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INNOVATE! Technology, Tools, Tips & Techniques
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August 2010
Dear Client,
Welcome to INNOVATE!, an administrative resource for small business owners. INNOVATE! is a product of Cybertary, a professional Virtual Assisting company. In these monthly emails we will be giving you numerous resources and tips you can use in your business, your home, your office and your life. This month we are giving our business clients a "driving lesson". In our first article, we share with you how to avoid some of the common hazards on the "road to success". We also help "steer" your thinking about utilizing a diverse virtual assisting team versus an independent provider. We also provide some insight into how larger companies "navigate" the delegation of administrative tasks. Are you a new Cybertary client? Take Cybertary for a "Test Drive" by giving us a project. Let us help relieve your administrative burden so that you can enjoy the journey! |
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By Joyce Kane - Cybertary in Pittsburgh PA
 Caution, Small Business Owners! Avoid These Hazards on the Road to Success
The road to business success can be filled with many hazards. Potholes, construction delays, erratic drivers, dangerous curves, and road rage, metaphorically speaking, can contribute to a bumpy ride from your journey’s inception to reaching your destination. Here are some common road hazards small businesses often face, along with some proven suggestions from the Driver’s Training Manual for Business Success to overcome them. This list can help you navigate around these roadblocks and steer towards a clear horizon as you reach your destination: SUCCESS! |
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By Kristen Morris - Cybertary in Chantilly VA
 I read a blog post recently discussing the merits of franchising a virtual assistance company. The blogger was vehemently on the side of not franchising, arguing that a client receives more personalized service in a solo practice. I think that the team approach offered by a franchise can actually benefit the client by providing a broader range of services. In any service industry, client relations are vital to success. A client expects and should receive consistent, high quality service. Traditionally this has been provided by a virtual assistant who does all of the work herself, only takes on the type of work she specializes in and the number of clients she herself can handle. The problem with this model is that if a client needs a variety of services (i.e. administrative support and bookkeeping) she is forced to hire more than one person to complete the work. By using a team approach, a virtual assistance company can offer a full menu of services and the client interacts with only one point of contact for all of her needs. Using a team approach can have its challenges. Consistent service is best provided when one person routinely performs a task for a specific client. In cases where the client is receiving such administrative services as calendar keeping, the client and virtual assistant may need to have a relationship outside of the client-franchise owner relationship. The franchise owner must manage the workload of each team member and client expectations to ensure that the client receives seamless service. A client with multiple needs will have to manage several separate relationships if she uses a solo practice virtual assistant. By using a franchise with a team, the client only has to manage one relationship. The franchise has a greater depth of resources since it can also rely on the other franchise teams if needed. I have great respect for virtual assistants who have solo practices. However, I think there is room for other models as long as everyone keeps in mind that the most important goals are providing high quality service and meeting the needs of the individual client. |
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As the Cybertary network grows, we continue to attract more clients from diverse industries. And with our scalability as a franchise network, we are earning the recognition of larger companies as an administrative outsourcing resource.
We recently read a blog about how Pfizer and other companies are using technology and networked resources to aggregate low-volume administrative tasks. The work is then reassigned to an outsourced company to perform these tasks. This saves the company considerable money and gives time back to the professional and managerial staff.
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 (WE HAVE A TRIFECTA!)
Cybertary has been awarded the APEX 2010 Award of Excellence in the "Websites" category for our Cybertary.com website.
In 2009 we won the APEX Award in the "Newsletters – Web & Electronic" category for our work on the monthly Cybertary INNOVATE newsletter. We also won the 2008 Award of Excellence in the "New Web Site" category for our work on CybertaryFranchise.com. APEX Annual Awards for Publication Excellence is an international competition for writers, editors, publications staff and business and nonprofit communicators that recognizes outstanding publications from newsletters and magazines to annual reports, brochures and Web sites. It is sponsored by Communications Concepts, Inc., publishers of business communication reports, including Writing That Works, a subscription bimonthly for professional communicators, and special reports on topics such as writing feature articles and Web publishing. APEX Awards are based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content and the ability to achieve overall communications excellence. APEX Grand Awards honor the outstanding works in each main category, while APEX Awards of Excellence recognize exceptional entries in each of the individual categories. With more than 3,700 entries, competition was exceptionally intense. 100 Grand Awards were presented to honor outstanding work in 11 major categories, with 1,132 Awards of Excellence recognizing exceptional entries in 127 subcategories. View the list of 2010 winners... (Cybertary is on page 18)
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Thank you for taking the time to read our monthly newsletter. We aim to create articles that are informative and useful for the small business owner and entrepreneur. If you know of someone else who would enjoy our newsletter, please forward this to them using the link below and suggest that they self-subscribe. If you know of someone who can benefit from our services please let us know. We are always here to help.
This newsletter is a product of Cybertary, Inc. Please review our policy for reprinting any portion of this newsletter on your own site.
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