3 Key Principles of A Virtual Assistant and Client Relationship

A Virtual Assistant partnership is similar to any other relationship, business or otherwise, it takes two willing parties to make it successful. Find a VA that shares your same values and clearly understands your goals. Below are 3 principles that are important to a successful Virtual Assistant relationship.

TRUST: to place confidence [in]

As business owners, we all know it not easy to relinquish control of certain aspects of our business to others. Working virtually only adds another layer of insecurity. It is important that both parties are trustworthy. Both parties have specific expectations and you have to trust that the other will meet them. Below are a few examples.

Client has to trust that his Virtual Assistant will do the following:

• Effectively communicate by agreed upon technologies (email, phone, fax, etc)
• Understand tasks and projects assigned; if not, follow-up appropriately
• Recognize priorities and meet all deadlines
• Provide complete confidentiality (client files, passwords, banking information)

The Virtual Assistant has to trust that her client will do the following:

• Effectively delegate tasks or projects in an organized and timely fashion
• Will not micromanage
• Make payments in a timely manner as established in their contract

RESPECT: to consider worthy of high regard

Respect for me, comes from the golden rule – treat others as you want to treated. Be respectful of the other’s business and time. The respect should be mutual. Below are few tips of how to show respect to each other.

• Email correspondence should be detailed and concise to eliminate redundancy
• Schedule times for calls; don’t assume the other is always available
• Establish a project timeline and stick to it

HONESTY: fairness and straightforwardness of conduct

As we all have heard before — honesty is the best policy and it definitely should be included in your business. Honesty ties the other two principles together. Often times, the more honest you are with the other party the deeper the trust and the more respect you will get. I believe the most important tip about honesty is below.

The client has to be honest in conveying project expectations and the VA has to be honest in representing her abilities in completing it.

Bonus:

GRATITUDE: the state of being grateful

Gratitude is an extra bonus because it is (perhaps) not required in a relationship but it definitely doesn’t hurt. A little gratitude goes a long way! There are plenty of ways to show gratitude but here are  just a few ways to start:

• The best way to express appreciation to an awesome Virtual Assistant is to refer her to your business associates. It’s probably one the highest compliments you can give her.
• You can offer a testimonial for her website or recommend her on LinkedIn.
• Last but not least, you can just say thank you – job well done.

What principle do you believe is important to a Virtual Assistant and client relationship?