A really important part of working as a Virtual PA is being able to manage expectations in relation to your clients.

Example: If a client gives you a piece of work and says there’s no rush, go back and ask them for a  deadline date.  Don’t presume it can be left until the client chases up for it, get a proper deadline.

Example: You’ve been asked to check and manage the client’s emails and respond to new enquiries on their behalf.  Ask the client how often they expect you to check their emails.  Is it first thing in a morning, lunchtime and around 4.00pm each day, Monday to Friday?  Get it confirmed with the client.

Judgement call

Here’s an example question from a VA team member who had just started working with a client in their first few weeks:

This was the response sent to the VA.

It really is up to you on this, as a judgement call.

I realise you were sat waiting for Paul to attend an arranged Teams meeting for 20 minutes, due to Paul being involved in a traffic accident (and yes, I hope he’s ok).

In the past I worked for a speech therapist who always seemed to be involved in some kind of drama, with situations that happened that I felt were out of both of our control and that I didn’t feel comfortable charging for.

BUT

I did flag it up with the speech therapist after this happened a couple of times and I felt like I was being taken advantage of, explained in the nicest possible way, that it was taking up my time and even though I didn’t want to charge, I felt I had to.

By bringing it to Paul’s attention, should it happen again (which I think it might as he’s very disorganised) – you charging your time for him being late, might make Paul ‘take a bit more ownership’ and get more organised.

Jess already said that Paul needs someone to be firm with him and Paul has said he won’t be offended if you have to bring certain things to his attention, like time management.  Paul is very easy going.

I’ll leave this with you, if you want to discuss more, just call me.

Thanks Tracey

TASK TO CARRY OUT

Read: Managing Expectations Using Your Initiative and answer this question.

  1. If the client specifically asks you to carry out only 10 hours per month, how would you monitor this to make sure you do not go over the allotted time?

Read: Questions To Ask Your Client and answer these questions.

  1. Name three different things you should ask about when getting to know your new client and how they work.
  2. If you are expected to deal with new enquiries by email or phone on behalf of therapy client, what information would you want to ask the new enquirer?
  3. If the client had a team of five associate therapists and you were expected to support everyone in the company, what would you want to know about them to provide the best possible service?

Where it asks you to complete questions – lay them out on a Word document, showing the question and your answer underneath. Then send your Word document to tracey@virtual-administration.com.

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