working with a variety of clients is part of what makes being a VA so much fun. Keep things on track, though, by managing the different types of clients and communication styles you’re bound to run into!
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