First published March 2003.

I thought it might be worth visiting some email etiquette for all as the majority of the readers of this newsletter are now on email.

It is important to consider that when emailing people you are on show, whether you like it or not, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is one of my ‘pet’ subjects on which I speak when giving a public presentation about the Internet. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who have never thought about it, including secretaries, but once it’s mentioned they say ‘oh, yes, I hadn’t thought about that!’ Let’s face it – many people use email at work AND at home – but who they are does not change.

It is best to type messages in full, and do not use phonetic spelling or lots of abbreviated words and half sentences. I know it is common practice on chat programs to shortcut the process, but email is quite different, and these days, generally accepted almost the same as a written letter. The reason not to type email in the shortcut form is that it can become habit-forming and not something you would want to promote to prospective clients, bosses or other business associates. It is important to remember that your ‘professionalism’ is on show 24 hours a day via email – a small point, but important.

Another thing – develop a signature block and let people know who you are and what you do! I have it set as an automatic feature whenever emailing, or replying to email, and sometimes forget to delete it when emailing my parents or other family members – but that doesn’t really matter. The thing to remember is that anyone is a potential business associate and letting them know who you are and what you do helps promote your business or your industry. It is a business card that is on show all the time.

Third – take notice of the correct spelling of people’s names. I’ve lost count of the number of times that people have replied to an email of mine and spelt my name as either Kathy or Cathy – it’s neither. In addition, I’m sure the spelling of your own name is just as important to you and it is quickly noticed when someone spells it incorrectly.

It’s these little things that make the difference between an average business operator and one who does that extra something – every little thing counts when it comes to attracting clients and associates and keeping them. Taking the time to care about these things and looking after even a client’s name goes a long way to developing good business relationships. KMT

email etiquette, netiquette, people’s names, signature block, professionalism

I wrote a series of articles a few years ago on Email Etiquette and they’ve been published all over the web and in a number of printed publications in different countries.

I received the following email this week and I reprint it here with permission from the sender and intend to use this as an introduction to the series here. So I’ll be republishing the entire set via this blog for others to view, read and comment as they see fit.

Hi Kathie,

I enjoyed reading your articles about email etiquette. I had a specific question and you just may have my answer. I don’t know if you offer advice like this, but it’s worth a shot. My boss wants me to start sorting his emails and answering them on his behalf. The answers will be his thoughts, but my words. How would you suggest that I sign these emails so that this is clearly conveyed to those reading the responses? Thanks for your time.

Tiffany Sorenson
Assistant to Pastor Tom and Pastor Jason
Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Grove City
www.gcvineyard.org

My answer to Tiffany:

Hi Tiffany, so nice to hear you enjoyed my articles. Where did you see them? I have them published in a number of places.

I don’t usually advertise I offer advice but I do get requests for it from time to time. What would be good is if I put the series on my blog and then added your question to prompt them from others – if that’s ok with you?

If your boss is the Pastor you have mentioned below, the Pastor’s assistant from my church always sends from his address and signs off with his name, and includes her’s as well. I was looking for a copy to show you, but I haven’t got any saved. I think that similar to what you have below is fine, but perhaps you could put something like:

Tiffany Sorenson
on behalf of
Pastor Tom, etc

That way the receiver knows that you’re responding on his behalf.

When I worked in the corporate world I used to sign off letters for my boss and in that instance I would put his signature block, but sign my name above it, then add ‘for‘ beside his name. I hope that makes sense?

So good to hear from you. KMT

I trialed a service with a client and a contact of her’s yesterday. We held a 3 way conversation via a US number and were able to log into the web and see that each of us were on that call. It has moderating facilities and allows you to mute other callers on the line, boot people if you need to, record the conversation which is apparently available online an hour later and so on. My client’s contact mentioned to me she thought it might be useful for VAs who do digital transcription. You could get a client to dial in, record their dictation and then I think the system would email you later to let you know the file was ready for downloading. At any rate, you could log in later and download the file.Now, why is it free? I have no idea. Perhaps they plan to charge later once they have a decent client base and people understand how they work. Cost for dialing into a US number is minimal if you use a phone card from the newsagents or post office. Here in Australia you could get a $10 card and it will last you for something like 700 minutes over a 3 month period before it runs out.

The site address? http://freeconferencing.liveoffice.com/index.html

The beauty of this system is that once you have an account, you are given a bridge number and a pin number. The bridge number will direct your client to the correct account once they’ve dialled in. The pin number you use with the bridge number when logging into the website so you can see how many people are on the line. Apparently it will take up to 250 people per session for up to 6 hours.

Now, I know some of you will say ‘there has to be a catch’ – and I agree, but I haven’t found it yet. So feel free to explore and try it out and let us all know how you found it. They do have other services that do cost.

So if you have clients that need teleconferencing, this is ideal. If you do digital transcription and you were looking for a cost effective way for clients to record and get the files to you, this is it. KMT

free teleconferencing, virtual assistants, digital transcription

When you’re starting out in business it’s exciting to plan and design your business card so that it reflects what you want it to show. But don’t despair if you don’t get it right the first time. Opt to get only 250 or 500 made at first and see how they go and then get more made further down the track. If you’re regularly attending networking events, meeting people, or even including your card whenever you send any correspondence or pay bills by post, you will soon go through them. The cards aren’t worth anything to you if you keep them on your desk or in a drawer – they’re meant to be given away! And if you give two, three or more to one person, they can pass some on and still keep your contact details for themselves (great for getting referrals).

I’ve recently updated mine to reflect my ‘new’ official role as a VA Coach. I thought it should be reflected on the card and it was a good excuse to look at it and revamp it. My ‘old’ cards are only 4 months old and will still be used, but I thought I’d have a small batch of the new ones made up to try out and give out. Add to that I’ve joined the International Coaching Federation and since I’ll be attending their meetings here in Melbourne I thought I should reflect my coaching status on my card. I welcome your comments if you want to have a look!

If you need ideas for business cards of your own, why not invest in Ivan Misner’s book ‘It’s in the Cards’? Excellent book with great ideas and lots of coloured visuals in it. KMT

virtual assistants, VA Coach, coaching for virtual assistants, business cards, networking, ICF

He rang up late in the afternoon, 5.20pm to be exact. He was in his car and heading out away from some meeting when he said to me, ‘do you know what I like about having a virtual assistant compared to a personal assistant?’ He didn’t wait for my answer. ‘Because I know that the VA is still there when I suddenly realise I need something urgently for tomorrow. Do you mind? Can you manage this if I swung by in an hour to pick it up?’ He told me what he needed and I was able to confirm I could do that for him. Turned out to be almost 2 hours later before he got here – he must have had a distance to travel and some traffic to battle, but I had the things ready for him that he needed. And he hadn’t put me out waiting for him because I was at home anyway.

If I hadn’t been here or not available, he would have understood, but it’s just nice knowing that he really appreciated I was there and could help him – instead of being someone about to knock off and head home – it was no problem to me to set up and print what he needed whilst I was getting the family dinner ready. Another happy customer! KMT

happy customer, virtual assistants, virtual support, VA, PA

When a new VA is starting out, there is the temptation to accept any job that comes along, just for the sake of having a client and work to do. But things can go awry very, very quickly, if you have no experience in that type of work, and if you don’t know what you’re doing. Some jobs may appear to be easy at the outset, but unless you truly have some idea of what’s involved, probably best to let it pass to someone more experienced. Some of these will include: transcriptions (audio & digital), bookkeeping, website design and maintenance, database design.

Best to start with things you know well and as you build your client relationships, and they ask you to do something you haven’t done before, then it’s worth exploring and learning how to do that thing. The client already knows what you’re capable of and would be more willing to accept that there is some learning time involved, without you feeling uncomfortable and that you are out of your depth.

But don’t worry too much if this does happen – as long as you learn from it.  Pick yourself up and start again. Even seasoned VAs have their ‘failure’ stories – I might share mine… one day KMT