How to communicate effectively with your VA

A great client-VA relationship will set you up for increased productivity and more business revenue. It really can feel like you’ve hit the jackpot when you find someone who is a trusted partner, confidante, sounding board, and problem solver. But the biggest factor for success is how you speak to each other – effective communication with your VA is vital.

So, whether you already work with a virtual assistant or are considering working with one in the future, this blog post will help set you up for success.

Top tips for effective communication when working with a virtual assistant 

Your VA should integrate seamlessly into your daily operations, becoming your right-hand person. They should support you in all aspects of your business, but to do this they need to be fully informed about ongoing projects and goals.

As we all know, good communication lies at the heart of any successful relationship and this is certainly true when working with a VA. You are trusting them with your brand, your reputation, and, depending on their role, possibly your clients, your finances, and your team.

So, here are 5 core principles to ensure you have amazing communication with your VA: 

1.    Establish expectations

The first step in working with a VA successfully is setting clear expectations for goals, communication, and tasks. When you first start working with a VA, you should have a discussion including: 

• Specific tasks your VA will do (and what they won’t) – including deadlines for each task 
• Your preferred communication channel – email, messaging apps like Teams or Slack, project management tools such as Trello, Asana, and ClickUp*, etc.
• Expected response times – keep in mind that VAs often manage multiple clients, so establish realistic expectations for response times

At Virtually Priceless, we try to adopt our clients’ preferred methods of communication to make it as easy as possible for them. For example, you might like to send voice notes when you’re out and about or prefer a short check-in call every morning. 

If you don’t have a preference, we discuss the options and agree on which would work well for your business and personal schedule. No matter the method of communication, make sure you and your VA agree and make it clear how to reach each other in case of an emergency or urgent need. 

2.    Provide clear instructions

When assigning tasks to your VA, especially in the early stages of working together, provide detailed and clear instructions. As your VA learns your style, way of working, and business priorities, this ensures there’s no room for misunderstanding. 

You’ll be surprised how quickly your VA can become your ‘second brain’, knowing what you want or need before you ask. This means you can become more vague with your instructions, as they will be able to decipher what you need. But to get to that point in your relationship, it takes clear instructions and good communication from the beginning. 

Don’t worry if you’re unsure how to give good instructions – an experienced VA will know the right questions to ask you to pinpoint your needs exactly. Be responsive to their questions and give as much context as possible. 

3.    Have an open dialogue

Another key element of great communication is making sure you, the business owner, makes sure your VA feels comfortable enough to ask questions. Ensuring your VA does something to the best of their ability requires an honest and transparent dialogue, so they aren’t worried about asking you to explain something. 

Also, bear in mind that your VA is an expert in areas that you’re not, so you should always be open to listening to their thoughts. They might have suggestions for making processes more efficient or using different tech. You might not always agree, but having this discussion will foster collaboration and mutual understanding, creating an amazing remote working culture. 

4.    Set regular check-ins

Having virtual assistant support is great, but you should be open to regular reviews so they can continue to help you in the best way – especially at the beginning. Making the time to speak regularly is always appreciated by your VA as it’s frustrating when they can’t pin down their client and get their input or feedback to help do their job better.

We recommend scheduling a weekly check-in meeting or call with your VA to review progress, discuss priorities, and address any challenges or questions. This regular communication helps maintain alignment and ensures smooth collaboration. Once you get into the swing of things, you may reduce this frequency to monthly, but having the time scheduled is a great way to avoid miscommunication. You can always end the meeting sooner if the time isn’t needed.

Your VA should lead a check-in call, and they will likely come with an agenda or list of discussion points. They will often just need a quick yes, no, or a nudge in the right direction to progress a task for you.

5.    Provide constructive feedback

Like with all business relationships, there may be times when your VA doesn’t do something exactly as you wish. Mistakes can happen to everyone. So if they do, it’s important to be constructive and give your VA feedback that doesn’t just criticise but also helps them to avoid it happening again.

Your VA is there to help and support you, so they need to understand what success looks like from your perspective. Provide respectful and constructive feedback to guide them on desired outcomes and behaviours. Any good VA would hate to find out they have been doing something wrong without you telling them… and it’s leaving you without the quality of work you deserve. 

Feedback works both ways. Allow them to give their honest feedback to you, too. Just like in the previous point, each person needs to be able to review anything that could be managed better. When your VA is fully aware of what’s working (and what’s not), they can be even more invested in your success. 

Communication makes or breaks the relationship with your VA

So as you can see, communication is at the heart of any successful VA-client relationship, and it only takes a few simple steps. When you communicate effectively, you can solve anything together and increase your business growth. But if you let communication slip, everything else follows…

If you aren’t already working with a VA, or perhaps your current relationship is not built on open, honest communication and wish to find a better match, contact Virtually Priceless. 

*Please note, some of these are affiliate links, meaning if you click and make a purchase, we may receive a small reward. We only ever recommend tools that we use in our business, or have personally tried and tested.