Customer service is SO important to me. In my virtual assistance business, nothing comes before making sure my clients are happy. My goal has and always will be to make each of my clients feel like they are my “one and only”.
However, my business is taken such a large growth spurt that I’ve been struggling with this, and I’ve come to the point where that goal is not always attainable for my “pay as you go” clients. Quite simply, retainer work is pre-scheduled and pre-paid so it takes priority.
I’ve had to make some tough decisions, and I wanted to share these here hoping to inspire some fellow entrepreneurs to take a hard look at what’s important and try to get back to their basic original business goals.
First of all, I’ve steadily been building up my team of Associate VAs for about a year and a half now. I’m now blessed enough to provide only the services I want to provide while outsourcing the rest to my very competent team members. This is a win-win for everyone, because if you’re doing stuff you don’t love, there’s going to be someone who will do a better job of it. My clients - retainer or project - still deserve top quality work and in a lot of cases, that means it will be delegated. It’s a really hard habit to break - doing everything myself as it comes in - but I’m getting much better at it.
Next, I’ve unintentionally strayed away from my original business model quite a lot. Actually, my business looks nothing like it did in my first business plan. I always wanted to only work with regular retainer clients because I believe that I can provide true virtual assistance by partnering with a business owner and working so closely with them that I know their business inside and out. I still want to do this, but in the past couple of years I’ve taken on quite a few project clients and while Mann Made Time will still be taking on projects, I am going to be assigning those to my Associates unless it’s something I really want to do. This allows me to focus more time on my retainer clients.
These ongoing clients get presents. They get to make a request to have a project completed on the weekend (not that I can guarantee it will happen and it will be at a premium rate, but still!). They never hear about my other clients. They never know if I can’t get to one of their projects because I am working on other client stuff. They will never hear me vent about the amount of time another clients’ projects are taking. I want to maintain this, so rather than taking on everything that my small business banker might like me to, I’m being very careful about not taking on any more than I can handle while still maintaining the level of client care that is so important to me.
Finally, I have had to let some clients go who take up too much time with last minute requests and too much of my energy with projects that I don’t love. As of right now, if I’m getting paid to do something, it’s something I love.
All of these things allow me to continue to make my clients feel like they’re being well taken care of, and no matter how much bigger Mann Made Time gets, I don’t ever want that to change.
How are you doing with your client care? How are you? Are you bogged down? Outsource!
