Managing Multiple Virtual Assistant Clients Ridiculously Well

Having lots of clients is a good thing, but if you can't manage your workload then it can be really stressful for all of you.

There are many times when having too many priorities comes up, but handling your workload well on a regular basis helps you manage that better.

Let’s talk about your first clients - we get excited, and then we get into the habit of answering their emails quickly, finishing their tasks quickly, and basically giving them really fast service.

That’s not a bad thing - I mean they are paying you, right?

But the problem with that is that it’s not sustainable as you gain more clients. Which you will if you are a successful VA.

Imagine being the client who got same day service in the beginning and then all of a sudden gets slowed right down, and being told ‘I’ll do that on Thursday’.

Doesn’t feel very good - does it?

And that’s one of the biggest problems that new VAs face.

Like Vince says in today’s quote - it takes months to get a great client, and seconds to lose one.

Very true. We work SO hard to get our clients - it’s really important to work with them in a way that helps them feel valued and also so that we can make sure they value us.

So how to manage it? Well for starters, you want to make sure that you work smarter from the get go.

Which can be a real challenge because you often have nothing else to do - but you have to handle the client as though you have a full schedule.

If you have already started, you are probably going to have to have a conversation with your client or face that disappointment that I described earlier.

I know it well, I’ve had that conversation with clients.

They don’t like being downgraded from being your highest priority.

So you have to build your business with the intention of managing the tasks of many clients.

I bet you never really thought of it till now did you?

I know I sure didn’t!

So let’s talk about how you can do that.

First you have to be able to tell your clients that they are not your only client. They can’t treat you like you are their assistant. You’re not.

You are a VA that they have hired to do their admin work (whatever that is), and they have to treat you like any other business that they would outsource to.

Part of working with a target market is looking for clients who are GREAT - and that means clients who value you and understand that you are working together, that you are not working for them.

If they think you are only working for them (or that they are your highest priority because they are paying you), you will run into problems regularly.

So ... start with that! Have that conversation. Let them know that you are in charge of your own schedule. They can let you know what they need done, but they can not dictate when you will do it. Only when it is ‘due’.

There are lots of ways to do work for multiple clients. They all require the use of your schedule.

Use Your Schedule

Some VAs will set aside large blocks of time to work on stuff for client A, client B etc.

But I am not a big believer in blocking off large blocks of time in any given day.

If you have 5 clients, and you book 2 hours today to work for client A, then what happens to the other 4 clients?

My preferred way of working with multiple clients was to block off short blocks of time - 30 minutes or less. You can always circle back to client A’s work later in the day if you need to.

Break up all tasks that you do for your clients into smaller time buckets For instance if you are working on their newsletter don’t try to sit down and produce the newsletter within the hour.

Break your pieces of what needs doing into much smaller tasks so you can do them a little at a time. For the newsletter, there are multiple steps that you need to ‘do’ to get it.

And make sure you factor in breaks to your day - burnout is real and it can rob you of valuable time.

The short blocks of time help you with that too - long periods of time working are bad for many reasons.

One of the main reasons is that the longer you give yourself to do something, the longer you will take to do it.

You also need to be sure that you are planning the right amount of time to complete every task - if you go over on your time regularly, then you have to revise your estimate.

Use Checklists

Instead of booking in an hour and starting from scratch, create a checklist of everything that you need to do to, to get it done. Then look at how long each of those steps takes to complete - and book THOSE times into your calendar.

Think about it - how many 15 minute or 30 minute time slots do you have in your day?

Lots! And it’s easier to fill those by doing something that takes 15 to 30 minutes, and then move on to something else.

Breaking up your task...