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Pick up the phone!

I forget that new people coming along all the time won’t have the knowledge or experience I have and so, sometimes I need to repeat the same information because there is a new audience.

A new VA contacted me recently because she was concerned that a client wasn’t responding to her emails and work had been regular and now she wasn’t receiving any.  She wanted to know if she should keep sending emails or perhaps phone him – she was worried about making a nuisance of herself.

I advised her, without hesitation, to pick up the phone and call him.

A few years ago I had two clients who were trying to contact me via email.  For whatever reason I wasn’t receiving them, although I was receiving email from others.  At any rate one of them chose to pick up the phone and ask me if I was ignoring him (tongue in cheek) and I told him ‘of course not!’  We discussed his needs and I was able to get the work done in the timeframe he needed.

The other I didn’t find out about till many months later.  She thought I was ignoring her or too busy and she went and contacted someone else to do the work for her.  She had been a regular client and I was most disappointed and upset at this outcome.  It was partly my fault – I’d been busy so hadn’t realised I’d not heard from her for awhile so didn’t make contact. But she should have picked up the phone.  Email is not 100% failproof so when there is doubt, call them!

email, phone, virtual assistant, client contact

Kathie Thomas

Kathie is the former owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.

Comments

  1. Claire Dening says

    28 August 2008 at 9:54 am

    I couldn’t agree more Kathie! I have been guilty of the ‘too busy to notice’ situation. I find that if something is bothering me (like a gnawing feeling of ‘what is going on with this client?’) simple regular contact can keep my mind at ease and provides the client with the warm and fuzzy feeling of being ‘attended to’ – if you like.

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  2. Monique Terrell says

    14 September 2008 at 4:23 pm

    Hooray! I’m glad to see someone else say it. “Pick up the phone” is great advice and will help your business in more ways than one.

    I actually signed my first client because I called to follow-up. I am a big phone user in my VA business. I have been able to create stronger relationships with my clients because of it.

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Trackbacks

  1. Virtual Assistant - THE Blog About Our Industry » When a new client doesn’t respond says:
    8 September 2008 at 8:18 am

    […] for VAsInterview at Virtual Assistants ForumBoard of Directors?Do You Have Enough Clients?Pick up the phone!What do you see?Forum on Virtual Assistance June 2009Seek a professional when you need […]

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  2. Business Mums Blog » Blog Archive » Friday Five - When email fails says:
    19 September 2008 at 10:41 am

    […] you. Kathie Thomas over at the Virtual Assistant blog recently did a great post called “Pick up the phone!”. If email fails and you don’t get a response, then pick up the phone and call the […]

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  3. Friday Five – When email fails says:
    11 July 2011 at 5:22 pm

    […] you. Kathie Thomas over at the Virtual Assistant blog recently did a great post called “Pick up the phone!”. If email fails and you don’t get a response, then pick up the phone and call the […]

    Log in to Reply

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VA Directory was established in March 1994 by Kathie M. Thomas.

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