Advertising: Friend, not Foe!

They say advertising is excessive: it interrupts TV series, preceding movie shows and dominating music award ceremonies. Some even lament that advertising not only occupies the media, but is also present everywhere else; the latest music editor softwares could be seen at bus shelters, and online VoIP products pictured in public telephone booths. It is irrelevant and disruptive.

If you agree with my last sentence above, continue reading. You might decide to change your mind.

first of all, I dont think advertisers occupy the media. As a matter of fact, it is the media that courts companies, maybe except for over-popular shows. TV stations need funds to run your favorite programs, and radio broadcasts have to pay for the Music on Demand. It boils down to us consumers: we demand, and the media provides, at a price of course.

Ah, you might now argue that it is the advertisers who flock to the media and pay for available ad space. True! But how many time slots are so coveted over? Shows like the super Bowl Football are rare. Other less endowed channels, in fact, have some hard time securing long-term ad contracts to be financially sufficient. It is thus fair to conclude that advertisers and the media, and us, are in a multilateral relationship.

Besides its commercial relevance, there is more to this misunderstood industry that we often miss out on, like how advertisements might effect cultural understanding, especially in this globalizing world of business. HSBC features newspaper ads of cultural differences across countries. FedEx has their TV ads filmed in Japan, showing the way Japanese people live and work. And I actually learned from a MasterCard ad that in India, people release white doves for luck. Interesting, isnt it?

In addition, informative ads feed useful information to our preoccupied minds. Public service messages could be conveyed effectively through ad-works on air. And people get to know the latest products available on market during review hours. I mean, it would be a pity if we work so hard to produce all these commodities just to, in the end, know nothing of them. And because we work so hard, we could hardly afford to find out about whats going on ourselves. Informative ads keep our society functioning as it is meant to.

But most of all, advertisers are creative (e-mails are not advertisements; they are spam). The appealing advertisements that crack you up or hook your eyes for the hundredth time take much more than the 30 seconds of airtime. Creativity, and the resulted attention, increases sales, and the advertising environment is so competitive nowadays it truly stimulates the human edge of creativity and nurtures it to flourish. Advertising signifies the human drive to succeed.

To me, what makes modern advertising desirable, besides bridging cultural gap, informing the populace or generating new ideas, is that it empowers every individual possible. It no longer takes an established firm to put up an ad. Any one anywhere can promote their ideas, products and even themselves through the thriving medium of the internet. 15-year-olds can now economically design and effect ads to promote their companies (yes, dont look down on these young entrepreneurs). Any one could adopt different voices using voice changer softwares, and edit audio as well as video ads with the many music editor softwares and video editor softwares available. Because advertising could so omnipotently enable far-reaching creativity of expressions, it is relevant to our human society that values progressing thoughts and selective reception of ideas.

The staunchest critics of advertising might ask, what would be the future of advertising, now when people are able to get rid of the commercials. MythTV offers a plug-in that automatically filters out commercials during recording, whereas video editor softwares allow you to freely cut out unwanted ads from pre-recorded clips. Yes, people are actually paying to be free of advertisements.

But hey, think again! Advertising is not that inconsiderate. Have you ever listened to radio broadcasts so excessively loaded with audio commercials its impossible to follow? And advertising might be excessive and disruptive, but I suppose only to a minority few. In fact, like I have said, informative ads are actually desirable. Dont you or your children feel excluded if you are not aware of the new iPod, or the latest music editor gadgets?

Trust the media. They are doing their work. Isnt Google putting into place keyword-related ads to better suit your preference? Trust the authority, too. They approve all circulating ads, or at least those we often see. And most of all, trust the advertisers. We are mutually dependent; we need them for our TV shows, and they need our money votes.

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Avoiding Virtual Assistant Performance Pitfalls - Part 2

What's really most important when hiring a virtual assistant is doing your due-diligence before you make the hire. Just like anyone else, virtual assistants come with their own personality, life issues, and family situations. making sure they mesh with what you need are paramount to ensuring smooth sailing after youve finally agreed to work with the VA.

Virtual Houdini - The Virtual Assistant Disappearing Act

Yes, it can happen. Back when you worked in the retro bricks-and-mortar world, how often did someone simply not show up for work? They quit, right? Unfortunately this can happen with virtual assistants as well. Perhaps not as often as in the bricks-and-mortar world but it does happen. Why do virtual assistants quit, disappear, move on? The same reasons they quit, disappear, and move on in the bricks-and-mortar world. Maybe they needed more money. Maybe they became ill and could no longer work. Maybe a better offer came along. Maybe they didnt like the work. You cant entirely avoid the situation itself but there are things you can do to minimize the damage if and when it does. Protecting yourself ahead of time for when it does and realizing that it could happen is your best defense.

Online files. Not only does putting your files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) online facilitate working virtually, but it also protects you if and when a virtual assistant leaves. Simply change the passwords then shes locked out and you dont lose any files or have to go hunting them down.

Pay withholding. Why not put something in your contract with the virtual assistant that says you reserve the right to withhold pay until work files are returned?

Passwords. As soon as a virtual worker leaves or is let go, remember to change your passwords on everything he or she had access to!

What I Say Versus What I Can Do

Would you hire someone to watch your children just because they say theyre capable of doing so? I didnt think so. Then why would you hire a virtual assistant (or anyone for that matter) without first finding out what they can do and if they can do what they say they can do? I recommend several steps be taken to test a new virtual assistant contractor before contracting with them. These steps are modeled after our own companys interviewing process, which has evolved over the years. Its a lot of work on your part but very worthwhile. If you dont want to take all of these steps then look for a good virtual staffing agency, like Team Double-Click who does all of the work for you.

1) Job posting. In your case you'll either need to make a posting on a job board, such as CareerBuilder, Monster, or Craigs list. Or you can search those boards for virtual assistants looking for work.

2) Typing test. You want to know your new virtual assistant can typeaccurately, right? Send him or her to typingtest and ask for the results back. Look for a high level of accuracy coupled with high speed.

3) Computer skills test. Again, you want to know your virtual assistant can use Word and Excel. Send her to expertratings, ask her to take the free Word and Excel (and any others you want to know about) tests and send you the scores.

4) First interview. Agree on a time and date for the first telephone interview. Then give the potential virtual assistant your number and have her call you. Have your questions ready. Did she show up on time? Did she answer your questions to your satisfaction? Do her skills still fit?

5) Work personality. You simply must know if the person you are about to contract is honest, has a high level of integrity, is a team player, and so on. We recommend totaltesting, where you can ask the potential virtual assistant to take such a test. Now this one costs a few bucks. Its up to you whether you want to pay for it or require the virtual assistant to pay for it. Just remember if you ask her to pay for it and you dont hire her shes not going to be a happy camper.

6) Second Interview. The cool thing about Total Testings work personality tests is that they give you another set of questions to ask the candidate during a second interview. Have a friend, spouse, or colleague interview this person the second time. Compare notes. How does each of you feel about this person? Will she work out?

7) Contract. If youre ready to contract this person its time to pull out the non-compete, non-disclosure contract we discussed in the last article. Send it to the virtual assistant for review and signing. Be absolutely sure this is signed before putting him or her to work.

8) EIN and W9. We also discussed, in the last article, requiring the contractor to obtain a (free) EIN (employer identification number) to further protect you from possible employer/employee claims later on down the road. Nows the time to ask for this, along with a completed W9 form.

This is the abbreviated version of our process. We throw in a few things like setting up a company email account, and we have a review process, which each virtual assistant goes through. A team of three HR pros discuss each candidate and determine if a contract will be offered. Because were a staffing agency, your screening process will look a little different from ours.

Give Me All You Got

Never send a virtual worker a ton of materials (letterheads, envelopes, brochures, etc.). Its just a safeguard. While it is very rare that someone would leave and not return those materials to you, if they did, how much money would you have tied up in replacing all of those expensive printed materials? Its just better not to do it in the first place. Send a virtual worker slightly more than what they need to perform the task at hand.

The Five Finger Discount - Identity Theft/Credit Card Number Theft

One of our clients biggest concerns has always been identity theft and credit card number theft. In all the years weve been staffing virtually, weve never seen this happen. It may be that the work personality profile is weeding out the people who might be tempted and our HR department is further ferreting out those who are less-than-desirable, but the other half of it is the contractor mentality of a virtual assistant as opposed to the employee mentality of anemployee!

You can minimize your risk by not giving out your credit card information to a virtual assistant. If you need to give the virtual assistant a credit card number for ordering products or services on your behalf, get a separate card that is used for nothing but items the virtual assistant orders for you. Its much easier to check over your bill for erroneous charges this way.

Hours availability

When hiring a virtual assistant, not only do you need to make sure their skills and abilities mesh with you and your business, but you must also be sure the virtual assistant has enough time to take care of your needs. Very simply ask the potential virtual assistant how many other clients she has, how many hours per week she is working, and how many hours she has to devote to you. Does it work with what you need? If not, move on.

The rate

I dont know about you, but Ive never bought something without first knowing what it was going to cost. Important questions to ask before contracting a virtual assistant:

1) What is the rate per hour?
2) Are there different rates for different tasks?
3) If so what are they?
4) Do you round to the nearest hour or the nearest minute? To the nearest minute is the most desirable.
5) Is there a start up fee?
6) If so, how much?
7) Is there a termination fee?
8) If so, how much?
9) Is there a minimum usage?
10) If so, how much?
11) Can you work within my budget? In other words, if I can only afford 10 hours per week, what happens when youve reached 10 hours? How is that handled?
12) What are your future plans? How long do you intend to be a virtual assistant? Is this a career for you or a short-term venture for some extra cash?

My philosophy when hiring anyone, virtual assistants included, is to hire slowly and fire quickly. Trust your gut. If you dont feel that a virtual assistant is working out, let her go immediately and dont look back. Your gut is probably right. But do take your time hiring. Go through the paces to determine if he or she is the best fit for YOU; itll minimize the risk that he or she wont work out for you later.

Gayle Buske is the founder, president and CEO of Team Double-ClickSM, the countrys foremost virtual staffing agency. As the head of a virtual staffing agency with over 19,000+ virtual professionals in its pool, Ms. Buske is uniquely qualified to aid clients growth through virtual outsourcing as well as speak to the ins and outs of the industry. Gayle enjoys spending her free time with her husband, business and life partner, Jim, their daughter Madison, practicing Yoga, reading, off-roading, hiking, flower gardening, and playing with the familys three dogs and two cats.

Team Double-Click, Inc. provides virtual assistance for small and home-based businesses. Visit Team Double Clicks Web site at http://www.teamdoubleclick.com or phone 888.827.9129. Click to receive your free report, 101 Ways To Work With A Virtual Assistant.

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