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We are not a greedy company and do not charge over the odds for our transcriptions.  All our customers will vouch for the quality and highly affordable transcriptions we return speedily to them.

The first question we ask on being contacted for transcription work is whether the recording in question is clear.  Much of our transcription work is of interviews, Focus Groups, meetings and various other discussions and it is inevitable there will be some degree of background noise, coughing, over talking, chair creaking what have you in an environment where there is more than one person – in most cases several people and we allow for this without increasing our flat rate cost.   

After a quick listen through the recording, if any background noise is too much, rather than increase our price we will inform our customer that the work will take longer than expected.  When you think that one hour of clear recording can take up to four hours to transcribe, imagine that one hour of recording littered with over talking, mobile phone signal interference, doors slamming and much more – well rather than return an incomplete document to our customer with lots of “indiscernible stamps”, we prefer to spend longer on the document to attempt to get in as much as possible. We therefore inform our client that rather than the quoted delivery in two days, he could be looking at four days etc.  This is not ideal but is acceptable in most cases. Whilst the customer generally wants his transcription asap, we cannot have a transcriber sit for eight sometimes ten hours straight off attempting to decipher an unclear recording.

Grab a quote from any number of transcription companies for, for example, a focus group transcription and you’ll probably fall off your chair – add to that a speciality subject – medical, legal etc and you’ll fall through the floor.  We don’t increase our price, but in future we may just refuse you. 

Just recently and unbelievably we’ve been contacted by potential customers asking that we transcribe recordings that have been made in cafes – yes, cafes, recordings of conversations next to open windows whilst road works and constant drilling is being performed outside, a recording made of an interview in a bus station, telephone interviews that are obviously not being recorded on the correct equipment.  We’re not kidding you.

At Just Delegate we do not give up easily but have had to throw in the towel on a number of occasions.  

So, please, please – all it takes is common sense.  Although we’d like to think we can, we can’t perform miracles, so put your mobiles away when recording, close those windows (I know it’s summer time) let people have their say – if you’re chairing a group make sure you control any rowdy attendees, make sure they speak one at a time. And invest in the correct equipment!

So keep the tips in the link below in mind and save us time and you will continue to benefit by receiving a complete transcription and above all we’ll continue to be able to keep our costs down for you.   

See some tips here.

http://www.just-delegate.co.uk/A_Better_Recording

Julie Aristidou

For Just Delegate Ltd

For better rate transcriptions.

I’ve been so busy lately that I really haven’t had the time to visit my blog.  I actually get very angry hearing people say they haven’t got or can’t find the time to do something – especially something that they enjoy doing and I really do enjoy blogging so can you believe I am angry with myself?  Because of our very generous transcription rates we are being swamped with work – just goes to show that cost really does matter!

Today I’m moving away from business – well not away from “business” but away from my area of business.  Anybody who knows me knows that my biggest passion in life is for my dogs. I’ve just got my new addition, Shadow, a ten week old Doberman pup with teeth like needles and razor sharp claws.  He joins Ruby, who is now two. Already he’s dominating our household; guess we’ll have to nip that in the bud pretty quick.  Whilst it’s pretty cute being told what to do by a ten week old puppy, it’s not quite the same when being dominated by a 45 kilo adult dog.

We purchased Shadow from one of the UK’s most reputable Doberman breeders, Chancepixies at West Hougham in Kent and spent a long time with the breeders David and Heidi who were talking us through their ongoing campaigning to get the law changed with regard to the licensing of breeders. 

Right now anybody can breed from their home and sell their pups for a few hundred pounds. Easy way to make money?  Quite possibly - but clearly not a thought for the welfare of the animals involved.

It beggars belief that this is possible in a country where we are seeing countless numbers of unwanted dogs arrive daily at rescue homes, countless numbers of dog attacks and countless numbers of cruelty cases.  I won’t even go into the filthy mess our streets and parks are in because of the irresponsible dog owners.   It is time for the government to get tough with the licensing procedures connected with "breeders" and there must be strict penalties in place for those who flout the rules.

Not so long ago it became illegal for the docking of tails in certain breeds and now we see breeds such as Boxers, Dobermans, Jack Russells etc running around with all the body parts they were born with so let's get the law changed with respect to breeding rights too.  Let’s get behind the responsible breeders, those like David and Heidi of Chancepixies Dobermans and do what we can to put a stop to this free for all breeding scheme.  Puppies are cute and cuddly but they grow into adult dogs and they all need responsible owners.   People should be vetted, have the right space and equipment and knowledge to breed. 

http://www.chancepixiesdobermann.com/index.htm

And if you’re looking for a special baby – Shadow still has two brothers and a sister waiting for a home.  Visit the website – you’ll fall in love.

Julie - Just Delegate.

For marketing purposes we talk a lot with PAs and secretaries and it is surprising how many of them see us as competition and are quick to write off our services without even listening to what we can offer them – yes I did mean offer the Secretaries and PAs.  Several of our clients are actually PAs.  Secretaries have been the butt of many a joke over the years but a PA/Secretary’s working life is really not that simple. Many (and I’ve personally been there, done it and got the t-shirt) work extremely hard, can be very stressed and overworked and in need of a little, or a lot of help.  I recall times during my PA years that I was required to crawl to “the boss”,  weekday work schedules in hand attempting to explain that it was not humanly possible for one person to undertake such an excessive amount of work and request the help of a temp for a period or else employ a part timer or junior.  Fortunately my bosses were not unreasonable and I was more often than not told to proceed.  They would trust me to choose the least costly option.  It’s a fact of life that most PAs/Secretaries get put upon.  We all moan and groan but deep down we love our jobs and we’d do anything to protect our bosses from issues that they need not even know about – the pestering calls, the office issues etc etc.  They are in place to build the business and we are in pace to make it as easy as possible for them to get on with doing that. 

Virtual assistants are not out to replace you; we can’t do that; we don't want to do that. There is a special bond between a boss and his PA/Secretary. It is built on trust, understanding and of course hard work but we really are as often described their right arm without which they would be lost.   

Times are tough all over now.  Not only new or small businesses, but even larger organisations are now being forced to watch and/or cut costs.  Meanwhile the work must continue so don’t suffer it all speak out when you need to.  Help is at hand for you in the form of virtual assistance.We can be your support to call on in times of heavy workloads, or other staff absences, or even to do the longer tedious admin tasks that take up too much of your time.  Virtual assistance is less costly than temporary and contract staff or full or part time employees.  Better still we’re not sitting next to or even near to you; we’re not using office equipment (we have our own).  You delegate to us and we do as we’re told (within reason).  Your company will only pay for what we do and you will know the cost upfront.  You can use our services for one-off projects, or on an ongoing basis (which is even cheaper!) but either way you will always know upfront what you will be paying.  Think about it your company does not have to pay holidays or sick days, tax and NI, recruitment agency fees, lunch hours, coffee breaks and any other downtime. 

Next time you feel like you are drowning, score a point with your boss; tell him you need help in order to keep the work up to the standard he/she expects but tell him you’ve found a professional and cheaper way of enlisting that help.

Our expertise lies in our software and admin skills.  Give us a try and I bet you’ll soon be calling us your right arm!

Would you do business with a company that takes more than 1day (personally I think that is too long!) to reply to your email(s)?  I wouldn’t, or is that just me. 

I have just had a good old rant with an estate agent about this very subject. I emailed them about 9 months ago and received no reply.  They contacted me a few days ago asking if I still required their assistance!  Can you believe it?

Even if I did need the assistance of an estate agent right now I wouldn’t use that particular agent's services. If they can’t reply to a simple email, I’m not sure how they would handle a business deal.

I own two businesses, and the first thing new or temporary staff members are asked – no, “told” actually is that any email to any of the business email addresses must be answered upon receipt.  This must happen even if the recipient does not have the relevant answer to hand. A holding reply will suffice – not automatically generated but personal. It takes less than 2 minutes to fire back an acknowledgement to an email.   

Both of my businesses are exceptionally busy and email receipt and response does not interfere with daily schedule.  Work schedules should be managed effectively which should include time set aside to reply to emails.  There is an art to email writing. Short, quick responses are all that is required.  Any longer time required for a particular response can be communicated to the sender and time set aside for it.

I find it extremely unprofessional to not even receive as much as an acknowledgement to my emails.  And I certainly base my first impressions around how fast an acknowledgement or reply to my email or phone call takes.

I have received automatic replies to my emails saying that a company will "endeavour to answer my query" in 8 days, or even believe it or not 3 weeks.  Even when I do finally get a response to the email after that long that particular company has long been forgotten.

Am I alone?

Julie Aristidou

Just Delegate Ltd

In short no!  A virtual assistant must possess a range of skills and all are as equally important as the other.

Time management plays a big part in the day of a VA. Without this it doesn’t matter what other skills you possess.  Naturally, relevant work experience is essential.  If you have never worked in an office environment, you won’t be much use attempting to juggle the business tasks and requirements of several different clients day in day out.

A good VA must be prepared to take the rough with the smooth, the boring with the exciting, handle stressful situations yet at the same time be able to deal with the more mundane tasks.  Actually, it is the more mundane requirements of some clients that can be particularly trying as this is where a Virtual Assistant will need to show his or her self- motivation and it really is not as easy as it sounds to be self motivated. Virtual Assistants are self employed and more often than not working from their home environment.  There are many pros to working from home but just as many cons.  It may feel great not having to rush out and commute to work in the bitter cold of winter, but you may lack the motivation to get “stuck in” when the sun is shining in the middle of the summer when the beach is beckoning or a picnic in the local park appeals!  It can be pretty easy to get side-tracked in other ways too in particular if you have young children or animals wanting your attention.  Significantly a lot of people realise after a period of working alone from home that they yearn the company of office colleagues; the buzz, the gossip, etc.  I would urge any aspiring VA to think long and hard about this part of the job.

Naturally, as well as possessing the relevant experience a VA must possess excellent computer software skills after all you will be operating within a “virtual” world and your clients will expect the most convenient and cheapest methods of communication open to them!

High level customer service principles are important.  Clients are paying you for a service and you will be required to demonstrate your honesty as well as your competence.

To summarise, to become a successful Virtual Assistant, you will be required to be an honest, self motivated, full time juggler possessing an abundance of computer software skills and a laid back attitude to a variety of stressful situations.

Julie Aristidou

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I’ve just been reading an excellent blog post by one of the UK’s best news presenters, Jon Snow of Channel 4 News, and how I have to agree with his views over Facebook vs Twitter.  Is Facebook becoming more and more redundant as Twitter gathers more pace?  It certainly feels and looks that way.  I’ve spoken to a number of people, from professionals to students, from housewives to kids and virtually all believe “Twitter is the future”.  It’s fast, furious and relevant and that’s what we want today.

Is there not just too much “information” to update nowadays. Where do people find the time to do this?  I’m not going to list all the social media sites other than Facebook but what also about newsletters, blogs, news columns on websites etc.  Even if we do find the time to keep up with them all, where does everyone find the time to read or follow it all.  I don’t know about others but I have signed up to receive numerous newsletters and yet I don’t think I have ever read one of them. Pretty good marketing skills get us to sign up but what’s the use if we’re not getting to read it all.

Personally I need  and use my time to complete work tasks and I’m hoping that my staff use their time for working and not reading tons of information and news that is readily available nowadays.

Can’t we go back to using our good old albeit “old fashioned” websites to list all our important news and upcoming events.  Most websites nowadays can be updated quickly and easily. Alternatively there’s always Twitter!

Julie Aristidou

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Just Delegate & Consider it Done!

We are highly skilled at converting your audio files to quality documents to meet your deadlines but we require a little help from your side to be able to produce the sort of documents you expect from us.

 Remember that the clearer the recording, the quicker and easier it will be to transcribe and this means that you will benefit from: 

Ø  Lower transcription cost

Ø  More complete document

Ø  And of course even higher degree of accuracy

So how do we get the clearest possible recording?  A number of factors should be taken into consideration from equipment to environment. On average it takes around 3.5 to 4 hours to transcribe 1 hour of recording by one person recording with a Dictaphone and this time can vary considerably depending on its clarity.  When there is more than one person involved in the recording such as for interviews, conferences, focus groups etc, the time required will be greater depending again on several factors. Imagine a room of people and think of the different accents, tones and pace of speech of everybody. Then take into consideration the fact that many sentences will be overlapped, not finished and repeated. 

Keeping in mind the points below will help you to help us and keep your costs lower.

ü  Clarity of speech – speak as clearly as possible. Accents don’t necessarily have to slow the transcription process as long as you speak as clearly as possible.

ü  Do not record in noisy environments such as restaurants, train stations, airports (yes some people do!).  Too much background noise can make it difficult to decipher what the speaker is saying.

ü  If recording in office or home close or move away from open windows if they are overlooking busy roads, noisy parks, streets etc.

ü  Do use the correct recording equipment. Digital recordings provide a sharper and cleaner sound therefore easier to transcribe than analogue recordings.

ü  Ensure you invest in a good digital recorder. These need not be expensive. There is a variety on the market.

ü  Speak directly into your recorder but do not hold it too close to your mouth; you will sound hissy or muffled.

ü  Dictaphones are ideal for one person recording and some may be strong enough if positioned correctly to record an interview between two people. 

ü  Do not attempt to record to your computer’s internal microphone. Your recording will be very unclear.  Use an external microphone.

ü  Position the microphone correctly (in group speeches) in order that it can pick up on all speakers.

ü  Simple considerations such as the spelling of unusual names, stating if you want any particular punctuation included, pointing out on the recording when the document is finished (especially in the case of multiple documents on one recording) etc can make all the difference to the finished document.

Julie Aristidou

Just Delegate Ltd

All transcriptions should capture what is said on the recording.  However, there are several methods of transcribing.  You will know what is right for your purpose / industry.

Imagine a conversation between at least two people, or better still listen carefully, if possible, to your next conversation with others.  You will note that we really do not speak in logical coherent sentences.  Plenty of our sentences are left without endings as our thoughts wonder off into other directions.  You will also note word repetitions, pauses, coughs, throat clearing noises, ums and ers and other “nonsense sentence fillers” as we label them at Just Delegate such as “you know what I mean”, “kind of”, “sort of”, etc.  We’re all guilty.  We’re not reading from a script whilst partaking in a conversation or discussion with others and certainly not many of us speak as we write.  

In some cases it is important to capture exactly how an interview or conversation is going including any bad grammar and even all the little nonsense sentence fillers such as “ums” “ers” and word or phrase repetitions that litter our sentences.  This is called Verbatim Transcription and is necessary for a number of purposes such as for police interviews (PACE) and by the legal profession.  It is also necessary in cases of transcribing the recordings of for example pilots and train drivers before accidents.

Intelligent Verbatim Transcription is less detailed.  It allows for all the “nonsense sentence fillers” to be taken out of the interview or discussion.  This is generally used for lectures, conferences, meetings, various interviews.  After the stripping out the fillers, the transcription is as recorded, including any incorrect grammar.  By request any abbreviations such as you’ve, I’ve, wasn’t etc can be substituted with the correct words otherwise it is left as is. 

A full Edited Transcription of a recording can be provided. This will correct any incorrect grammar, substitute abbreviations, outstrip any fillers.

Naturally out of the 3 types of transcription, the Verbatim requires the most amount of work and time and therefore will cost more.   

http://www.just-delegate.co.uk/Transcription_Services

Virtual assistance works well alongside your existing staff at times of heavy workload, or in the absence of team members at bad weather times such as we’re having now, periods of illness etc etc. The beauty of virtual assistance is that we’re not just about working for people who do not have staff.  We can complement your staff who will be just as happy to work alongside us as you will be to have the extra help in times of need.  And of course you only pay for the work we do-when you need us.

www.just-delegate.co.uk

I have always blown my own trumpet when it comes to one of my strongest attributes - that of “patience”.  Needing to juggle the demands of two businesses and their respective clientele, I need bags of it and seem to have been blessed with more than my fair share which has helped me succeed in life.

Twice in the last month I have to admit I’ve exploded – both times have been due to frustration with banks.  You might be thinking “Welcome to the World” but anyone who knows me can tell you that this is hugely out of character for me.  The most frustrating thing is that I’ve been tipped over the edge – yes me placid, laid back Julie – tipped over the edge by simple little issues that would be apparent to anyone under the age of 10 years old.  Would it affect you? 

·   Being promised faithfully by a customer services representative that she would send out a document by “first class mail” but a few days later being told my request had not even been entered on the system never mind been mailed.  Perhaps some tasks are too strenuous or complicated nowadays but whatever happened to honesty!

·        Having money taken from your account and deposited into the account of one of your clients and 7 months later still not returned because “there is a process that needs to be taken”.  Surely they get enough from us without having to resort to theft.

·        Re-organising you schedule to fit in a meeting with a business manager who failed to show up – his excuse: it was in his paper diary but not his electronic version.  Umm...time for secretaries to be brought back I think...or perhaps Mr Business Banker you could use our virtual services.

·        Having a request /application totally ignored, after submitting everything but the kitchen sink in its support.  Why should they waste a phone call?

Isn’t it bad enough that you first need to endure a costly “0845” telephone number, and face 100 questions about yourself and your bank account(s), like your eye colour, how tall you are, the colour of your front door, what the last 10 transactions were on your account and anything else they decide to throw in-ok well I may have overdone it a little but it seems to be heading that way.

Then when you have finally managed to get through the interrogation, you are told that you have been put through to the wrong department and can you hold whilst they re-connect you. It wouldn’t matter so much if you hadn’t pressed various buttons on your phone that should have directed you to the right department in the first place. Nine times out of ten, you are conveniently cut-off whilst listening to their latest musical recording around a message saying how busy they but as they value your custom, please continue holding.

When you finally think you get the “right person for the job” they ask you to hold whilst they check their system – which is “rather slow today”.  Yes we’re still talking about banks, those institutions that almost brought the world to its knees and yet are still conveniently pay mega massive bonuses to their fat cat bosses. Those institutions who still rip us off day by day and lie to and cheat their customers and they’re the customers who actually get any sort of contact – the rest are simply ignored.  Banks have changed beyond all recognition and are changing for the worse daily. 

What we need is a real peoples bank.  One that can deliver customer service. One where common sense prevails amongst its staff. One where honesty reigns supreme.  Will that ever be?

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Just Delegate & Consider it Done!