Lately, I have had to practice a bit more open-mindedness when using email to communicate with non-email users. These are folks who are experts in their own industries but do not use email as a major means to communicate.

In my virtual assistant-world nearly all of my communication is through email but ‘on the outside’ I know there are many who are not familiar with email protocols. And that is OK.

After receiving several ‘iffy’ emails of late, I needed to rethink my reaction to non-user correspondence and view these messages from a special perspective. In other words, I did not let a ‘knee jerk’ reaction prevail when email etiquette was not applied.

Language is a learned skill. We speak what we have been taught to articulate. Vocabulary improves and increases as we age. Understanding and using proper email etiquette is no different than learning a language. Email users learn what is correct to communicate through practice and experience. Crafting a good email, which gets a point across in a manner that is pleasant, respectful and clear is a learned skill.

Lessons Learned

1) Appreciate first that people are experts in what they do for a living. Everyone has a specialty. A business owner may not use email as their main means of communication and without practice, they might not understand email protocols.

If you receive an email from a business owner who sends the message in ALL CAPS, I say, ‘let it go’. I tend to believe that the individual most likely does not know that ALL CAPS means ‘shouting’ and should not be used in an electronic message.

I received a notice from my Home Owner’s Association the other day written in ALL CAPS. The information was a directive so I only envisioned while reading the document that the sender was standing at a podium with a megaphone screaming this message to the entire neighborhood.

I am sure that was not the message this person wanted to send but it came across that way. Unfortunately, I do not remember what the message was about but I do remember the use of CAPS. Not only is this format difficult to read and interpret but the message can be lost through the use of CAPS.

Most know that CAPS is shouting but never assume that everyone understands this very basic rule.

2) People who do not use email might not understand that body language, facial expressions, fluctuations in voice and in tone can not be sent through an email.

For example, I emailed someone in academia who is best at being a teacher. I asked her about a date for a project and expressed my concern about this date. Her reply was, “I am not concerned about that date!” When I first read the reply, I read this as a negative message. However, after careful thought, I gave the teacher the benefit-of-the-doubt. I believe she was being matter-of-fact which often is the type of message better expressed verbally than through email correspondence…

Some messages should not be sent through email and it is best to pick up the phone and have a good, old-fashioned conversation.

Unfortunately her response left doubt in my mind which is what any good communicator does not want to do.

When objecting to a point through email it is best to qualify the message, first, with a positive thought. She might have said, “I appreciate your concern for this due date being so late but such-and-such date might be a better choice to finish the project.”

3) Using the standard true type fonts such as Times New Roman and Verdana are standard for a reason. Not only are these fonts simple to read and easily interpreted by most word processing programs but they are less distracting than fonts such as Comic Sans or Scrap Kids.

I received a business email in the form of a quote from a pool dealer written in Scrap Kids. The font was changed to red which also meant that I had to strain my eyes as the color was an enormous distraction. Red means ‘alert’ or ‘hot’ but the contents of the message did not match the urgent nature of the font color.

I suspect that this business man thought that by adding color and design to his emails, I would be impressed with his creativity.

That was not the case at all and I ended up contracting with another dealer because even though his quote was competitive, I felt his presentation was unprofessional.

My Own Lesson Learned

Even with my many years of email experience, I am still learning to fine-tune my own electronic correspondences. I found that I needed to be more aware of who I was emailing before I hit send.

Several months ago, I was corresponding with an expert blogger. This individual reads many, many blogs per day and writes as many blog posts. Blogging is his livelihood. I was sending him details in an email I carefully crafted because I wanted him to know everything contained in one document. I did not want to repeat myself later.

After I sent off my detailed explanation, he replied with a nice ‘thank you’. Well, the time came for me to work with him and he sent me several emails asking questions about the information I so carefully composed in my original text.

He did not retain any of the detailed instructions I sent to him.

I realized later that this person reads emails by scanning them for keywords. He reads quickly. As a blog expert, he leaves himself no time to absorb detailed information. What I should have done was to bullet some of the major details in a scanable format. I know now to think about by whom my email will be received and adjust my message to be better served with a different reading format.

As a virtual assistant, I have to be ready to receive and send communication in ways that I least expect. I made myself more aware that non-email users do not always know the rules of email etiquette and have made behavioral adjustments accordingly.

[singlepic id=91 w=320 h=240 float=left]I am often asked for my opinion about how to do something. It is the nature of the virtual assistant business. Having worked on a variety of projects, people believe I can either answer a question or at least give them the tools to find the answer themselves. I’m OK with that. I like to help.

I opened up my email Inbox today and found seven emails from people looking for an answer about how to do something. It took about an hour to get through all the responses and I was pleased to have answers to everything asked.

Of the seven, two responded with a ‘Thank You’.

Was I looking for a ‘Thank You’? Well, yes. It would have been nice. It would have been a validation of my efforts. Given the low response to the favor, a ‘Thank You’ from anyone actually would have helped that person to stand out from the crowd. This small gesture might have helped them receive future favors from me on a priority-status. That’s not to say I will dismiss their future requests but I might put the favor on a ‘low flame’ given the limited hours in my workday.

So why did only two people take the time to type two simple words and hit the ‘send’ button?

5 Reasons Why People Do Not Send a Thank You

1) They simply do not have good manners.
2) They take my good will for granted. They got what they wanted and as far as they are concerned, the query has ended.
3) They can not find the time to thank me.
4) They do not realize the value in a Thank You.
5) They forgot or they do not care, or both.

5 Reasons Why People Should Say Thank You

1) A Thank You shows appreciation for the time I took to handle their question. Very simple and very obvious.
2) They have good manners and their mother taught them well. A Thank You is automatic; without a second thought as it should be.
3) A Thank You is remembered by people who, in turn, are more likely to help them out in the future.
4) Finalizing an email with a note of thanks is indeed the proper way to actually end an email. It is a way to leave an appropriate ending to a piece of correspondence. A favor which is not ‘settled’ with a Thank You is the same as telling a story and not having a final solution or an ending to the tale.
5) The absence of a Thank You can mean that the efforts were not appreciated. You may have appreciated the favor but no one will ever know.

However, the bonus reason why people should should say ‘Thank You’ (drum roll, please!) is that performing this simple gesture is nearly FREE to accomplish which could reap benefits that might become profitable in the future.

The next time I open my Inbox and find several inquiries, I will respond to them but tucked in the back of my head will be the names of those who took a moment to appreciate my time. I might not spend an inordinate amount of time answering their questions because my time is valuable. I might steer them in the direction where they can find their own answers or I might wait to respond and do so only when my work hours are light.

Those who thanked me though, may get a faster response.

It’s human nature.

1) Have a good understanding of what you want the VA to do for you before you search. Keep an ongoing list next to your desk of responsibilities you really want to delegate. List those items which keep you from doing the work you enjoy.

2) Prioritize that list. Break the list down to three categories: Items which should have been done yesterday; those which need to be done this week and those which can wait until next month.

3) Decide how much your budget will allow to contract with a VA. If you can spend $200 a month then stick to that budget.

 
4) Post a request for proposal (RFP) on the Virtual Assistant Forums for free. (This is the premier virtual assistant forums website. VAs are not charged for services here, so the site is open for all VAs and business owners with diverse backgrounds.) Make your RFP as detailed as possible and do not forget to include your website address and alternate email address. Most VAs will research your business online before posting for a position so any information you offer ahead of time only helps to weed out those who may not meet your needs.

5) Give a timeline as to when your request for proposal response has to be submitted but give a fair amount of time to respond. Anyone who is really interested will respond right away but it does take time to reply properly to RFPs as they are often customized to clients’ needs. Specify what you want the VA to send you in the first pass…i.e., links to sites, blogging samples, graphic samples, articles, etc. It is not necessary to ask for a resume. This is not an employee-employer situation. A VA is a business owner as well.

6) Ask for references. And by all means send out for those references asking for feedback on the VA’s work and turnaround time.

7) If you know someone who uses a VA, then ask for a referral from that colleague. Many VAs handle multiple clients. If you like the work you see, then this can be indicative of a VA you might wish to work with.

8 When you have decided upon the right person for the job, expect that in the beginning you will need to ‘hand over’ passwords and usernames and business information to get started. Be sure that your VA has a confidentiality agreement. You will need to open up your business to another person with whom you have never been physically introduced. Trust will grow over time.

9) Review the service contract needed to begin and return back to the VA in a timely fashion. If you are not in agreement with something in the contract, say so upfront.

10) Communicate…communicate…communicate…Set aside time during the work week to answer your VAs emails and questions. The faster you return your replies, the faster the work will be completed. Share ideas…send your VA articles and blogs which spur conversation and brainstorm to grow your business. Suggest that the VA read online newsletters or mail her/him publications which are related to your business.

You will have more time to do the work you enjoy. You can focus on your business plan. Best of all you can partner with someone who has an interest in the growth of your business.

Janine Gregor

It’s the VA in me…always seeking ways to simply improve my virtual-ness… searching for virtual resources to assist in my clients’ businesses and for new ways to improve my own methodology.

I look for plug-ins and free programs to allow me to run faster, jump higher and improve creativity. Here are five of my most recently used free resources I recommend.

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1) Xobni – (Inbox spelled backwards) For Outlook users, I believe this plug-in has become one of the most powerful email tools ever created, really! Xobni is easily downloaded. All emails are automatically categorized by conversation. Viewable in a separate frame, one email is selected from my Inbox and then all emails pertaining to that particular sender or topic are listed by date and categorized together.

When I need to find an email or an attachment, I just click on the sender’s name and all emails line up. A brief synopsis of those emails appear in a separate frame so it is an at-a-glance set-up which allows viewing and sorting in far less time than finding and searching myself. I am particularly impressed with Xobni when I have several emails from a client which need to be sorted by topic. So if I am working on a newsletter, all the emails pertaining only to that newsletter are grouped together.

The greatest time saver has been the ease in finding attachments sent via email. Connected to Facebook and other social networking sites (optional selection) the sender’s social networking info and Facebook photo appear in the heading. Additionally…any connections I may have with the sender appear in another column as well (under the Facebook photo) so I am able to see who I have in common with the sender of the email. Clever, clever.

Oh, and one more feature…if I click on a sender’s Xobni frame, I can view a chart which offers a line graph when the sender replies to the most email. This is a great tool for deciding when someone might open my email and to send it at a time when the recipient is most likely to answer the email.

2) If you are looking for a list of contacts to use for your next project or direct mailing, I recommend a site called Jigsaw which is an online directory of free, downloadable Company information and more than 12 million business Contacts. Copied from the company site: “Think of it as an exchange of Contacts you have for Contacts you need. The more you contribute, the more you earn. That’s it. This makes the Jigsaw system self-correcting, rewarding you for doing what you would do on your own. Points are also awarded when you update incorrect Contacts or challenge bad Contacts, keeping the system timely and accurate.” Easy sign up and a great option to buying mailing lists.

3) If you are looking for a way to make a website page printer friendly so that I can add as a pdf to my website or blog, Print Friendly is the way to go. When I find a page I think will be helpful for my blog readers, I insert the URL into the program and Print Friendly copies the document for you to edit to a readable format. You can remove images and make edits, while any edits can also be undone.

4) Remote access to my own computer and my client’s computers has been useful on many levels. I have used Logmein for about 3 years now. I use the free version for my home use but I have used the Pro version for client use. The main difference between the two versions is that the Pro version allows me to print from a client’s screen to my own printer. Once Logmein is downloaded, I can access my computer using any other computer from any location. In my case, I access my desktop located in my office which holds most of client programs and files doing so via my laptop from anywhere I go. If I want to step into another room with my laptop or take this with me to the library to work, I can easily access my desktop and work with all the programs I need from wherever I am! I collaborated with a real estate client in California using her ACT! database and did so from my location in Florida. Great for the time spent waiting in a doctor’s office. And…I recently read that Logmein is available as an iPhone application, which was the clincher for me to purchase an iPhone this fall.

5) www.Openoffice.org If you do not have Microsoft Office, you can use this program which is an open source program to open and save any document using the Office extensions such as .xls, .doc and .ppt. (Excel, Word or PowerPoint documents). The only program that Open Office does not work with is Microsoft Publisher. Email me if you want the link for an open source desktop publishing program.

Bonus Links: Did you ever want to take a screen shot of something on your computer an convert it to pdf to send as an attachment to someone or post to your blog or website? If so, then I recommend Screenhunter 5 and PDF995 . Once you have the image you want to take a snapshot, click Screenhunter 5 and it will save the document to wherever you indicated. The free program even allows for some editing and saving as a jpg file. Once you have that image, PDF995 easily converts any documents to pdf format to use as you wish. I have used both of these for years and have never looked for an alternative.

Next week I will post an additional 5 free resources (maybe more!) to help you grow your business. Please subscribe to my blog here for updates. For even more tips and resources, subscribe to my newsletter.

Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Thanks,

Janine

Plenty of information is available on the ‘net about becoming a virtual assistant, but do you know what the nitty-gritty parts of the job really entail?  You may not want to become a VA because you may find that a good amount of your own time is spent on the periphery of the job itself.

It is important to understand first, that a VA does not simply perform an administrative task and then bill for that task.  If you are contracted to do bookkeeping, then you are a bookkeeper.  If you are contracted to write articles, then you are a writer.  A virtual worker bills for those tasks and then moves on to the next. (There is certainly nothing wrong with this business model.)  But a virtual assistant is a right-hand person; a collaborator working daily with a small business owner to help grow their business.  Virtual assistance is not a solely task-oriented job. It takes time and endurance to get to that collaborative point with a client.

Based upon my experience as a Virtual Assistant (VA) I have listed 8 reasons why you may not want to become a virtual assistant.

1)  The job requires responding to many client questions which will be answered on your own time. Expect to spend a lot of time getting to know your client; to be the best partner available, with a good portion of that time being ‘off the clock’.

2)  Expect that even on your ‘off time’ you will be thinking about the client’s work.  Often I will come upon an article or an idea to help improve a process while I am doing something else. Expect that as a virtual assistant, your client’s business will become as important as your own.  I spend much time reading newsletters, books, watching videos and going to the library to educate myself about a client’s industry.  All done on my own time but well worth the effort when I can make a suggestion to a client that will positively affect his bottom line.

3)  Some tasks, such as invoicing are generally not billable and as a new VA or even when starting with a new client, you may spend a lot of time getting your invoicing correctly established, setting up passwords, adding sites to your favorites, checking out the competition…all on your own time.  There are weeks that I work 40 hours but I bill only for 10 or 20 for actual work completed.

4)  Expect that your client may need you after regular office hours.  This does not happen too often, but I have received emails from a client on a Sunday afternoon asking to put real estate listings online asap. Some items can wait until Monday morning, and it is certainly a personal preference as to whether you can drop everything and complete the work but I feel that if I can do it, I will.  Now that is not to say that I do not charge a rush fee for some projects that come in late on a Friday afternoon or that I do not make it clear from the start what my office hours will be, but in my opinion, it is better to be as flexible as possible in this business if you want to survive. 

5)  Expect that some tasks will not go on as seamlessly as anticipated and that you will just need to ‘eat’ the downtime.  The job can be daunting if you succumb to computer errors or if a website is slow to process but if you cannot be patient and move on with a clear head, then being a VA is not the job for you.  Expect to switch between tasks if a site gives you trouble or call support (on your own) to inquire about the problem.  Clients only pay for the work you complete so it is important to have up-to-date software and hardware, know how and where to go to solve problems quickly and above all else, be patient.

8  Expect that potential clients will contact you to inquire about working with a VA but are either unwilling to commit or just want to ‘pick your brain’. Expect that you will work hard to gain a potential client’s trust through responding to questions via email and may even spend the time phone conferencing with them only to be told that they will ‘contact you in a few months’.  Some may never call you back others may ignore your correspondence. It happens, when it does, move on but keep that client in your database. Do not get discouraged.

If you are sure that becoming a virtual assistant is the right job for you, start with a good business plan. Join a peer-to-peer group such as Virtual Assistant Forums.  Here you will find a vast document library to help you get started and an opportunity to post questions and find support from other virtual assistants just like you. 

Janine Gregor

Email correspondence is an extremely powerful communication medium and with power comes responsibility. Poorly constructed e-mails have been known to ruin careers and cause mistrust among clients and employees.  It can be difficult to rebound from the effects that bad e-mail has on a business’ reputation because e-mails do not just ‘go away’.  People remember the bad e-mails and they are often saved for posterity in other e-mail folders, which also do not ‘go away’.  E-mails live, breathe and multiply across cyberspace so it is truly important to keep nine basic rules of e-mail net etiquette in mind:

1) Overuse of the ‘urgent’ exclamation tells the same tale as ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’.  If every e-mail you send is tagged with the red ‘urgent’ button, eventually your readers will ignore this tag.  Use the ‘urgent’ tag sparingly and only when it really is a matter of urgency.  Even then, do not expect your readers to open the e-mail even if it is tagged as ‘urgent’.  E-mail can be opened at any time.  If a matter is truly urgent, better to pick up the phone and let the recipient know the important information is on its way.

2) Be cautious of unseen recipients. Never use unsecured e-mail to send confidential documents.  A misstroke on the keyboard to the wrong-named person and the documents can make several trips around the world landing in e-mail boxes whose recipients could possibly hurt solid business relationships.  A quick slip in the use of ‘autocomplete’ in the TO line of an e-mail to someone with a similar name as your intended recipient and your documents can creep through communication channels you never knew existed.  Review the TO line before you hit send.

3) Make the last sentence of your e-mail count.  This is the sentence or question most readers will remember.  If you have numerous questions which need to be answered in an e-mail, collect them into one section and use a bullet or a number feature. Spotty questions throughout an e-mail may not be answered unless the reader is a meticulous e-mail-reader, and many people are not. E-mail is a fast medium, open one e-mail, move onto the next, so streamline the content and leave the ‘action’ question or statement for last. Your reader will more than likely remember the last item they read and act on it much more quickly.

4) Never forward e-mails addressed to you to someone else without the permission of the initial sender.  Truly the highest form of etiquette! It takes a few extra minutes, but the best method is to create a new e-mail with a new subject title.  Some people will edit an e-mail before forwarding to the next person, but even this practice is questionable.  Sometimes the subject title does not match the forwarded topic and there are some unedited items left in the e-mails which can still be damaging (and embarrassing) to the initial sender.  Edited forwarded e-mails always look like they have been edited and that too can lead the initial sender to mistrust the recipient as well as the extended recipient wondering what it was that had been edited and why.  Forwarding e-mails without the sender’s permission is just plain bad business manners.

5) My time is as valuable as your own.  Sending e-mail to everyone, including those who do not need to read your e-mail is also bad business manners.  Adding a disclaimer such as “If this e-mail does not pertain to you, please ignore it” does not justify having sent an e-mail to someone who had to take the time to read this e-mail only to find out the information had nothing to do with them at all.  In fact, people get paid to read e-mail so if you send unnecessary e-mail to those who do not need to receive them; you are in the end, paying them for doing nothing. Take a few minutes to look at your TO line and rethink whether everyone in this line really needs to read your information.

6) Send bad news on a Thursdays. All too often Monday morning e-mail is filled with bad company news which can set the mood for a difficult work week. If you must send negative company news such as termination announcements, departures, decline in profits or stocks, budgetary cuts, company closings, etc. try to send this information later in the week, if possible.  Thursdays are a good day because it gives the recipient time to absorb the information; perhaps another day to respond and/or read what others might have to say and then offers two weekend days to soak it all in. When the new work day starts on a Monday, stress levels are lowered and people can begin the week on a more positive note.

7) Use ‘return receipt’ sparingly. If it is important for you to know whether someone has received your e-mail, the best method is to pick up the phone and let them know the e-mail is on its way. Overusing ‘return receipt’ implies that you do not trust the recipient to either read your e-mail and/reply to it. If you need your recipient to reply to your e-mail, politely ask within the body of the e-mail if they would reply via directly by hitting the reply button.

8) Never terminate someone’s employment via e-mail.  As intonation, facial and body language expressions are not transmitted via e-mail; this is the worse way to deliver bad news.  Out of respect for your other employees, department heads and the individual being terminated bad news should be delivered by telephone or if possible, in a one-on-one situation.  These more humane methods offer the individual an opportunity to ask questions and respond to the astonishment of being ‘let go’.  In the event that a wrongful termination suit might follow, notification by personal means would cast a more professional image on the company than using electronic notification.

9) K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid. Remember this slogan from the 1980’s? The same concept holds true 25+ years later when constructing an e-mail.  Keeping sentences clean, brief and without a lot of unnecessary chatter will give the professional impression you need to offer your readers in your e-mail.  Your e-mails represent not only you and your mark of professionalism but also that of the company you work for.  Keep fancy fonts, colors, backgrounds, extended closing advertisement and photos out of e-mails (for some industries such as real estate, and entertainment photos are important to the image, but it must be a professional photo.)  Photos in business e-mails playing with your pet should be left out of business correspondence.  Not everyone is a dog-lover and would only wish to view you as a well-groomed professional and not in overalls and a tee-shirt.  If someone wants to print your e-mail and its content is filled with pictures, colored background and fonts, this can be annoying as these types of correspondences ‘eat up’ expensive printer cartridges.  Play it safe and construct your e-mails in an easy-to-read black font, Times New Roman, Verdana or Courier on white with as little closure information as possible.  (Ever get an e-mail thread with closure information one page long per e-mail reply…this can become quite a task to scroll through this information to find the original message!) Your client in Peoria may like the polka-dotted background but the Los Angeles client may think it to be a bit ‘odd’ in your color selection. You would not want a potential client to doubt your professionalism based on a color scheme. Colors also create moods and give impressions of the type of business you are trying to project. If you sell baby products, it would be ‘cute’ to use blue or pink e-mail background if your recipients are new mothers.  But that same color combination may not be acceptable in an e-mail to your baby products sales people or company director.  Keep it white and there are never any color choice or font distractions in your e-mail to take away from what it is you really want to say.