As a virtual assistant, communication with clients can really make or break your working relationship. Establishing trust through communication enhances your working relationship and helps lead to happy clients. So here are 7 tips to improve communication between you and your clients.
Have 1 contact method
Having to check Slack, DMs, email, Voxer, Asana comments, and who knows where else for client messages will leave you spending more energy than you need to. Plus it will likely mean you won’t receive messages as quickly as you would if you had a single place to look. As virtual assistants, we’re managing projects and requests from multiple clients, so having a streamlined process for receiving and tracking client tasks is so important! Both for your peace of mind and your organization.
This is something I did not make a decision about until I was already using multiple methods of communication with multiple clients. Don’t wait like I did! Choose your preferred method of communication and share it with potential clients during discovery calls. Let them know that is your only method of day-to-day communication to ensure you know exactly where to look for updates from them and nothing slips through the cracks.
My personal favorites are Slack and email. Outside of office hours, I don’t have Slack notifications turned on and my clients know to email me with URGENT in the subject line in the rare case of an emergency. This way, when I’m offline, I don’t even open Slack or any work emails without URGENT in the subject line. I strongly suggest you don’t trade phone numbers with clients unless they know to only call/text you for emergencies!
Communicate only within business hours
My favorite feature in Slack and Gmail lately has been the ability to schedule messages. If inspiration strikes to work outside of my office hours or over the weekend, I’ll schedule the messages to be sent on the morning of the next business day as long as it isn’t urgent. When working in corporate, I worked with people who truly felt their whole weekend was disturbed if they get a work email notification. I don’t want to be the cause of that stress for my clients if they happen to feel that way, too! So, scheduling messages to send at a later, more appropriate time, safeguards against interrupting my clients’ downtime.
This also helps to maintain your clients’ expectation of non-emergency communication from you only during your office hours. Of course, you have the choice to work late or on weekends when you want to, but it could lead to confusion if your client sometimes receives messages from you outside office hours but then on other days when they message you outside office hours, you don’t respond. Keeping your communication open only during office hours maintains boundaries and keeps expectations clear for everyone.
Send a survey at least once per year to existing clients
Sometimes we just need a push to have an open conversation about something that could be improved. I love getting feedback from clients because it solidifies their trust in me and that my goal is to serve them and their business growth. Asking for their feedback gives them the chance to bring up any suggestions and allows me to learn how they want to be supported. Plus, this is also a way to get glowing client testimonial quotes to use on your website or social media posts! Hearing what my clients love about working together really motivates me and reminds me how grateful I am to have such an incredible network of clients.
Don’t assume the worst or assign tone to a client’s message
Don’t let your imagination run wild in a negative way. Getting a message from a client asking to hop on a call usually just means they want to explain or work through an idea for a larger project that they’re excited about. Receiving short messages or replies usually means your client is answering you between other things they have on their plate. Don’t stress about issues that aren’t there and try not to assume the worst or look too deep into a short message!
Remind clients of your boundaries when needed
Very often, virtual assistants are the first team members an online business owner hires. In their world, you are their only VA, and they may forget that they are not your only client (and that by Murphy’s Law, clients tend to plan launches and have busy times at the same time!). But remember they aren’t making this assumption maliciously. I extend compassion to clients who forget I have other clients and due dates to meet when it happens once or twice. If they ask for a task to be done asap and I have the time, I will usually get it done but if it would disrupt my free time or other client requests that were received earlier, I will let them know I’ve added it to my list for the next day or next 2 days depending on the project size.
Letting a client know your office hours and your guidelines for submitting work from Day 0 will set you up on the right track. Most virtual assistants work with a turnaround time of either 24 or 48 hours, and some charge extra for rush jobs. This should all be noted in your Service Agreement, but also verbally explained during your discovery and onboarding calls. You may also need to remind clients that urgent requests are for situations where they are potentially losing money or creating a poor client experience, such as needing to fix a tech glitch on a sales page or an error in an email sequence. If a client routinely asks you to complete things urgently just because they didn’t give them to you earlier, I would suggest reminding them that urgent requests are reserved for XYZ (whatever you have determined as Urgent) and let them know you will try your best to get to their request as soon as possible and it will definitely be completed within your 1-2 day turnaround time.
ACKNOWLEDGE NEW REQUESTS from clients
While working in corporate, the office culture where I worked was very anti-email. People didn’t like receiving emails, especially if they didn’t have an immediate purpose. So when I first started as a VA, I wouldn’t send an email or message response to new task requests. I figured I would complete what was asked likely within the next day, and then respond that the work had been done or submit the work for approval to limit the back-and-forth. Very quickly, I learned this made some of my clients nervous because I’d get follow-up messages within a few hours asking if I’d received their request. Now, whether it’s hearting the message in Slack or Voxer, or quickly responding back to an email saying ‘Got it!’, I try to send some kind of acknowledgment that the task request was received.
don’t be afraid to follow up
Sending follow-ups on approval requests or reminding clients about pending materials can sometimes feel uncomfortable. Our clients lead busy, exciting lives in their business and personal spheres, and it can be easy to assume their delayed response is due to other priorities. However, it is crucial not to assume they will come back to your request when they have time and instead, assertively communicate what you need from them and follow up as needed.
I once hopped on a call with a client and could immediately tell she wasn’t happy. She asked me why a project had been delayed. Once I clarified that I received the materials from her late despite sending her multiple reminders in Slack, and promptly started the work once I received the materials, her demeanor softened. From my side, it was obvious what happened. But I was really glad I had sent those follow-up messages because it showed my client that the project didn’t slip my mind and I did what I could to keep the project on track.
Effective communication is the cornerstone of a successful virtual assistant-client relationship. By using these seven tips, you can improve your communication, increase trust and build stronger connections with your clients.