MANAGING A VIRTUAL OFFICE: THE VENDOR S PERSPECTIVE

Transcription

1 MANAGING A VIRTUAL OFFICE: THE VENDOR S PERSPECTIVE Julie L. Nash Senior Partner, J&J Editorial, LLC julie@jjeditorial.com About J&J Editorial, LLC J&J Editorial provides peer review management and support for approximately 300 different journals and 18 different publishers and societies. All of these editorial offices are virtual relationships. J&J Editorial employs a total of 40 managing editors and editorial assistants. Most of these employees work out of our Cary, North Carolina office. Jennifer Deyton and I started J&J in January 2008 after working in STM publishing for eight years. Questions to answer What to consider when setting up a successful virtual office? How to best manage relations between the vendor and client? Why you shouldn t treat all virtual offices the same. They are not all created equal! 1

2 Considerations when setting up a virtual office Things to consider: Know your Employee. Will the personalities mesh? Are the work habits in sync? Know the Publisher. What type of services is the publisher or society looking for? What are the work expectations? Know the Editor. What is his work style? How does he like to receive information? Did he want a virtual office or did he get pushed into it? Case Study Editor-in-Chief Dr. Iam Tobussee, M.D., Ph.D. calls asking J&J to provide editorial support for his 600-submission a year title. He makes it clear that he does not want to manage staff. He doesn t want daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly calls with the editorial office team. He just wants to communicate via and trust that the work will get done well. His objective: Hire professional staff so that he can focus on the science and not office management. Virtual Office #1: Eager Eddie Eager Eddie wants to help the editor at every turn with advice, hands on training and regular phone calls. Eddie wants to implement regular phone calls and meetings to discuss journal processes. He calls, s, texts and Skypes the editor on a regular basis. 2

3 Virtual Office #2: Laid Back Lucy Laid Back Lucy contacts the editor via with a regular to do list with items that need to be done. She is available whenever needed, but respects the editor s work style and time. She organizes calls at the request of the editor. And the winner is. Chances are Eager Eddie and Dr. Tobussee would not see eye to eye. Their work styles and habits were polar opposites. Poor Eddie didn t get the memo on this editor s expectations. He also overloaded the editor with s, calls and more calls. Laid Back Lucy is clearly the better fit for Dr. Tobussee. A quick assessment of personalities involved, work habits and project expectations could help ensure your virtual office is a good fit from the start. Managing the client and the virtual office relations Keys to a successful vendor-client relationship include: Communication Constructive feedback to all involved Flexibility to adjust to what works and what doesn t 3

4 Keep Calm and Communicate Schedule regular check-ins. Don t wait for issues to come up. The phone can be your friend. Some issues are resolved easier in a quick call rather than back and forth s for days. Bring issues to the client immediately. No client wants to be surprised if an editor brings up an issue and they aren t informed. Respect your client s time and don t over communicate. If managing all of your s and phone calls takes more time than managing the journal themselves, you may be over doing it. Feedback Share best practices with clients. At J&J, we work on a variety of titles at a variety of different publishers. As a result we have developed in-house best practices. We offer that in cases where editors and publishers are looking to change/improve the journal. But be careful not to offer too much too fast. It is best to get in and learn the editors and project before suggesting that everything or anything should change. Think 360. Give everyone a chance to offer feedback and get feedback. Make sure to share both good and bad feedback from the client with staff. Staff can t change if they don t know they are doing something wrong. Flexibility Don t get stuck in one way of doing things. To be successful as a vendor, you need to adjust and change with the client. Know that all clients are not the same. What works for one editor might not work for another. 4

5 No two offices are exactly the same! Listen to your client. Don t assume that all clients want the same thing. Different editors will want different things. That doesn t make it wrong! Understand your role. The vendor s job is to provide the best customer service to the client. Make it personal. Getting to know the editors and publisher staff goes a long way. What we learned Consider your people, publisher and editor when setting up a virtual office. Make the best match. Communication, feedback and flexibility are key to good client-vendor relations. Don t have a cookie cutter approach to setting up virtual offices. The personal touch will go a long way. 5