It can be difficult at times to explain exactly what you require of your virtual team. You can’t hastily call an emergency meeting in your office if things suddenly go wrong. You need to find ways to be able to make your intentions very clear using business communication tools so they know exactly the outcome you are wanting them to work towards.
A handy little tool which can help you enormously to get your point across is the Livescribe Smart Pen. This is no bigger than a large pen, costs around d $200 and will last many hours. It was originally designed as an aid for college students in the US. It has a small microphone, recorder and micro-computer built into it and will record everything that is being said at the time you are making particular notes.
So if you are in a lecture about physics, you will be taking notes as the lecturer speaks. Afterwards, as you are revising your notes, you may have a query about what the lecturer meant as he was talking about quantum physics. You simply tap the pen on the words that you wrote at the time, and the audio will start playing at that particular point. This device can be very useful in your work with your virtual assistants as online communication tools enhance the way they handle daily tasks.
Using the special paper that you need to use with this pen, you can illustrate exactly what you want. So for example, if you wish your remote staff to design a website for you, you can sketch in the first page of the site, showing the type of images, the colours and fonts you want used. You will be of course be speaking about how you want the page to look as you are sketching. Your detailed instructions will be recorded and the recorded audio and video can be uploaded (made private with an access list) or sent to them as a task. The pen will synchronise written, visual instructions by video and the audio you recorded when writing the instructions.
This will leave very little room for misunderstanding, and the likelihood that you will get exactly what you asked for will be increased immeasurably. The clarity of communication which this device provides will allow you to overcome the obstacles involved in long distance communication between you and your virtual assistant. It will help your assistant understand her task much more easily and generally will make her life easier.
This pen is extremely portable like other business communication tools and can be used anywhere. While you are waiting at the checkout in the supermarket, you can scribble down some ideas for job specs. It can tuck neatly into your shirt pocket and go with you wherever you need to go.
When visual and audio communication are combined, this leaves little room for muddy communication. The Livescribe Smart Pen is versatile and will make tasks so much easier both for you, the supervisor, and for your virtual assistants. It will be well worth your while investing in this handy device as part of business communication tools every virtual assistant should have.
Using the Livescribe Smart Pen is one great tool for improving communication within your virtual team. More of these business communication tools can be found in The Outsourcing Profit Machine workshop. Just click here to learn more about it.
