p2w2 blog » Elements of service

A Guide to Virtual Assistance – Part 2

Iswarya — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:46:32 +0000

Hope you all enjoyed our first presentation on Virtual Assistance(in case you missed out on the first part of this series, check it out – here) . The next presentation in this series gives a brief overview about two major link building techniques – article submission and directory submission. Here’s a link to the second part of our series of presentations.

A Guide to Virtual Assistance – Part 2

P.S: Check out our Virtual Assistance page to know more about featured Virtual Assistants on p2w2!

A Guide to Virtual Assistance Part 1

Iswarya — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:31:54 +0000

Virtual Assistance has become a popular business, as more and more people are seeking remote assistance and are outsourcing various tasks. I have prepared a series of presentations on Virtual Assistance, which I’ll be posting regularly on p2w2′s blog. Each presentation will specifically deal with one or two tasks typically performed by a Virtual Assistant. Going through the presentation will help you get to know about the following:
1. What is Virtual Assistance all about?
2. What does a Virtual Assistant do?
3. How long does it take to finish the job?
4. How much should you pay a Virtual Assistant?
5. Sample profiles of Virtual Assistants featured on p2w2.

Here’s the first presentation of the series.

A Guide to Virtual Assistance Part 1

Keep watching this space for more information!

Networking – The Key to Unlock Small Business Growth

Chaitanya — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:31:35 +0000

What is the mantra for success of your business? Introducing new products? Big ad campaigns? Networking? No. It’s relationships!

Networking sounds like wiring. And many people network like wiring – they make it messy and they want to extract something out of it.

Networking is not exchanging business cards! It’s about connecting with people. That is how you can help them. Darcy Rezac (in the book “The frog and the prince”) defines it as “discovering what you can do for someone else.” (Source: Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of Schmoozing)

Relationships are about Caring for Others

Just today, I heard this podcast (Jackie Speier, Former State Senator and Deborah Stephens, Center for Innovative Leadership at Stanford) where Deborah talked about relationships and she said, “I don’t think we have to network. We have to build Relationships. Relationships are about caring about someone.” And caring is reflected in how we listen to people, and how much we help others, how much you want to meet people, and how much time can you spare for others just to help. And you have a ton of such opportunities in business.

Wonders Relationships Do to Small Businesses

I cannot think of p2w2 without relationships. Every step we have taken until now was made possible because we had someone who helped us along the way.

Relationships are so important – they help you reach a higher orbit. You get new opportunities because someone knows you. They help you keep your business in a tough economy. They help you in hiring, financing your company (friends and family are the biggest and the first source of financing small businesses), in purchasing (you know deals before others!), and of course in selling (referrals). Relationships could be the essence of building a business.

If you have great relationships, you can survive the biggest challenges in the market, competition or otherwise.

So how would you network? err.. build relationships?

About the author: Chaitanya Sagar is the Co-Founder and CEO of p2w2, an online marketplace for services like writing, software, graphic design, virtual assistance, business consulting and research. He is fascinated by entrepreneurship and the difference technology can make in people’s lives. Chaitanya blogs at p2w2 blog (RSS) and tweets at www.twitter.com/Chaitanya.

Picture credits: Theeerin, techcocktail

Dealing with upset customers

Chaitanya — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:59:42 +0000

Receiving positive feedback from your satisfied customers is always nice, but the real test of your business acumen lies in dealing with the upset ones. Unfortunately, despite efforts, mistakes happen. When they do, how you tackle them determines your success.

A talking customer is an opportunity

Let’s look at the opportunity. When the client is upset, she is willing to talk. And you have an opportunity to listen what she has got. Most likely, she has a genuine issue. If she had, you have every reason to alleviate the problem and see to it that the client is satisfied. Even assume, the client is being a little unreasonable. She wants a little more than what the implied promise is. That is an opportunity to show your customers that you mean what you say in your marketing materials.

Fix Your Processes

There’s another opportunity. An upset client is a symptom. Studies reveal that a small percentage of upset clients actually complain. It means that the clients are just a tip of an iceberg. Most likely, with every such disappointed client, there is a loose end in the process. If you do some soul searching, you will come up with some problem that you can fix and help you have more satisfied clients. I have learnt that it’s better to be prepared to listen to complaints. You never know what you might be missing out on unless you get critical feedback from them.

An upset customer might interact with an employee in person or on the phone. Remember, when a customer is upset, he or she might seem to lash out on you as a person. They can get unruly and sometimes downright obnoxious. Excepting the odd one out, most customers are looking for someone in your company to listen patiently and solve their problem in a reasonable time. Just give them a smile, hear them out and solve the problem they have. That is it! The first lesson is that you must listen to the customer.

Receive the Angst with Pleasure

There is no need to take the diatribe personally, I realised that the customer doesn’t know me as a person and his or her angst is not meant to be directed at me unless it is my fault. Keep your cool throughout the talk, and be professional and considerate when you respond. A lot of such customers might have a genuine problem and even though I agree that their tone might be far from polite, their complaint needs to be heard objectively. A brief heartfelt apology is a good start. An abusive and angry customer generally calms down to a great extent if you approach the issue with an open mind after an apology. If I got defensive I immediately came across as not trying to look at the problem from his or her perspective. Listen carefully without interrupting. Make sure that you register the complaint fully the first time itself, asking a customer to repeat the problem again will portray inattentiveness.

In case this conversation is happening on the phone, I make sure to note down the real problems which might not be obvious if the customer is irate. After taking down all the details, I offer to call the customer back at a time convenient for him or her. This gives you time to calmly resolve the problem while letting the customer cool down and will avoid the problem from exacerbating. I know that I have spent a considerable amount in acquiring the customer, so I need to make an effort to retain him or her.

I found myself empathizing with such customers and deviating from standard company policy in a few cases to help them out. Be ready to do so, dealing with people means that you cannot always follow a rigid set of rules. Give them the attention they deserve as individuals rather than a complaint. A company policy needs to be flexible since my customer takes priority over it.

Followup and Solve

Choose your words wisely. There are ways of replying in an effective manner without upsetting the customer further. Offer them the best you can; if that still doesn’t appease them, transfer the problem to a superior and brief them effectively about the issue. As a final point, always remember to follow up on the problem with the customer once it gets fixed. Satisfactorily dealing with upset customers will go a long way in ensuring the success of your venture.

So, what do you do when a customer calls in with a complaint?

About the author: Chaitanya Sagar is the Co-Founder and CEO of p2w2, an online marketplace for services like writing, software, graphic design, virtual assistance, business consulting and research. Chaitanya blogs at p2w2 blog (RSS). He is fascinated by entrepreneurship and the difference technology can make in people’s lives.

Picture credits: Blatch Shermeee

(part-2) Building Trust with Your Customers Helps You Reach Your Goals Faster-2

Chaitanya — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:17:04 +0000

In the previous post, (Building Trust with Your Customers Helps You Reach Your Goals Faster-1), I talked about benefits of building trust.

Elements of trust

Everyone wants to be trusted – especially sales persons and consultants. You want your customer to come and listen to you. However, not many achieve in being trusted. I was amazed when I read a book called “Trusted Advisor” (affiliate link – p2w2 gets paid if you buy), I realized that there is a pattern of behavior that helps generate more trust in your relationships.
If you look at page 4 (using “look inside” feature of Amazon) you will see “traits that our trusted advisors have in common.” In that, I like the following:

- They are consistent (we can depend on them)
- Help us think things through (we make the decision, they don’t force their recommendation on us)
- They stay calm
- Are reliably on our side and always seem to have our interests at heart
- We can rely on them to tell us the truth

Who do YOU trust?

Take for example, a car dealer. Which dealer do you trust? It’s likely that you the person:
• Is pleasant and polite to you
• Asked for your needs and heard you patiently
• Empathized with your need
• Respected your time and attended to you promptly
• Understood your need
• Gave all the options you have
• Let you make the decision
• Follow up and deliver on all the promises

Trust is a natural outcome when they know that you keep their interests in mind.

Trust gets generated from experience; not testimonials

No matter how good a marketing material you can generate, it can never generate trust. At best, a customer can try you. But she will start trusting you only after trying out your product or service and after she is satisfied.

Before we close…

Log on to Trust Quotient self-assessment quiz. I recommend this quiz because that tells you where you stand on the trust question. Here are some of the questions it asks (you have to select between Never, Rarely, Often, Almost Always and Always):

1. My word is my bond (I keep and deliver on my promises; I see keeping my word as a matter of personal integrity)
2. I work to make sure there are no surprises when I’m around
3. People tell me me I’m honest and open
4. I am consistent and predictable
5. People confide in me (they tell me things they often don’t tell others)

You might actually learn many traits that you love and give you ideas to enhance others’ trust in you.

This quiz computes your trust quotient (TQ). With this quiz you can do your own assessment of your credibility, reliability, intimacy, and self-orientation. The quiz, based on the work of Charles H. Green, who defines TQ as:

Where:

TQ = Trust Quotient (trustworthiness)
C = Credibility
R = Reliability
I = Intimacy
S = Self-orientation

Remember that can be a fabulous economic strategy—the strategy for our times.
But if your only reason for winning trust is to make money off others, nobody is going to trust you.
That’s the paradox of this trust thingy.
If you’d like to know more about the “T’ Factor in a business relationship, I would recommend that you begin by reading by David H. Maister and Charles H. Green’s Trusted Advisor.

About the author: Chaitanya Sagar is an expert in small businesses and is the CEO of www.p2w2.com, an online marketplace for services like writing, business consulting, research, software, online-tutoring etc. You can find good service providers and collaborate with them on p2w2.

Picture credits: Mijita Janielianne hbp_pix