Recently we’ve had occasion to replace two segments of our crucial business operations. In sorting out all the options for vendors and services, I was bombarded with information that I had to try to match up with my list of needs. Of course, there was much more available than what I thought I needed, new ways to do everything, and related price tags that were not what I expected. All this, in operations realms that are not my strong suits, on top of daily “business as usual” was exhausting.

Suddenly I recognized a feeling that I usually see from the other side: “I just need ONE person I can trust to do, oversee, or assess this area of my business’ needs.” I said to the next vendor I spoke with, “I want someone who can be to us, what we are to our clients.” I explained how we cover a range of related services, how we expand or collaborate with a few select, trusted partners, and only as related to the main goals, and how we coordinate/manage workloads across our agency and others (even client-hired) to make sure we’re all working together and in the client’s best interest. We even get called in behind the scenes to do quality control checks for competitors, and there’s no “competition”, just a “let’s get it right” attitude. And then I knew what I was looking for from my vendors for these crucial business operations, and that it was not too much to ask.

It’s a safer bet to be one of those people/companies that performs their portion of talent and then yells “NOT IT” when there’s an integration problem. But busy businesses and nonprofits need better, and that’s what we are about. This January begins the 17th year of C. Liston Communications, and we’ve grown and changed in response to what our clients need. We hope to continue to be the one for clients for many years to come.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/31142-8 — Before the term “virtual assistant” was ubiquitous, I used it to describe my range of marketing tactics for the PR professionals and marketing strategists I served. Here’s an article about me in Entrepreneur magazine from FIFTEEN years ago. And no, there’s no photo. 🙂