- Can your clients and prospects get in touch with you online?
- Are business partners able to contact you with proposals on the Web?
- Do your friends and family have access to you in emergencies?
If you think, “Yes, of course”, here’s a suggestion. Try being one of them for a day, and test your existing processes.
You may be surprised!
Are You Playing God?
Probably (mis)guided by a coach or ebook that pandered to their illusions of self-importance and grandeur, many online small businesses (fewer than 100 employees, with $25 million or less in annual revenue!) hired a V.A. (’Virtual assistant’) to handle email. And felt good about what they had done.
If that’s you, here’s a suggestion. Fire your gatekeeper!
Look, you’re no Donald Trump, or George Soros, or Bill Bartmann. These folks are BILLIONAIRES, busy as heck, and really don’t have time (or need) to network with every single person who wants their time and attention.
Yet, every time I’ve contacted them, I have received polite, prompt and personal responses from someone on their team. (Bill answers his own email!). That’s because they have the money to hire REAL assistants.
You don’t. And so you make do with a nickel-and-dime V.A. who considers their job well done when they respond to your business partners with a templated copy-and-paste message – costing you a small fortune in lost business and ruined relationships.
Yes, Spam Is Killing You, But…
No one can deny the impact of spam on business communication, even personal messaging on the Internet. But to fight it, you need intelligent processes, not duct-tape quick fixes.
For my book launch that just ended, I contacted over 350 people for help with spreading the word. I used various channels of access:
1. Email
2. Web site contact forms
3. Twitter ‘@’ and Direct messages
4. Facebook messages
5. Forum private messaging
6. LinkedIn
In rare cases, I got through immediately. For some, it took multiple channels before I could establish contact. For many, I simply couldn’t get past ‘gate keepers’.
To no one’s surprise, the ones I connected with instantly were friends who agreed to (or turned down politely) my invitation to be a part of my book launch – and then actually helped promote. They are the ones I thanked in my earlier blog post – and with whom I will continue to have a relationship, and go out of my way to help in the future.
But, Why Fire Your Gatekeeper?
On average, it cost me 2.5 to 3 minutes per person. That’s time well worth spending – even when the answer was “No, I can’t help you”.
What’s a waste of time is when interactions get fouled up by the gate-keeper. Because they are not authorized to say “No”, these $500 a month (or lesser) ‘employees’ use customized templates to respond. A frequently used one goes:
“Hi,
Thank you for your email. I am happy to assist you.
I have forwarded your email to _____. He will review
your proposal. Thank you. And all the best”
Which would be fine and dandy – except they DID NOT forward your message to anyone… they just trashed it, or closed the support ticket – remember, the one you had to first register as a member to use, and then painstakingly filled in form fields to communicate with a friend or business partner!
Those are the ones I will always remember – as being IDIOTS.
For wasting my time and energy.
For not taking the time to do things properly.
Remember Whom You’ll Meet – On Your Way Down!
Look, if this sounds like YOU I’m talking about, you may THINK you don’t need anyone. You’re so big, successful, popular that you can manage without any partners in your business or life.
But trust me, a time will come when you will eat humble pie and try to contact those same people who are now trying to reach you. I’ve seen it happen time and again over the last 15 years in online marketing – and for even longer in the real world!
It’s nature’s cycle. What goes up must come down. Only ‘when’ and ‘how fast’ remain uncertain!
And at that time, THEY (we) will remember how your V.A. brushed off the effort of 3 minutes with a breezy 10 second copy-paste response – and blame YOU for using that approach!
Solutions You Might Want To Consider
So what can you do about it? There isn’t enough time in the day to respond to the deluge of communication that drowns you. And wasn’t that your excuse to hire a V.A. in the first place?
Well, how about taking a different approach?
1. Have a clearly stated policy for communication – addressing different groups, like clients, joint venture partners, affiliates and prospects.
2. Publish a detailed (and often updated) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that addresses most areas right away.
3. Pick ONE preferred channel for direct one-on-one communication, for whenever the process fails for any reason. I like Twitter, because it leaves me in control of how and when to deal with communication. Dr.Ken Evoy of SiteSell fame uses a unique ‘hot line’ email address which he monitors personally.
4. Don’t hesitate to say “No”. Really busy people will appreciate not having their time wasted by wishy-washy nonsense – and a clear “No” allows you to justifiably ignore future follow-up without appearing to be a jerk!
5. Monitor and test your process every month or two – to see nothing is broken or that profitable connections aren’t slipping through the cracks.
6. Use help desks. This beats email in an era of filters and spam. But make sure, if you use a V.A. to monitor your desk, that you oversee what happens – and supervise their communication style… because what your V.A. will lose (a meager monthly stipend) is nothing as compared to what YOU will lose as a careless business owner!
Remember, gatekeepers are meant to make you MORE EFFECTIVE, not merely more efficient. If they are irritating and annoying people who could help you and your business in the long-term, you lose… big time.
Walk with your head in the clouds, if you must, pretending you’re a busy business-man or -woman, but keep your feet on the ground. In reality, you are no busier than me – and I know it!
