It’s All About the Relationship

For serious virtual assistants it is all about the relationship with their clients. Sure, we need to have the skills to do things or find someone who can do those things we may not be able to do or like to do, but if you don’t have a solid relationship with your client you are missing the best part of being a virtual assistant.

I love my clients and enjoy getting to know them beyond emails or business calls. It helps us develop a relationship of trust, confidence, and more.

Here is the best example – my annual virtual Christmas party with one of my clients. We have just done our 5th annual party! How does this work, you may say?

We pick an evening and gear up for a couple of hours of fun, conversation, our husbands’ bringing us goodies and filling our wine glass. It so happens that my client and I are just about the same age, have kids about the same age, and our husbands are perhaps clones. Last night, for example, we discovered that before they married us – they were *cat* people. Now, they are *dog* people, too.

We talk about our kids, parents, what is going on in our lives, our pets, and new things like Twitter, Facebook, some politics, and tv shows we love. We use Skype and webcams. Actually, the webcams just became a ritual last year and I would not want to have a virtual party without one. Our party this year lasted 4 1/2 hours!

Sure, you can work with a virtual team, with someone from India for less dollars, but do you have a relationship with that virtual assistant? Do they have one with you? Or is it more like an employer/employee relationship?

As my coach Stacy Brice says, “Virtual assistance is not meant to be the cheap way….” The relationships that should be developed cannot be stressed strong enough – so if you are looking for a VA, look at the skills, but more importantly — look at the personality, workstyle, and the potential relationship.