communication with virtual assistants
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How To Improve Communication Skills And Communicate Better With Your Virtual Assistants
How to improve communication skills is part-14 of the second interview from Stefan from Germany, who lives the Four Hour Work Week lifestyle in Thailand.
Click here to read part 13 – Real life experience about Asian work ethics
Summary:
- If your virtual assistant does not communicate regularly, just tell him clearly that you need daily communication if he doesn’t work on a day.
- Try to get them in the position where they are at. You have to have a little bit of empathy when working with another human being especially from another culture.
- This is a lifetime investment. You cannot say I haven’t gotten anything so I will not invest. You have to trust that you will get something in the future and, therefore, you invest.
Start of the Interview:
Francis:
I think being in contact with other cultures also opens you up a lot and you learn a lot. And that’s an experience which is not to be paid with money.
So if you see “Oh, this is a misunderstanding.” Take it with a grain of humor, “Ooh, aren’t the Asians different from us? Ha-ha” – like that.
And, perhaps, also explain to the other party “Okay, we had a misunderstanding. Our country when we do it like that, we mean it like that.”
Then, everyone can laugh and then she can learn or the cleaning person can learn and you can adapt. And then you get everyone, sort of, happy, I guess.
Stefan:
That’s the idea, at least. Now it worked out, let’s see what’s happening in the future, in real life. But this is also a very good example for what’s happening in outsourcing.
Basically, same stuffs happened actually.
Francis:
Yeah. And so if your virtual assistant is knocking too silently on your door, for example, with the daily communication then you have to tell them. This is not impolite; I want it done.
I think the big issue with providers from Asia is that they don’t assess themselves with a lot of force like you would expect it from our culture. So they won’t hit on the table and say “Okay, now we’re doing this!” – like that.
They will be passive often, in general, if I make stereotypes here. They will be more passive and see what happens. And you have to adapt to that. You tell them what they think.
You tell them, for example, “Okay and know that if you don’t do your job or if you cannot do your job; you might feel unworthy or you might feel embarrassed. And it’s okay to feel embarrassed but please still write me. It’s worse if you don’t write me and feel embarrassed than if you write me and feel embarrassed.”
Try to get them at the position where they are at. You have to have a little bit of empathy when working with another human being especially from another culture.
That’s also part of your job if you are an employer. As much work as it does sound, that’s still also your responsibility.
Stefan:
That’s a responsibility of wealth as when you already have something out of this employee. On the beginning of a relationship, most of the time, you don’t have anything from that person at all. So why should you care?
Francis:
Because you want to have the results in the future. Therefore, you should care.
Stefan:
But he didn’t deliver any result yet.
Francis:
And he will not until you adapt you communication style.
Stefan:
Okay.
Francis:
See, this is an investment in to the future. You cannot say I haven’t gotten anything so I will not invest. You have to trust that you will get something in the future and, therefore, you invest.
I know this is a difficult subject.
Stefan:
This is difficult. Yeah, totally.
How Effective is Video Screen Recording in Communicating Your Virtual Assistant?
Video screen recording is part-5 of an interview with Eric, a fellow entrepreneur interested in outsourcing his work to virtual assistants all over the world.
Follow along to learn from our experience on working with VAs!
Summary:
- Video screen recording as a tool in communicating with your virtual assistant across the globe gives your outsourcing effort the ultimate edge.
- How effective and reliable is video screening in relaying insights and ideas with your virtual assistant?
- What are the odds with audio-video application and video screening as a tool to channel instruction?
Start of the Interview:
Francis
I would like to go back to the basic research that you were not able to get overnight and that was not making you happy at the beginning.
Assuming that you have read the transcript from this interview and you’ll say, “Okay, at the beginning, start with very basic tasks.”
Even if you say, “Okay, now I finally hired a virtual assistant. It took me a week to find the right candidate and lots of time to hire and interview. And now, we finally have them and have given them the Dropbox account and whatever.” Now you just want to get to work.
I can’t totally relate to that since now I’m looking for a full-time VA to expand my team because I have so many ideas just itching in the back of my head wanting to get them out. But, I need the assistant to invest the time to get those ideas running. Because, to be honest, I, myself am not disciplined enough and willing to put the time into it, nor effective enough at working online in comparison to my assistants that I can do it myself.
Eric
Right. One of the things that I thought that I should have done was be on Skype more with my virtual assistant.
At the beginning, I was a little apprehensive to get on Skype with them. I thought that I could just basically use the chat function in Elance or the program that you use and that would be sufficient. And just send them over a text document and then they could just get to work.
And I realized that’s not how things need to be. There needs to be a one on one communication with each other just like we’re doing right now talking with your virtual assistant.
Let them hear your voice, let them see your face so that they can get to know you a little bit better. So that you can know them and make form that relationship with one another.
And also one thing that I wish that I would have done was started using Skype share screen.
Because, I think that if they can follow you and you can show them exactly what it is that you’re doing. And, then if they have any questions, they can ask you right then and there.
Well, you know, “Okay, Eric, I don’t understand exactly what you’re doing. Could you show me that one more time? Or could you explain that in a different way so that when I do that I won’t have to ask you another question later.”
I think if I have done that at the beginning that I wouldn’t have had as many problems. Because, then it would have kind of gotten rid of the whole delay process of back and forth questions between the two of us.
Francis
Okay. It’s funny that you say that because I have heard the same feedback from a friend of mine, another entrepreneur, who said it’s crucial to him that the virtual assistant has Skype access and is willing to Skype.
Eric
Yeah.
Francis
Because, even when you watch videos, you expect a lot of going back and forth question and answer. And to be honest, the feedback I received almost always from my virtual assistants, even new ones when I make videos, is that they say everything is clear and it’s much better than emails.
Then, in general, they just give some feedback of work and then I make another video commenting the new skill level. And then after sometime, it really is optimized.
And, I believe that if I put the time into connecting with Skype, waiting until the other party has set up their mic, etc; it would take much longer. And so to speak, my time is very valuable.
So, I try to find the most time effective way to communicate. And perhaps, it’s my way of talking in the recordings that’s different than others. I do not know.
But, in my experience, screen recording were always sufficient and it did not leave open very many questions. So, perhaps, we have to talk about how to record a screen recording so that we can communicate effectively.
Eric
Well, yeah. I think my issue was that because I tried to do the screen recording and it seemed to be okay, there was still a couple of questions that they would have.
And I think, as the person who’s used to doing that task, if somebody who’s familiar with that task and is used to doing it over and over again, I think that it’s harder for us to explain it to somebody who’s never done it before.
Francis
Oh, yeah. That’s true especially with propriety systems like content management systems or especially the SBI! system. But, as a side bar, so to speak, the SBI system has the big advantage that it has lot of training materials built in.
And just tell him, “Here, read this guide. Read this article then watch this video. Then come back if you have a question.”
Eric
Yeah, definitely. But, I think the problem is that like I’ve done something 150,000 times so when I go to explain to them, I’m not going to be as detailed because to me it seemed simple to me compared to somebody who’s never seen that platform before. It makes absolutely no sense.
So, I think that one of the things that we need to remember as employers when we’re hiring a virtual assistant is to remember that the virtual assistant may have never been exposed to anything like that before.
We need to be a little more careful when we’re explaining and not go too fast or not to skip these steps. Because, a lot of times, we’ll do little tricks or whatever that we’ve learned from using the software or using whatever it is and then skip over steps that leave room for confusion or places for misinterpretation of what we want done.
Francis
I also have made the experience of encouraging my assistants to look for the solution themselves and its good. So, for example, let’s say at the basic task, you have a research.
You have a research that’s more complex than you think yourself. But, perhaps you can tell me. Are you willing to tell me about the research and perhaps leave out critical information that’s sensitive to your business?
Eric
Yeah, definitely not a problem. Basically, what I wanted my assistant to go in and look for is, I wanted him to do research on different backlinks of a competitor and then give me a spreadsheet so that I could go through it and contact the people who were linked in to my competitors site.
I can’t remember exactly what the program was at the time but it was just a basic backlink checker software or a website and I would have them go in and type the URL of all of my competitors and then go in and find what is linking back to them.
And then find the contact forms and contact information for those people in those sites that I could send them an email to possibly get a link to my site.
Francis
Okay. Yeah. This is actually not so complicated for a research but I can see a few details that might put off the virtual assistant or take them longer than you imagine yourself.
So, if you have a small task like this, especially in the beginning, it would be more helpful than if you start with more complicated stuff.
Continue reading part 6 – Getting started with a virtual assistant
Communication With Virtual Assistants – Learn The Ethical Standards From An Employer’s Point Of View
Communication with virtual assistants is part-10 of an interview with Eric, a fellow entrepreneur interested in outsourcing his work to virtual assistants all over the world.
Follow along to learn from our experience on working with VAs!
Summary:
- Employer and virtual assistant communication made easier through audio-video recording software.
- How to make communication comfortable and easier between employer and virtual assistant
- Find out what are the dilemmas with outsourcing and how communication plays a major role to make it easier
Start of the Interview:
Francis
So, recording your video and dropping it in your Dropbox and not waiting until it’s just synchronized just going away as your computer does the work; that saves some time.
Trying to have the questions at once and pre-answered will somehow save the time. But, what else could we talk about to make the communication with your assistant more effective?
Eric
I think the thing is that one of the main difficulties for me was being able to communicate with them even though the time zones were completely different. Because I think that in the Philippines and the United States, I think it was around a 12 hours time difference.
So, it was the middle of the night here when she was working and when I am awake, it was the middle of the night for her. That was one of the difficulties that I noticed was having to try to work things out to where we could communicate together and talk about certain things.
Francis
Okay. Funny, I have had the experience with both my main assistant and with my last candidate for full time VA. Both of them are sort of night owls. They can work pretty late into the night especially the assistant from the Philippines.
I’ve asked her if she couldn’t just switch to 9-5 job because I felt bad for her. She was working like 5 in the morning. I was feeling really bad. I said, “Okay, please go to sleep now.” And she was, “No, no. I like this and I’m feeling more productive at night and it’s less hot. And the internet has better quality.”
Especially, in the Philippines, I think it would be a good option to ask if she can slightly adjust to your schedule. So not like 12 hours but perhaps stay up a little bit later, in general, one of you. I think that would have been an option.
Eric
Well, and I think too, I mean, there were some times where I would say, will it be possible to meet at 8 o’clock?
It will be 8 o’clock at night for me and 8 o’clock in the morning for her. And that usually wasn’t much of a problem because it’s not super late for me but it’s not also too early for her. Or even 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock, you know what I mean?
Francis
Yeah, that’s perfect.
Eric
I think that’s not very much of a problem. It’s just being able to communicate at the same time
You know what I’m saying, it’s important to find time to sit down and talk about things and to show her certain things that I wanted done.
Francis
Okay. One idea that comes to my mind is – but I never tried this to be honest – to ask your virtual assistant to create screen recordings with her questions.
So, because you’re using voice recordings or screen recordings, you are able to convey much more information than with emails. Even emails with screenshots are more effective than emails.
Because sometimes you cannot put in words what your problem is. For example, if the assistant has to do a quite complicated process and you don’t know really where she’s stuck at and she isn’t able to convey this very effectively, then there’s a lot of going back and forth questions.
It would make sense to say, “Okay, please go to task. Start recording a 5 minute video and talk–explaining what you’re doing as you do in 5 minutes.”
Click around and then you look at it critically when you have the video. For example, if you cannot go online on Skype.
Eric
That was one of the things that I might actually do. As they come across something, they would send me screenshot of the area they were struggling with.
So that I could see exactly what it was that they had a problem with? Then it made it a whole lot easier for me when I was trying to explain to them what they need to fix.
So, I could say okay, “You know that short cut won’t work, try using this shortcut or you need to try to do this, because I can then see exactly what’s on our screen.”
Francis
Okay. Yeah, I think that’s effective. Because, then, you don’t have to guess what the problem is.
Sometimes as they go, you just want to stop them. If you had a phone call, you would just stop them and say “No, no, don’t do it.” But the video is then the next best solution.
Eric
Right.
Continue reading part 11 – Learn how to setup initial tasks with virtual assistants
Communication In Business With VAs
Insider Knowledge from an Interview with Eric
Eric and I had an info-packed Skype call where we discussed the ins and outs of efficient communication in business with your Virtual Assistants.
Eric
- teaches the piano,
- uses the same website and business building system as I
- and works with virtual assistants.
We decided to share this interview with you, so that you can learn from our experience. It is divided in sections by topic. Feel free to scroll down and read about the
Communicate with your Virtual Assistant effectively
If you start outsourcing without knowing how to communicate with your VAs the right way, your efforts may fail! How you communicate with each other will build or break your business.
We share in the first part of this interview our insights about effective virtual assistant communication – as well as…
- pitfalls,
- productive habits
- and trust building steps
Maximize the results of your VAs
The best imaginable Virtual Assistant is one who thinks, works and is motivated like a better clone of yourself. Just one that has more time and procrastinates less.
In the interview, we discuss how to get closer to that perfect administrative virtual assistant – without paying big bucks.
Hint: it’s about
- Finding the right fit for you – and knowing how to find that
- Being as honest with your VA as he should be with you
- The right ongoing training and feedback
Ongoing work revisions to reach your goals
At the beginning, you will not quite be at this perfect state with your VA. He will have to re-work his work to adapt to your expectations.
Not to say your VA will do a bad job. That’s not often the case if you instruct him right. But to find the way “you like it” he will need time to adapt to you.
In order not to get too expensive, it makes sense that you discuss the terms of the training period. For me, it is always paid working time.
However, negotiating work revisions with your virtual assistant makes business sense. And saves you money and/or time.
Learn from your assistant
If you think you are the one with all the knowledge and your assistant is the “trainee” without any experience – you risk missing some of the hidden good stuff that comes with having a VA.
Your VA will surprise you with his experience, if you encourage him to give you his honest feedback. This is a tricky skill to master.
But as we go through this part of the interview, Eric and I discuss the fine details of how to maximize giving feedback back and forth.
Tell your VA what you want with maximum efficiency
When you have a VA, you will soon see that you need to discuss many detailed things with him. Email communication can be tedious and easy to misunderstand.
Years of experience working with Vas have taught me that recording your screen with audio is, by far, the most efficient way to talk to your VA.
It’s
- Independent from time zone differences (better than using Skype),
- Faster than email
- And can be reviewed as often as needed by your VA.
Especially with freshly-hired VA’s, you will see it’s the best for establishing trust and giving you an approachable voice.
Kick-Start with a newly hired VA
Now we talk about getting started with a virtual assistant.
Hiring an affordable VA from Asian cultures (not a professional VA for 50$/hour from the US) comes with its challenges.
- The biggest one at the beginning is breaking the ice and building trust.
- On the other hand, you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your VA as fast as possible.
Only then you can make the right decisions for your business going forward.
Increase Productivity of your VA with the right communication channels
Optimizing your virtual assistant communication channel can improve the output you receive from your VA.
On the other hand, screening your assistant too closely, or giving him the impression that you scrutinize his every move can put too much pressure on your assistant.
Each VA is different.
- Some, if not most of the VAs will greatly appreciate the advantages of modern software supported global communication in business matters.
- Some will need more encouraging and positive feedback to make sure they don’t feel too much pressure.
Listen to what your VA is telling you – it will help your business
In this next interview part, Eric and I discuss the importance of being open to the concerns of your VAs.
Sometimes, the expectations of your VA and you, the employer, will be different. It’s important to have an open ear for suggestions and feedback. This will also make it easier to improve
- the communication with
- and the results of
your VAs.
Sending big files to your Virtual Assistant
Don’t clog up your email outbox and your VA’s inbox. There are more efficient tools to share and update big files with your VA.
Time is money. Don’t waste your money on waiting for the file transfer of bigger files.
This is especially useful as sometimes VAs from eastern Asian countries don’t have the fastest internet connections (due to weather etc.).
The video recordings from your instructions are good examples of such big files. They make talking with your VA easier.
Start with easy tasks for your new VA
It’s easy to overwhelm a new virtual employee with tasks that are
- too many
- too complicated.
In the next part of this interview, Eric and I discuss how to set up initial tasks efficiently, without confusing your VA.
And we stress the importance of positive feedback loops with your new VA.
Firing someone is hard – but necessary if the assistant is not the right fit for you
Next, we talk about an aspect of outsourcing that is no fun, but sometimes necessary. And it gets talked about much too little. It’s about firing a VA in a human and professional way – if the VA doesn’t fit your business.
Especially when you start out with outsourcing, it’s very easy to get emotionally attached to “your” VA too early.
Hiring and firing is closely connected, when it’s about screening for the right assistant to keep long-time.
Full-time VA or hourly based VA – what’s the better choice?
Now that you followed the interview far enough to imagine having found the perfect assistant – what’s missing?
A decision: is your assistant a
- full time, 40hrs a week working VA?
- project based, hourly paid VA?
There’s much difference between both of them, both in regards to long term gains and involvement levels.
The discussion discusses the ins and outs of part-time vs. full-time virtual assistants – but the one lesson you must keep in mind is:
Both types of VAs have their place, advantage and uses for your business. There’s no one-stop solution for every situation.
Getting serious: starting steps with a full-time VA choice?
Eric works more with project based VAs, and I have started to work with a full-time VA from the Philippines. In case you choose to go with a full-time virtual assistant, there are lessons to be learned in our interview to avoid wasting time and money during the
- screening for
- training of
- communicating with
your full-time VA.
Scaling up: best practices for handling a team of virtual assistant
Handling more than one VA is more of a challenge than you think. Follow Eric’s and my advice of how to best take control and reap the full rewards of a team of virtual assistants.
My best advice:
“Start out with one assistant who knows you well, and let him support you with training any new assistant coming into your team!”
If you are working with a flexible team of VAs, and need one place to manage them and your projects well, there is one tool I recommend from experience. It can be used with the lean management philosophy, and is at the same time very intuitive. And last but not least, it’s a free tool.
Check out our review of using Trello to manage a team of VAs.
Leave advanced work to short term hired specialists
What do you do when you have a challenging job to outsource that needs specialists?
It’s sometimes much too expensive to train a full-time general VA to do a specialist’s job.
Sometimes, just hiring someone who has mastered a skill set (e.g. creating a video professionally) for an increased hourly rate. Or for a project-based fixed price.
(Please also see a discussion about fixed price vs. hourly rate on my preferred outsourcing platform)
Did you follow up to here?
Congratulations!
Your thirst for knowledge will reward you with great results!
In the final parts of this interview, we digress a bit on a tangent. But for the sake of completeness, I kept the transcripts anyways. If you have the same questions, this might be of some use.
First, we brainstorm a bit about using YouTube videos to promote our businesses, and how this can be supported with the help of our Virtual Assistants. Also, YouTube can be a great resource to train your assistants new skills!
Just think about the huge number of great instructional videos on this platform alone.
Later, we discuss how to best analyze traffic stats and Google Analytics from YouTube related traffic.
Mastering making the best of your existing traffic is your job, not your VA’s!
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