This happened to a client of mine late last year and it was a challenging thing to get sorted and MailChimp people were wonderful, helping us through this. What happened? Someone accessed her account, uploaded over a million addresses and started to send out phishing email saying that payment was due on an invoice and the recipient's credit card was going to be charged. People began emailing and ringing my client anxious that she was going to charge their accounts for a large sum. Some were … [Read more...]
Are your emails getting through?
Email is not 100% proof and probably never will be. So why do people just assume that all their emails are getting through? Or that they're receiving everything they should? It really hurts when you miss an email from a client or potential client and, therefore, totally miss out on a job - because you didn't know they were trying to contact you. What is wrong with using the phone these days? Or make contact other ways, i.e. PM via Facebook or other social media if those people are … [Read more...]
Let them know your number!
Does anyone else find it annoying that business people just sign off their emails with their name and no contact details whatsoever? Just sometimes, I'd like to pick up the phone and I have to do a search through previous emails or a Google search to find it. My next pet hate are websites that have no phone numbers on them. Perhaps they don't know how to set up an email signature block, but if that's the case, why not ask someone to help them? An admin assistant or a VA can definitely … [Read more...]
The phone or email?
There's been a discussion on one VA forum about whether they have both phone and email listed on their site or just one of those choices? Some are for both, some for only one. Neither is a wrong or right answer, it is purely what works for them. However, it does lead me to think about the frustration I know that many people must experience if their emails go left unanswered for many days, or sometimes weeks. I don't believe that VAs fall into this category. Our businesses are very much about … [Read more...]
When flattery will get you nowhere (and cost you money)
When you have a presence online there will come a time when the thieves come out of the woods and make themselves known. More like wolves in sheep's clothing. They will butter you up and tell you how fantastic you are and convince you that you should part with your hard-earned money to invest in their project. In this case a 'who's who directory of people' from some unknown but impressive sounding company. When you get approached by someone to list in a Who's Who Directory it would be well … [Read more...]
Sign off your emails!
This is a message for anyone in business - Virtual Assistants, their clients and others. Please sign off your emails properly. Even if you have an existing relationship with someone you're emailing, it still makes sense to use your signature. Why? Because not everyone remembers your phone number off by heart, or has it in their database, or knows what your website is (especially if your email address does not reflect your business website address), your fax number or whatever. Sometimes I … [Read more...]
Whatever happened to professionalism?
aaarrghh! I can't believe how many emails I get these days where people do not sign off, or include contact details. What is wrong with people these days? Is email no longer considered a professional way of contacting others? What am I talking about? Signature blocks. I receive emails from Virtual Assistants, from service and product providers, from other organisations where people just sign off with their firstname and nothing else. No surname, no business name, no website address, no phone … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistant tools you use – Facebook/LinkedIn
Touching on Facebook, and LinkedIn for that matter, I recently installed a useful add-on to Outlook called the Social Connector. It will show you what people have been saying in both Facebook and LinkedIn, while using the program Outlook. I wasn't sure at first how useful it might be and had to play around with where to have it set up in Outlook so it's not using up valuable real estate on my screen. I now only have it showing when I'm reading individual emails and responding to them. It has … [Read more...]