If you have been following my social media posts on the Business Darlings blog you know that I am the self-proclaimed ‘QR Code VA’.

I love QR codes!

As a marketer, QR codes are a great way for virtual assistants and their clients to promote products and services to a targeted market.

All you need is a smartphone and a QR reader application.

My last post on Business Darlings explains how to use QR codes to promote a contest which I am running right here on my blog and on my Facebook page!

Win a $25 Restaurant.com e-gift certificate to the restaurant of your choice.  All you need to do is enter your best guess as to what you think is behind this QR code.

Here’s what you do:

Use your smart phone with a QR reader app and scan this code.

Take your best guess as to what you think this is…

Enter your guess here on this blog

Hint: It is something on my virtual assistant office desk

I will randomly choose a winner from all the correct guesses on March 30^th and announce the winner here on my blog.

Good luck and Happy QR to you!

If you want to learn more about QR codes for Virtual Assistants, check out my YouTube tutorial.

Note that when using www.SocialQRCode.com for Facebook as depicted in the video, only the Facebook ‘name’ is needed and not the entire URL.

The client consultation call is the first opportunity to learn whether or not a potential client will work successfully with a virtual assistant before the contract is signed.

The VA must listen carefully during the consultation call to pick up on any tell-tale clues of disrespect of the virtual assistant position along with any potential payment issues.

Any one or more of the following scenarios may be a red flag warning that a potential client (PC)  might become a future difficult client.

Here are some situations which may arise that you should consider before signing the client contract:

Pre-consultation

• Does the PC keep the schedule consultation appointment?
• If the PC is late in keeping the appointment, does he care enough to get back to you within a few hours to reschedule?
• If the PC is late or never made the consultation appointment, was the excuse something ‘reasonable’?  (“I forgot about our client consultation call” is not a suitable excuse.)

During the consultation call

• Is the PC frequently interrupted or does he place the virtual assistant on hold?
• Does the PC speak only about his needs and never ask the virtual assistant about her business policies and procedures?
• Does the PC ask to barter services during the consultation call? Does the PC ask about bartering even before rates are discussed? (Big Red Flag)
• Is the PC ‘picking the virtual assistant’s brain’ for details about ‘how to do something’?

After the consultation

• Does the PC receive the virtual assistant welcome packet and custom cover letter, yet he never responds to that email?
• If the PC receives the welcome packet, does he only respond with rate-related questions?
• Does he try to ‘make a deal’ to lower the virtual assistant’s rates?
• Does he ask for a probation period for virtual assistant services?
• Does he fail to respond to any of the virtual assistant’s follow-up emails?
• Does he say he ‘may not have enough work’?
• Is the PC is bothered by the customary service deposit?
• Does the PC refuse to work with a contract?
• Does the PC only respond using a mobile phone?
• After spending time on the client consultation call, offering ideas as to the solutions a virtual assistant can provide does the PC fail to offer a determination as to whether he will begin partnering with a virtual assistant?

Each question listed above, singularly does not always mean that this may not be an ideal PC for your virtual assistance practice.  The potential client may have a good reason that he missed the scheduled call.  He may not have access to a computer (temporarily) and can only send short messages via mobile phone.  He may have had legitimate interruptions during the client consultation call and need to reschedule.

However, the key to a good VA-client relationship centers on respect for both parties, the ability to pay for services rendered, maintaining consistently good communication and the ability for the PC to be decisive.

If you have a potential client who gives off one or more of these red flags during the consultation call…beware! Run, don’t walk!

I have had the opportunity to work on virtual assistant teams with clients and I have engaged with other virtual assistants heading up their own teams.

And although a gathering of the minds at a physical table setting is an ideal arrangement; permitting the participants to interpret each other’s facial expressions and body language, leading a virtual team via a conference call is much more complex simply because the participants cannot see each other.

We are social beings. When meeting someone new, we receive cues and make judgments using our five senses to assess individual attributes. When using only our ears to assess one another, our minds pass judgement with considerable limitations. So it is important that rules and code of conduct are stated ahead of time by the leader of the teleconference.

Rules allow us to view each other on the same playing field.  Rules also creates boundaries for behavior and protocol.

When we know the rules, and what is expected of our behavior, we can respect each other and not be so quick to judge.

The success of any virtual team requires a strong, diplomatic leader. Without these personal qualities the group will not be cohesive.

Here are my suggestions for a successful team leader:

Dial-in early on the virtual or teleconference call before everyone else appears. This will give the leader time to chit-chat before the event occurs. A little round of social activity helps participants to ease into becoming more comfortable with people who cannot be seen and who may be complete strangers.

Create rules and announce these to the group before the teleconference begins. Such as:  No private conversations between members on the group call.

Specify a timeframe for the call (one hour, half hour, etc.) and stick to that time. Watch the clock. If you run over the time, say so and ask if anyone wants to stay on to finish up. This shows the group that the leader respects the participants’ time.

Introduce the participants to each other preferably with a little blurb about each other. For example, “This is Janine Gregor of Your Virtual Wizard. She is a marketing virtual assistant and I welcome her to the group.”  This action also sets the tone for the call and clearly states who is leading the call.

Ask the participants to briefly say ‘hello’ and announce where they are from. Introductions help break the ice.

Have someone take notes and send out a ‘minutes of the meeting’ when the call has commenced. Provide a recording link after the meeting and send that within 24 hours thanking everyone for their participation.

If you want to initiate a Q & A after the topic is discussed, say so. If you want to elicit questions during the call, then advise participants how comments can be made.

If a question is asked during the call which is not relevant to the topic, tell the participants to send you an email and you will be glad to respond to that question.

If an individual’s work is to be reviewed during the call, ensure that the comments are constructive and not critical. There is nothing worse than having a team member publicly criticized by a peer.

Create an outline of the teleconference topics to be discussed and distribute this before the teleconference so that everyone has a copy. If you assign a particular topic to a participant, include their name on the outline so that they can prepare ahead of time and not be caught ‘cold’ on the call.

The most important aspect to running a successful team call is to make it clear who is the leader on that call. I once worked with a coach who assigned the conference calls leadership aspect to an online business manager (OBM). The problem with this set-up was that the work that I did was for the coach so when I contributed my thoughts to the group call, the OBM actually acted as the interpreter between myself and the coach. That made for a very uncomfortable and odd arrangement.

My rule of thumb…if the team is working for you and you pay their wages, you are the leader and therefore, you run the virtual group call.

Janine Gregor

As a virtual assistant, I am often asked, “What DO you DO?”

With about 5 seconds to capture the asker’s interest before succumbing to the ‘glazed over-deer-in-the-headlights-look’ with my traditional, boring response, I decided to shake things up a bit…and respond with a question instead.

Now I know this goes against what my mother taught me, “Don’t answer a question with a question” but she’ll forgive me for breaking the rules!

You see, as a virtual assistant…these are two words which do not really mean much at all to folks outside of the coaching, speaker, author or real estate professional industries, which tend to utilize my services more often for administrative and website work.

Explaining to folks what is I do through running off a list of services I offer rarely works either. And, when individuals learn my office is based out of my home that is the trigger that maybe I do not have a ‘real job’.

Even my best elevator speech does not seem to get my point across.

I have an identity problem.

So confusion sets in and I still have not really explained what it is I do for a living.

So when I am asked, “What DO you DO?” I answer instead with, “Have you ever?”

So, Janine, “What is it that you do?”
Have you ever sat down to create a blog using WordPress and realized you did know how to upload the theme to your website?

Answer: Well, I create blogs for customers who want to promote their services online to a broad audience. I also write blog posts, offer up ideas for those who wish to write their own posts and edit those who send me their posts to upload.

So, Janine, “What is it that you do?”
Have you ever looked at stacks of business cards and wondered who within those cards is waiting for a sales call?

Answer: I can take those cards, update your client database so we can collaborate and send out email messages, ezines and events notices to your clients via autoresponder programs.

So, Janine, “What is it that you do?”
Have you ever written articles and wondered what else could be done with them?

Answer: Well, I can post your articles to varying ezine sites. I can repurpose your articles for blog posts and archive those articles on your website for your visitors to download.

Using Have you ever to explain what a virtual assistant does is so much easier when the services are broken down in small bites. Rather than explain what a VA does, I explain what it is I have done and what I can do for them through examples. Clients see more value in this type of explanation…and no one has, thus far corrected my manners.

In my last post, Cut That Client Loose…It Happens!, I offered tips for VAs whose clients are non-communicators and slow-payors. Should the VA’s best attempts to communicate with a difficult client result in an impasse, the best (and only!) solution may be to simply release the client from the service contract.

Always plan to save the account instead of giving into frustration.

When a client shows signs of waning, I immediately draw up a plan to salvage the souring account.  All that is needed is time, patience and the wherewithal to recognize that a client entering ‘salvagable territory’ is really just another opportunity to grow your virtual assistance business.

My 5 tips to help any virtual assistant save a worthwhile client account.

1) Have a policy in place FIRST to protect yourself from non-communicators and slow-payors.

Collect a deposit from the client before work begins or expect to deliver only with a pre-paid retainer plan. I have a minimum per week plan and state in my contract that I bill that minimum time regardless if I have worked that week or not.

So if the client ‘falls off the face of the earth’, send a reminder that you have not heard from them and will be billing that minimum amount of time and making a draw from the pre-paid retainer or the deposit. Sometimes that is the jolt they need.

Understand that implementing business policies is not a form of retaliation against a disappearing client. I have found that clients have more respect for me because I have business policies in place. I do not hesitate to enforce those policies if needed.

If your client ‘disappears’ try to find out what the problem may be and offer solutions.

2) Begin by emailing the client with polite inquiries. If you do not receive a response within 48 hours, then email again that you wish to speak to them on the telephone. In some cases, they are receiving your emails but not responding (because they can do that…not respond…without consequence) however, when you make an effort to make the contact more personal, clients will respond. Have that conversation and offer solutions to whatever the problem may be.

3) Send a handwritten postcard showing empathy and set up a time and a date in that postcard to have a conversation. “Dear Client, I wanted to connect with you to see if everything is all right. I had not heard from you for a few weeks and I wanted to discuss what I can do to help you. Please call me on Tuesday afternoon between noon and 2 pm.”

4) There may be a personal problem with the client that you don’t know about – so don’t become aggravated right away. Life happens, people are hospitalized…so give a client the benefit of the doubt. I recently instituted a back-up system. If something should happen to me, I give my clients a number to call for updates. Ask your client for a back-up phone number to call if you have not heard from your client for a few weeks. In some cases, you can help the client while they are indisposed so your services become more valuable. Offer to put the account on hold until such time they can work with you.

5) If a client ceases to pay or begins to become a slow-payor, try to work with them first in a manner which does not affect the operations of your own business. In other words, I once had a client who kept missing weekly payments, so I offered to put her on a bi-monthly payment plan. At the time, this was not an issue but over time as more clients were added to my roster, I was spending more time performing non-billable accounting procedures than were necessary. Eventually that client went on a monthly retainer plan but instead of getting annoyed right away, I tried to work out a payment plan that suited her situation. She appreciated that and thus the account was salvaged.

In summary…create business policies and stick with them. Don’t go with your first instinct to become frustrated or aggravated with a non-communicator or a slow-payor. If emailing, calling and making accomodations for the client becomes more work than you can handle, then consider whether that client is your ideal client. If not, then ‘cut them loose’ and move onto marketing your business to your ideal client, which most likely includes a target that can afford your services and understands that communication is vital to working effectively with a virtual assistant.

Janine Gregor

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
Bill Gates

By far the most difficult aspect of being a virtual assistant is working with a client who does not communicate.

I shake my head in dismay.

Clients want the help…they seek the assistance of a virtual assistant but some fail to recognize that good relationships take work.

I emphasize the need for communication in the consultation call. I include an entire page in my Welcome Packet explaining the importance of communication but after a week of working with new clients, old habits die hard.

The Scenario

It is Monday morning and I am ready to work. But I can’t. The client has not responded to last week’s email asking for an updated service list. The client has not responded to questions regarding last week’s work so even that effort remains unfinished.

So I put in a phone call but the client is not available.

Tuesday morning…still no response. This time I am asking if something is wrong. That happens. One of my clients fell off a ladder and I didn’t hear from her for several weeks.

Finally on Wednesday afternoon I receive a reply to last week’s emails but some of the questions were left unanswered. By now, I’ve ventured onto other client work and am engrossed because these clients are responding and thus they receive priority attention.

So I reschedule my work for Thursday to play ‘catch-up’ for the client who has now decided to respond with several apologies and excuses as to why my communication has gone unanswered.

I write a quick aggravated-infused email and then decide not to send it in the annoyed tone in which it was written. (A tip I learned years ago…write out how you feel and then hit delete.)

(Sometimes a client may sign on late in the week and we finally begin to get caught up on last week’s work but alas we are in the middle of an important discussion and I receive, “I am signing off for the rest of today and I won’t be back in my office until Monday.” )

Yes, that did happened…but I digress…

Friday I send out another email and put in another call to discuss the problem(s). I receive no response thus the following incommunicado-cycle begins again for the following week.

This has to stop. Something must be done. Shall I cut the client loose? It crosses my mind several times.

Here’s what I do:

• I ask to speak to the client and make myself available after hours if needed to rectify the situation.
• I explain in that call how difficult it is for me to efficiently book client time while ‘left in the lurch’ without the proper responses.  I need to make the client see that I am business owner myself and that my time is valuable too. I say this in the call (nicely).
• I ask the client what we can do better to ensure that I receive the information in a timely manner. Although I prefer to receive service-related work requests the week before so I can plan accordingly for the following week, if Sunday afternoon is the only time she can answer my emails, then I can work with that.
• I set up a shared calendar so I can see when the client is available. (I do that for everyone now.) But again, this is part of the communication process and has to be maintained by the client.
• I summarize and confirm the discussion in a written email.

In some cases, this method solves the problem. But in other cases, we have a few ‘good’ weeks and the non-responsive cycle begins all over again.

Nothing is fail-proof; either you want to work with a virtual assistant or you do not.

I understand that some clients have full time jobs. But if a client is on a tight schedule for communicating with their virtual assistant, then some effort needs to be made BECAUSE I cannot do the work alone.

I’m here to partner with a business owner and like all collaborations good communication is key to success. Without an exchange of ideas, I am unproductive.

When I am ineffective, the client is wasting my time and their money.

I am here to help the business owner succeed. If they do not realize my purpose, I turn them loose.

It happens.

Have you thought of using videos to promote your business? Just the mere thought of creating a video stops even the most creative best business owners in their tracks.

If you want to move your company name to the top of the Google searches using video can be a viable option. But if you think that creating a video will take too much time or will not give you the SEO you are looking for, well I have an easy, fun and quick solution.

Every Monday afternoon, I log onto a sales call with a terrific sales consultant, group trainer and entrepreneurial junkie, Howard Howell, also known as ‘That Sales Guy’ of Sensible Selling. Howard demonstrated a fairly new and fun technique to promote a business using Google Search Stories video creator.

(You may remember Google Search Stories being advertised during half-time on this year’s Superbowl.)

The requirements: You must have a story you want to tell about your business. Your story needs to be told in less than one minute using the search feature in Google. You will also need to open a YouTube account.

The Google Search Stories program is designed to create the video for you and upload it automatically to YouTube. The program also provides a code which can also be embedded in your site or blog to get more bang for your efforts.

Here’s an example of the one I put together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OR1WmUAuUQ

Here is the link to make your own Google Search Story with instructions on how to do so right on this site.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories

But there is More! Here’s How to Get SEO for Your Company Name!

I can take this useful tool one step further and offer other video tips on getting more SEO for your company name using the YouTube platform.

Once you have completed your Google Search Video and have uploaded it to YouTube, do a search there using your keywords. For example, my keywords are ‘virtual assistant’. I then find other people’s videos whose keywords appear in the search. I then select the top 2 or 3 viewed videos from this search.

Every few days I leave a comment each one of these videos with a good, well-crafted, meaningful observation. What will transpire over time is that when someone types in your keywords into Google, your keywords will appear higher and higher in the searches with your website name and your YouTube profile.

To explain this in greater detail, I found a great blog by Paul Rudo B2B Marketing Specialist of Small Business SEO who has written How to Get SEO Value from NoFollow Tags .

Rudo writes, “Increasingly, it’s getting harder and harder to find sites willing to give you high-quality SEO links. Instead, most web sites today will only give you links that are blocked using a NoFollow tag.”

The author continues, “However, despite the fact that their [YouTube] outbound links are worthless, there are 2 interesting things about YouTube (and other sites) that SEOs should consider:

• Google considers YouTube to be a very high-quality and authoritative site
• Internal links within the site are DOFOLLOW (Google considers these to be of value in the SEO ranking process)”

“In crafting your SEO strategy, your main goal should be to get your company to the front page of Google. And your web site is NOT your company. (Stay with me. This will make sense in a bit.)

So Here’s The Plan

For this concept to work, you’ll need to think a bit outside of the box.

The first thing you’ll want to do is create a YouTube profile name containing your important keywords. If, for example, you sell goods made from extremely rare “unicorn leather”… a good YouTube username would be UnicornLeather.

This will help you rank for that specific keyword.

Now, you should create a few high-quality videos that showcase your company and make a strong call to action. Your new YouTube channel will be the landing page that you hope to get listed highly in the search rankings.

Finally, try to find every single video that is remotely relevant to your subject matter, and make a well-thought-out, insightful comment that contributes to the content of those videos. It’s EXTREMELY important that these comments be of high-quality. Do not spam YouTube or you’ll run into problems.

With every comment you make, YouTube will add an internal DoFollow link… using your keyword (UnicornLeather)… and pointing to your YouTube video channel. Now, when people look for “Unicorn Leather” on Google, they’ll be directed at the most authoritative page on this topic… at the most authoritative site… which is your YouTube channel.

This Won’t Happen Overnight

Another tip would be not to overdo it. Search engines take timing into account when evaluating your links. If you come out of the gate with guns blazing… blasting out 1000 comments in the first week… you’ll be labeled as a spammer and sent to the penalty box.

Instead go slow and steady. No more than maybe 3 or 4 comments a day… and keep doing this steadily for months. Eventually, you should notice your rankings start to improve.

And another interesting side benefit that you’ll notice will be a gradual snowball effect… where all of these comments will start producing more and more referral traffic to your channel and your main web site.

If you do this properly, you can make it so that the top 2 results for your keyword are your web site and your YouTube profile. This strategy can also be applied to other social networking sites until you own every result on the front page for your keyword.”

Read Paul Rudo’s full article here http://www.smbceo.com/2010/05/10/nofollow/

Be sure to read a poster’s comment on the referenced article link above that offers yet another SEO tip.

I offer the tip to use Google Search Stories to get you started but you can also create great videos using PowerPoint and then convert them easily to vide to be uploaded to YouTube. Rudo recommends creating a few high-quality videos.

Creating easy PowerPoint video:

• Open PowerPoint; create your slides with text and images.

• Save the project.

• Download TechSmith’s Camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp for 30 days. Use this program to create the video using your PowerPoint slides.

• Upload to YouTube and add these videos to your YouTube account.

• Follow the instructions above to creating effective SEO in YouTube.

Janine Gregor

About The Author (quoted in this article): Paul Rudo has been a freelance business consultant for over 5 years. He specializes in B2B marketing for technology companies and organizations targeting geographically local clients. For more information, you can visit his web site at Paul Rudo.

1) Stay on topic – If the topic is about blogging, comment about blogging and not about your business or personal affairs. Those who do not stay on topic break the rhythm of the thread, waste valuable space and cause difficulty for readers trying to follow the conversation.

If you have another topic you would like to discuss, create a new thread. Try to keep ‘side conversations’ off main threads.

2) Sign your name – Some blog and forum sites do not offer areas to clearly identify the poster. On those sites without a designated spot to sign a name and company name, please type-in this information within the post for better SEO and for self-identification.

If you create a username which is different from your real name and do not sign your post, people will not know who you are.

Replies to your own entries will typically be returned using your name which personalizes the responses and engages continued conversation. Using your name in a post also makes it easier for you to search out any direct responses to your own posts.

Your name is your unique signature which sets you apart from other posters. Be proud of what you comment. Use your name.

3) Use back links which are useful for several reasons. Back links support a posting; provide easy clickability to the readers as well as confirm to the readers you have topic expertise. Back links will also help you to get the google juice for the sites you link.   If the site on which you are posting does not automatically link urls (Biznik is one such site) you can use code to make your links live.

HTML and Markdown Language (lighter version of HTML) are two code choices.

Example:  HTML <a href=”www.yourlink.com”<Your Site Name></a>

Example:  Markdown Language [Your Site Name](http:*//*yourlink.com) *Do not type in *characters. Demo purposes only.

4) If you provide back links in your posts, make those links relevant. Do not just put your website address or your blog address. Link back to the referred post URL itself or a document which is relative to what your post is mentioning. You will receive a high bounce rate on your blog or website if you are not using direct links to specific posts because folks will be frustrated when they cannot find what it is you might be linking and will quickly leave your site.

5) Try not to comment for the sake of commenting or agreeing. If you want to say ‘thank you’ to someone for offering valuable information or if you find someone’s post to be helpful, say ‘why’ it was helpful or how you can apply this newly found information.

6) Try to summarize your posts into an easy-to-read format. If you have a lot of information, try to breakup your thoughts into paragraphs or use bullet points.

7) Before you post, check first to see if someone else has made that same post. So if you are on a social networking site, do a search of keywords. If there is a previous post on your topic, do not start a new one; add a relevant comment to that particular post. Blog and forum posts have infinite lives. Adding fresh and relevant information to an already birthed thread brings the full string ‘out’ for new readers to view.

Janine Gregor