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Outsourcing and Delegating
Once again we are revisiting a post that first appeared on BeckyBeach.net in June 2012, a time when I was only a few months into my time at Red Desk. Lindsay was busy trying to sort out how best to spend her time and what work to pass onto me. We are now 5 Virtual Assistants at Red Desk and many of the same principles apply.
Delegating can be a difficult thing to do at times, a big hurdle: passing on work and explaining how it should be done. Sometimes you might think the easier “quickest” route is to “do it all yourself” but that isn’t effective or making the best use of the resources around you. Once you’ve jumped over that initial hurdle and got your head round passing on work you feel like you are flying! It’s such a great feeling to know that there’s another capable person you can count on who’s helping to move your business in the right direction.
Outsourcing monthly tasks or one-off smaller projects can be hugely efficient and a time-saving option. There are so many tasks that can be passed onto a VA company like Red Desk, anything from bookkeeping and VAT returns, research or setting up social media, to managing a property, project or event.
Once a good working relationship is set up, it can set your mind racing on the possibilities and give a business owner time to actually think about what direction they’re headed in.
To achieve more in your business you need to get the right person doing the right job, freeing up your time for what you do best and if your VA can’t take the task, they can certainly research the best person/or company.
With the amazing advances in technology over the last few years there is absolutely no need for people working on the same project to actually be in the same place, now you can receive your emails on your phone or ipad, queries can be answered without delay.
Having said that sometimes nothing can replace a face to face meeting, so although Red Desk is “virtual”, we are local so are able to meet with our clients or with each other as and when needed.
If you’ve been thinking about outsourcing, do get in touch!
mel@reddesk.co.uk
4 tips to deal with negative comments on Social Media
One of our clients was recently faced with some negative comments on social media. Rather than bury their head in the sand, we assisted with tackling the situation head on. However, having not encountered this before, we looked into the best way of approaching this.
Here’s what we found:
Remain Positive
Reading negative comments about your company, product or service might feel like a personal attack but don’t let it get to you. When responding to feedback, always remain positive.
Respond in a timely manner
How do you find out about the comments in the first place? Unless they come into your inbox, you can’t be patrolling all social media sites day and night on the lookout for comments. However, Google Alerts are your friends! You can set them up so that you receive an email when someone posts a comment about your product/service/company. This is a better option that finding out via a third party a week after the comment was posted.
Type of comment & how to respond
There are generally three types of comment:
- A straight problem – the complaint or comment is warranted. For this you will need to acknowledge the problem/situation, apologise, take the conversation offline and lastly offer a solution
- Half-truth or misguided comment. If the comment is based on some truth but not completely factual, start by acknowledging the part of the error which is true and apologise. You can then go onto correct the misinformation but then go onto taking the conversation offline. Readers will not want to witness a public slanging match. Finally offer a solution.
- Unwarranted/untruthful comment. Still acknowledge the comment and write a general apology for the dissatisfaction that they feel. Once again take the conversation offline and get more information.
Beware of the troll
There’s a fine line between an unwarranted/untruthful comment and something that can be consider trolling or spam. There is no valid reason for the attack and trolls will often advertise a competing service. You can point out that their comments are inaccurate and unfair (provide backup) so that readers of the post get the real picture. However, the best advice is to ignore the comments and try to remove the post/comment where you can.
If you need some assistance with any of the above, please do get in contact:
Find me on Twitter @reddeskVA
Find me on Facebook Red Desk VA
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