When you first start working with a virtual assistant to manage your emails, you might consider asking them to pretend to be you.
You think you’ll be giving your clients and potential clients a sense of continuity.
And it feels safer, doesn’t it? Especially if you’re not yet sure about the VA you’re working with because if it all goes wrong, nobody else need be any the wiser.
Perhaps you’re also worried that you’ll be putting too much distance between you and your clients. Well, I’ve got a tip for you on that in a moment.
What happens when a virtual assistant manages your emails ‘as you’?
First, let’s look at why having a virtual assistant pretend to be you can cause problems:
- If you’re still in this mindset, then you’re not letting go of your inbox, and might even be micromanaging your VA. Take it from someone who’s been micromanaged as a VA – it’s a waste of everyone’s time and money, and also extremely annoying! If you’re still doing this, start looking for little ways you can let go gradually and begin to trust them.
- You’ll be amazed at how much a VA can learn about the ins and outs of your business, but they can obviously never know everything you know. So, it starts to get tricky if they try to sound as if they have your knowledge. Or it can be a complete pain for you if your VA needs to ask you questions before replying to detailed emails on your area of expertise.
- Maybe you still want it to look like it’s just you in your business. Maybe you’re working with smaller business owners and you want your clients to feel like you’re still the same as them. Perhaps you feel a certain stigma around getting support. Whatever the reason is, you’re presenting a false face to the world.
Make a fresh start
Ok, so I promised you a tip. This is how you let your virtual assistant take over your inbox as themselves, but still retain your relationship with your clients.
Instead of stepping away from emails completely or creating a new email address for your VA, you set up a new inbox just for you!
This might sound like a headache, but think of it as a fresh start instead.
You leave your VA in charge of your hello@ or info@ or HowCanWeHelpYou@YourDomain address, and create a new personal email called YourName@YourDomain. Your former address in effect becomes your customer service address, with a new signature on the bottom.
There will be some initial juggling while you can complete any unfinished conversations without anyone thinking you’ve dropped them like a hot potato. After that, you get strict with yourself about only using your own new email address.
But – and here’s the key – you need to keep the new email address a closely guarded secret. Only use it for:
- newsletters you want to devour immediately, the minute they hit your inbox
- financial emails or other personal/sensitive information that you want to keep confidential from your VA
- selective clients: it could be all your clients if that works for you, or it might only be the ones you work most closely with.
In fact, you don’t even need to give your new email address to clients at all. You could decide to communicate with them through Slack channels, in client portals or through your project management software. You get to decide who comes into your shiny new inbox!
As an added bonus, when you need to chase clients for information or money, your VA can send that uncomfortable email as themselves and let you avoid starting icky conversations!
Having a virtual assistant manage your emails is meant to make your life easier. So imagine the relief of opening your emails each day knowing there will only be a trickle instead of a flood.
And that your virtual assistant is taking the weight of your company emails, whilst presenting themselves to the world as part of your brand.
Are you missing something from your client management journey?
GET YOUR FREE CLIENT MANAGEMENT JOURNEY CHECKLIST
Review your client management journey from onboarding right through to getting that rave testimonial.
View my privacy policy here, and unsubscribe at any time.
