Virtual is personal
Do you have a business that requires your focus for growth?
When asked to name most important reasons to hire a personal assistant, our clients name:
1. Save time
2. Save money
3. Save headache
So how do you find that perfect assistant?
How can you avoid problems with long-distance relationships?
We came up with the following questions to help act as a guide when interviewing to make sure you select the best VA for your business needs:
A. How long have you worked as a Virtual Assistant?
B. What’s your background, experience and do you have a specific skill set?
C. Can you give some examples of the work you’ve carried out in the past?
D. How many clients do you have?
E. What are your main communication methods?
F. What’s not included in your fees?
G. Are you willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement? While there’s no ‘one size fits all’ to follow, there are some basic guidelines to use when putting together your event planning checklist. Plan well ahead and you’ll need to worry little during the event itself. Download here the event planning checklist
Event planning checklist
Whether you have a house party or a major science conference in mind, you have to plan your event well in order to get people in and entertained during the event. We’ve put together a sample event planning template you can adjust to the size of your party.
While there’s no ‘one size fits all’ to follow, there are some basic guidelines to use when putting together your event planning checklist.
Plan well ahead and you’ll need to worry little during the event itself.
Writing effective emails
Writing effective emails can be a challenge. You’ve written an important message that you know your audience could use. But they seem to ignore your emails. It may be time to step up your game.
1. Set A Clear Goal For Your Email
2. Use The Right Email Subject Line: Be Specific
3. Email Openings Are Very Important: Say The Right Hello
4. Keep Your Message Short And Concise
5. Write Like You Talk
6. List Your Main Points
7. Use Subheads In Your Email Body
8. Use Standard Fonts
9. Use Images In Your Email
10. Use Animation: Keep It Simple
11. Include A Call To Action: The Way To Get Results
12. Use A Pro Email Signature Template
13. Give It A Once-Over: Imagine Receiving The Email You’Re Writing
14. Send It At The Right Time
15. Don’t Forget To Follow Up
PS: add a PS, a little-known fact is that the P.S. (postscript) is one of the most read parts of an email.
It’s about time
You’re the best at what you do. You are busy and your calendar is blocked ahead for months on end. You’re practicing law, a start-up business consultant, financial adviser, bank executive – in short, your time is better used at doing what is critical for the crucial business and maybe less so at scheduling, researching, following up, writing emails and booking flights.
But what happens when these administrative tasks become vital to one of the most important cases/deals of your career. Do you have that extra time to do it? Do you have those extra hours to make it happen?
We do. At Strathmore, we have the experience and professional skills to take over the admin for big and small businesses alike.
One of our valued clients was working on a very high-profile case and, during a time of great stress and increased media exposure, he needed us to step in and arrange some very important meetings overseas. This included reaching out to the parties involved, working with their calendars, negotiating the when and where – rescheduling when needed – and booking everything for the trip (from flights to hotels and restaurants and taxis).
The project ended up securing our client a partnership with the law firm he was working at and a fair amount of recognition and praise in the press. He’s becoming an important public figure and remains one of our longest standing clients. The project we worked on helped him grow – and us as well.
Prized possessions
We all have those: the precious things we couldn’t do without, the things we keep in safe boxes or on the mantle piece, the things we only take out for special occasions. They might be kept in the family treasury for generations or recently acquired – but one thing holds true for all of them: we want them safe.
But what if they need to travel overseas and we can’t be there to watch over them every step of the way? There are all these practical details to track, contracts to sign, calls to make… How can we be sure they’ll reach their destination unscathed and on time?
This is where Strathmore Partnership is perfectly suited to help. We pride ourselves on our utmost discretion and swiftness when dealing with valuables.
A high-profile client needed part of his painting collection insured and transported with great care from the UK to the United States. Time was a factor, as it all needed to be done within a week from when they contacted us. Grateful for the confidence shown, we’ve taken on the project and delivered on deadline – to our client’s delight and ours.
At Strathmore Partnership we have a deep understanding of what matters to our clients. And we’re happy to be, above anything else, providing you with much needed peace of mind.
Being there, no matter what
Life is worth celebrating, every step of the way. And if we’re lucky enough to have a long life, chances are we’ll have to go through happy and sad times alike. It’s never easy to accept that the latter will happen to us, but when they do, it’s better to have someone who can help.
The reality is, when end of life preparations need to be taken care of, the family is already under a lot of emotional strain and it’s difficult but important to focus on practical details. Especially when that means finding ways to honour a loved one’s last wishes.
Needless to say, this was a situation that required a special kind of understanding, discretion and a lot of empathy. These are qualities that Strathmore Partnership will always rely on, whenever necessary.
Our client’s husband was gravely ill and wanted to spend his last days at home, surrounded by family and friends instead of the hospital. Moving him and settling him home in all comfort required that we meet with the Palliative Care team on a few occasions – as there was special equipment needed and we wanted to make sure that everything goes smoothly.
At Strathmore Partnership, we know that every task you entrust us with is unique and requires a bespoke approach. And we’re prepared to adapt to your needs in a way that’s seamless, discreet and, more than anything, empathetic.
Relocation, relocation, relocation
Moving house is at best an energy-consuming, stressful experience – however exciting the move might be. But modern living and professional lives increasingly require entrepreneurs and business people to become more agile and accept relocation as part of the package.
And sometimes, relocation doesn’t just mean trading your West London postcode for a City one.
It involves changing countries altogether and needing to ship a whole life’s worth of belongings across the Ocean.
As one would expect, this reads like an altogether different kind of story. And a challenge that Strathmore Partnership took on with dedication and determination.
To help our US clients set up their apartment in the UK, we needed to get around 300 items of different sizes and weights shipped via Amazon.
The operation proved to be trickier than expected, as Amazon kept refusing and deleting the order from the account we set up on our client’s behalf. As this was a time-sensitive task, we had no choice but to redo the order three times and persevere until we got hold of the Amazon CEO and finally got the order through.
At Strathmore Partnership, we understand that some tasks take more tenacity and resolve than others – and we’ll happily persevere until the situation is resolved to your satisfaction.