Davis Virtual Assistants

Tools of the Trade: Those systems to which are we so completely addicted it’s difficult imagining a day without them! Such is the case with my favorite web-based database management system. TrackVia is superb at what it does, and does it very inexpensively. What it does is allow me to create, manage, update, export, etc., any number of databases. But it doesn’t stop there! The site creates HTML-ready web forms (see my Contact Us form for an example) and TrackVia generates mailing labels and mail merge templates, along with e-mail and fax campaigns. It truly is a one-stop-shop of database management needs.

The clincher for registering, and staying with, the good folks at TrackVia is their Killer Customer Care. I’ve heard from Matt Strenz (Lead Support Engineer) on many occasions, and would you believe TrackVia’s Director of Marketing Ed Dunigan picked up the phone and called yours truly! Love it, love it, love it. I realize TrackVia epitomizes what we’ve come to know as a “small business,” and yet this is one “small” business which is playing a big game and is destined for greatness.

I encourage all my Killer Sharks (and my Guppies who are ready to dive into the deep end of the pool) to register for their 14 day free trial and get to know this superb database system for yourself. As always, a live demo is yours for the asking by calling 866.611.LORI.

This post is a call to action to my fellow professional Virtual Assistants to ensure when you say you can handle a particular task, don’t lie about your capabilities. Mr. Feisty put me through the paces last night, and I now have a new client. A client which could have been yours …

Was Mr. Feisty trying to get free work out of me? No sir, he was not. In fact, he sent me a PayPal payment as a thank you. Was he trying to ensure I’ve got the goods and the services he needs, and to ensure I could handle his technical tasks? Of course! I passed the test with flying colors and signed him as DavisVA’s new client.

To all my Guppy readers out there, heed this advice:

• Be honest about what you can do for a client. BS is not allowed.

• If you haven’t handled a particular task in say 6 months and it’s a task you’d like to do again and is within your comfort zone, let the client know and estimate the amount of time it will take for you to get back up to speed.
• If the task presented to you is completely out of your skill set (and your comfort zone) and you can make a referral to someone who can handle the task, then do so. Say something like, “Lisa, I can handle all but one of the six tasks you’ve presented to me. I recommend so and so for the other task you need to outsource.” There’s no shame in your game for doing this, especially when you remember you can’t be all things to all people. In addition, don’t worry about losing this potential client if it’s determined you can’t handle everything they need to outsource. A smart and feisty business owner will take the time necessary to build her team of highly qualified professionals, and include you as part of that team.

When you say, “Yes, I can do that!” be prepared to back up your words with action.

What an incredibly sad and bizarre beginning to the Tour de France 2006. Spain’s Operation Puerto, as it alleges doping by some of the sport’s top names, claims the following this year:

Ivan Basso — OUT
Jan Ullrich — OUT
Francisco Mancebo — OUT

A total of nine riders have been implicated in Operation Puerto and were booted from this year’s Tour.

I operate by the “innocent until proven guilty” philosophy, and will continue to do so. Still, if the likes of Jan and Ivan are guilty of doping, what does that say for the sport of professional cycling?

I’m not a world class athlete. Instead, I am a fan of many sports, including pro cycling, baseball and soccer. (I’m losing interest in soccer due to all the violence.) For me it comes down to this: If you’re blessed with natural talents, why in hell would you screw that up by taking performance enhancing drugs, all the while knowing you may get caught for doing so? I don’t get it. Someone explain it to me, please. Why would you disrespect your body? Is the pressure to win SO intense you feel you MUST dope? What’s the mentality? What’s the thought process behind this?

I’ll never understand the mindset of a world class athlete. But as a sports fan and a hardcore Tour de France fan, I am saddened, overall, for the world of sport. I, Lori Davis, was so looking forward to seeing Basso and Ullrich duke it out, as it were, on the roads of France. And now, I’ve been robbed of that.

The other interesting aspect of Day 1 was Floyd Landis. We’re watching the podium, but Floyd is nowhere to be found! Turns out, he had a shaky tire and decided to change the tire prior to the start of the today’s individual time trial. He lost 8-9 seconds because of this and ended up 9th on the GC (General Classification). Could have placed much higher in the GC standings had it not been for that pesky tire.

Two Americans, George Hincapie and David Zabriskie, are 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the GC. Norway’s Thor Hushovd pulled out an amazing time trial today and is wearing the maillot jeune (Yellow Jersey).

Day 2 of the TdF is a 184.5 KM race throughout Strasbourg. How will Team Discovery’s Director Sportif, Johan Bruyneel, play tomorrow, as well as the remainder of the Tour? Only time will tell …

Another reason yesterday was so awesome is Davis Virtual Assistants picked up two new clients, clients which COULD have been yours. Both of the clients contacted me via well-known Virtual Assistance directories, and while mine was not the first VA firm either of these clients contacted, I was the first to respond to their voice mail messages.

Here are some of the complaints I heard yesterday from these two clients:

Complaint Number 1: No Response from the VA
Both clients told me they had called the VA, using the information in that VA’s directory listing, between 9:00a - 10:00a yesterday morning. By 3:00p - 4:00p yesterday, the time frame during which both of these clients contacted me, they still had not heard any type of response from the VAs they first contacted.

Complaint Number 2: “This number is no longer in service”
Both clients commented that several of the telephone listings on the VA directories contained incorrect or invalid contact information.

Complaint Number 3: Crazy hourly rates
I realize we all bring different skills to the game and as with any industry, you’ll find a wide range of rates in the Virtual Assistance industry. Still, when someone is quoted 70 bucks an hour for administrative work, something is wrong.

For my fellow Virtual Assistants, and for all small business owners out there, take the time NOW to proof your on-line advertising. Confirm your contact information is correct and fix it NOW if it’s not. Ensure you respond to your e-mail and v-mail messages in a timely manner. If you don’t, I’ll continue to get your potential clients.