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VA Directory

VA Directory - Connecting clients with Virtual Assistants

AU: +61 437 889 400

Need help with your database?

Do you struggle with managing your database?  Perhaps it’s keeping all the new entries in from the business cards and other contacts you’ve obtained? Or perhaps it’s managing the mail merge aspect to send out letters, emails or perhaps even cards.

Do not despair. There are Virtual Assistants who specialise in this type of work and they can manage several different types of database programs and CRMs.

What do you need to do to engage the right VA?

First, it would be helpful if you knew why you wanted the database.  What are you hoping to achieve from it? What would be your desired end result?

Looking at the end first helps us determine what needs to take place in the beginning.  Databases can be managed for many, many different types of things, i.e. names and address lists, history record of client service or products bought, history of contact maintained, newsletters sent, Christmas card lists, perhaps multiple lists for all sorts of things.

If you were able to sit down and scribble out some ideas of what you want to achieve then someone can assist in determining the right database for you.

There are databases that can be maintained on the computer only, or online if you want to build an automatic subscriber list from your website.  So knowing why first will help determine the what and how it will be put together.  Contact me today to help you find the right Virtual Assistant support for your needs.  I have several VAs in my team who assist in this area.

Get a Virtual Assistant to help you

Do you get overwhelmed by tracking information and contact details of everyone you meet or have contact with?  Does this describe you and your business?

  • Pieces of paper with names and addresses, phone numbers and/or email addresses written on them.
  • Business cards in piles, or with rubber bands wrapped around them, or thrown in a drawer or box.
  • Some entries in a spreadsheet or a database started but not maintained.
  • Perhaps you have them all in your cell phone but they need to go onto your computer?

It does sound like you?  How would you like this all sorted and entered into an online system that has built-in reminders and allows you to send cards and gifts to those you choose from the list at any given time?  You would?

A Virtual Assistant is exactly what you need to help you get your database sorted, along with a reminder system for making regular contact with those on your list.

You do know that it is a good thing to maintain contact with your prospects and clients a minimum of once every 90 days, don’t you?  Some choose to send newsletters and some choose to send cards.  Or you might even decide on using a blog to keep in touch with your list.  You can, of course, do all, and a Virtual Assistant can assist you with any or all of these.  Why not place your support request to our team of VAs today?

You get what you pay for

Just been having a conversation with a client. I’m going through several worksheets of a spreadsheet of information they were given for a new mailing list.

When I looked at the spreadsheet, whole addresses had been put into one column, not split up into street, suburb, state, postcode, country and on the last worksheet it had been spread over 4 rows, not columns, so I couldn’t copy and paste the information into a new worksheet row by row.  I had to print it off and retype it.

I explained to my client that this job should have taken me about a half hour or so if I could have done quick sorts on the columns by state and then copy and paste to the new sheet – they wanted me to separate their state from all the rest of the addresses.  However, because the person or persons who entered this data did not think through what might be done with it, it wasn’t entered that way.

That’s when I found out they’d been referred to someone in another country at a cheap rate to do all the data entry.  I explained to them that unfortunately anyone can do data entry but not everyone is capable of thinking through what might be done with that data to ask the right questions or even set it up correctly.  Often these people are employees who do what they’re told, but they’re not business owners like professional Virtual Assistants who know what questions to ask relating to the end product and what their plans are.

I think they started to get the picture. Reality is they’re now paying me for a much longer time period than they thought because the data had not been entered into the spreadsheet in any useful way to manipulate and make further use of.  It would have been cheaper to get me involved from the start to set it up correctly.

Start With What You Know

I was speaking to a prospective VA on the phone the other day.  She had been researching the Virtual Assistant industry and my name kept popping up everywhere she looked. She is also an avid reader of my blog (hi Helen!).

During the course of the conversation she said the same thing I often hear ‘newbies’ say and that is, they want to learn a number of things before they start their businesses.  I decided to explore this further with her.

Whilst it is true that VAs need to have a certain amount of experience behind them (a minimum 5 years office/admin/secretarial is good) it does not mean they need to know how to do everything: bookkeeping, Powerpoint presentations, database management, etc.  They really need to start with what they know and what they’re experienced in doing.

If you have excellent typing skills and know how to format documents properly and are skilled at using Word, WordPerfect or another word-processing program, then you can provide services with these skills.  Because you are good at typing you can even do data entry into spreadsheets or other programs.

As you gain an interest in different areas of office management or computer use, then you can increase the services you have to offer, as long as you don’t make the mistake of offering services you don’t have experience with.

Previous posts I’ve written have explained how I got into databases, websites and blogs – each time because of a client need and each time because the client and I had already established a working relationship to the point where they felt they could ask me to learn or explore something on their behalf. They knew if I felt it was beyond me I would refer them to someone who was capable (through my VA team).  But they also knew that I pick up things quite quickly and that I enjoy challenges and often the new skill I’ve learned has become a new service within about six months.

It is really important though, that you allow that relationship of trust to be built first because if it backfires and you don’t achieve what you said you were going to do, the client will lose trust and you will lose face with your business and the referrals will stop coming in.  A quick way to lose confidence in yourself.

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About

A Clayton’s Secretary T/as VA Directory was established in March 1994 by
Kathie M. Thomas.

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