One Woman’s Trash …

Posted on February 1, 2012 by

As you may know, I recently sent out a survey to my VA connections to see what they were interested in learning about this year, to improve their business marketing.

I offered each respondent their choice of one of three free gifts in response for filling out my survey. I figured it was the least I could do if someone took a few moments to provide with the information I need to build great programs in my business.

The response was great – in just a few days I had over 70 responses, which gave me a lot of information that will help with me with my planning. I was very pleased with the results. (If you want to see the survey results, you can click here: www.yourvamentor.com/survey-jan12.pdf).

So on to my story. I received an email from someone who felt that their free gift was not filled with enough content for her liking. She sent me a constructive email detailing what she would have preferred to see, and although the tone was a bit more negative than I probably would have sent someone, I appreciated the feedback. I responded to her, and told her that I did appreciate her feedback, and that I was sorry that she didn’t get what she expected from the gift. I also told her that I had previously received very good feedback from that particular item, which (of course) is why I decided to provide it as an option for my free gift for the survey.

A few days later, I received another email. This was from a different person, who also selected that same free gift. Her email was completely different in tone and opinion. She started with a big WOW! and went on to say how much she appreciated the information in it. She said she also realized right away what she needs to do to amp up her business, and she wants to work with me to do it. We have a consultation scheduled to talk about her strategy.

So … what does this say? It says that when you are speaking to your ideal client … they really do hear you. It’s important to realize that not everyone will resonate with what you are saying in your marketing messages. You need to be very specific in your content, and very specific in your message … and that will come through loud and clear to the people you want to reach.

The lady who didn’t ‘get’ the message still gave her constructive criticism (which I think is a good thing to do, provided that your tone is not negative). The lady who ‘got’ the message was happy to find what she needed right there, right then.

It’s a real life example of just how this whole process works – or, as the saying (kinda) goes … one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure! I thank both ladies for contacting me with their feedback and opinions. I hope you will be able to experience this same kind of story with your marketing efforts too! The more people you reach, the better your results will be.

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Are You Using Your Outside Voice?

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

Recently I was having a conversation with a mentoring student about communicating with clients.

She is a relatively new Virtual Assistant, and she is still a bit timid around clients. It’s a stage that all new VAs go through – not really having that confidence that you know the right things to say around a new client – and that kind of thing.

It’s one thing to know what you are doing, but it’s another to tell a client what they should be doing. It’s a situation that you need to learn how to handle as a VA – and once you do, you will not only gain confidence, but you will also gain their trust, respect and even their admiration!

Your clients, whether they are new to using VAs or not, need to be able to trust that you will take care of their business as if it were your own. Remember that the pieces of the puzzle that you handle for them are generally pieces that they used to take care of themselves (as a small business owner) – and so it is important that you speak up regularly to let your client know that you are indeed a pro!

Here are a few tips on how to speak up and let your clients know that you are their support professional:

1. Share your ideas. If you have a particular thought about how your client can promote a big launch, or how they could better organize their networking contacts, tell them. They may not take your suggestion the first time out of the gate, but they will know that they can come to you for ideas down the road. Be sure to listen to their ideas first, but it’s never a good idea to just agree with them all the time. Speak up!

2. Be a sounding board for them. When something goes wrong, or if they are having a bad day, be sure to listen to them and let them know you care.  If it fits the situation, ask them how you can help them. If they just need someone to bounce ideas off of, it’s always great if they can count on you for that (after all you are their partner and you know their business!) Listen!

3. Brainstorm with them. Whether they are trying to come up with a product name, or determine how a procedure will work for bringing on new clients, help them generate ideas. Two heads are almost better than one, and this type of skill will be a great skill for you to use with other clients as your business grows. Contribute!

4. Offer them options. Most small business owners are guilty of overthinking things – and trying to do their own research to make decisions. Cut this piece out of their task list by doing it for them. Learn what they need, and make sure you are on top of the trends in their industry. Tell them what they should be doing, based on your experience and your research. Strategize!

5. Challenge them. Being a proactive VA sometimes means telling your clients that what they are proposing is not right. Don’t be afraid to do this. Challenge their decisions when you know that they are not correct. If they want to invest in membership site software when you know it’s not what they need, tell them. They will thank you if they don’t spend money unnecessarily. Support!

Your clients may be paying you … but you don’t have to act like an employee because of that. They have you in place because of your expertise – never forget that. They are trusting you to take care of pieces of their business that they themselves have probably handled previously. This is a huge responsibility, and should not be taken lightly.

Don’t be a shrinking violet – let your voice be heard. Your clients will thank you for it, and you will grow your confidence, your expertise and your business much faster. Guaranteed!

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

 

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The Strategy of Knowing Your Client’s Business

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

Building a business takes strategy. You know that from building your own business. You want to build a business that is successful and thriving.

What is the easiest way to do that?

Work with clients whose businesses are also successful and thriving.

It seems like a simple concept, but most VAs I know want to work with clients on a long term basis – and they have no idea what to do in order to find them. The key is to find clients who are currently (or planning to) growing their businesses, because that will mean that your business will grow as well. There is one important thing you need to do for them that will help both of you.

You need to learn all about their business. The more you know about your client’s business, the more you can act as a strategic partner for them. The more you can be proactive for them – to bring fresh and current ideas to the table, to keep them in the loop about new things that may help them in their success, and basically just to be a partner in their business as opposed to an off-site employee.

Here are a few things you should learn about your clients:

1. How they make money. What do your clients sell? Do they sell products? Services? Both? It’s important for you to know how many different streams of revenue they have out there. If they have a lot of streams of revenue (information products, programs, private clients, and so on) then they have a lot of ways that they can bring in money to sustain their business. If they have only a few streams (just services, for instance), you should find out how they intend to build their business … and how you can help!

2. Who are their clients? Who are they working with? Are they long term clients, or just one-time or project based? Do they have a large base of potential clients to do business with … or are they tapping a cold market? It’s important to know where your clients plan to get their clients … because if they don’t have a full client load, that will affect your business too.

3. How are they reaching their clients? Are they largely attending live events? or do they use social media? Are they consistently building their list, or are they just marketing to their own people regularly? How does any of this affect how you work with them? or does it? Can you help them expand their network in one or more ways? Tell them how!

These are all really important questions to ask yourself when you are deciding which type of clients you can best serve. Because when you are thinking about this type of thing, you are doing strategic planning not only for your clients, but for your own business.

Of course this is where working with your ideal client also comes into play. By working within a target market (ie female business coaches), your clients will have similar businesses and support needs. It makes it easier for you to gain knowledge about how to support them. By proactively supporting clients (versus being a ‘task completer’), they can be more successful and that makes you busier. It’s a win-win situation.

So what do you know about your clients?

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

 

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Chocolate and cinnamon and repackaging content

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

I was recently talking with a client about repackaging and repurposing content. I had suggested that it would be a good idea to take an audio from a teleclass and repackage it into several other pieces that the client could use in her marketing.

She didn’t understand why I would suggest doing that – the audio itself was content so why didn’t we we just blast the link out for everywhere so people could opt in to it and therefore get the material – no extra work required.

It’s important to realize that people take in their information in all different kinds of ways. In order to reach them you need to find the way that speaks directly to them.

So what does this have to do with chocolate and cinnamon, you are asking? Well that’s easy!

I love chocolate. But I’m not like most people. I like milk chocolate the best. You can give me the best Belgian chocolate you can find on this earth, and I will just think ‘meh’ … and still prefer a Mars Bar. I actually don’t like dark chocolate at all. Even though they are all types of chocolate, I prefer the more common kind versus the higher end, better quality, more expensive type.

I do not like cinnamon. I don’t like cinnamon buns, I don’t like it in apple pie, and I don’t like it any other way most people use cinnamon (I really can’t comprehend enjoying cinnamon hearts, cinnamon gum OR cinnamon toothpaste, but I digress … !). Having said that, I always put a pinch of cinnamon in my turkey gravy when I am cooking, and I do really like the Cinnabon cereal bar. (I don’t know why I like that and not cinnamon buns, but I do – it doesn’t seem to burn like the other things do). So again … repackage your cinnamon and I can actually say I like it.

These are silly (but true!) examples of how to look at something from another angle to see it through someone else’s eyes.

In the quest for our ideal client’s attention, we have to be aware that not everyone is looking for the same thing, but if you package it differently they might hear what you are saying and like it.

So it you take that audio and break it down into 6 blog posts, or 1 article, or 3 videos … it’s still the same content, but it’s a different way for someone to find it.

My client’s thought of sending the audio out more places was a smart idea – but by putting it into 3 or 4 new formats, we could reach people in different ways, and that could just make them jump up and pay attention. Try it yourself – and be sure to measure your results so you know what your audience is responding to (don’t just do things for the sake of doing them!)

Chocolate, cinnamon or marketing materials – they are all the same thing – give your audience something that appeals to them and you may just open a door that one of them has been looking for and make a sale.

For more information and to get ideas about repurposing content, check out my free audio here:
http://www.yourvamentor.com/teleclass/repurposecontent/

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5 Tips for Effective Networking

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

As we think about building our business, the principle ‘It’s who you know’ often comes into play.

After all, in order to start working with someone, you have to get to know them.

Well, in order to get to know them you have to initially find them. Then you have to connect with them. This is what we call networking. Whether you do it in person on online, you should be conscious of a few things that will make your efforts a lot more fruitful.

1. Don’t be invisible. When you are networking, the key is to be seen. You need to join groups or attend events with the intention of coming away from the wall and actually talking to people. Be friendly, be helpful. People will connect with you when they like how you interact with people.

2. Never sell yourself or your services. While it may seem logical to talk about what you do, that can be deadly in the networking arena. People don’t want to hear you drone on about what you do and why it’s important. Everyone loves to talk about themselves, so in your networking, draw that conversation out of your connections. In order to know how you can help them, listen to them – they will tell you exactly what they need!

3. Make conversation. Remember that networking is a two way street. In order to get the other person talking, ask great questions … not the small talk ‘weather’ type questions, but really ask them what they do, how they do it, and so on. ‘Seed’ information about how you can help them with their business, but don’t bombard them with your knowledge. Remember, it’s back and forth conversation – and you want them to ask you questions too!

4. Network everywhere. Not only do you want to be networking with people on your own level, you also want to be connecting with people above you and below you. Find people that are more successful than you … that are less successful than you. Find colleagues and potential clients. Networking is all about relationships, and the more relationships you nurture the more you will learn about where you have been, where you are and where you are heading … and then you can apply that to your prospects as well.

5. Timing is everything. Don’t be in a hurry to make the relationship transition from prospect to client. These things take time. Networking is a strategy that builds equity and foundation in your business. It can take some time to get started, but when you take the time to really perfect your networking skills, and practice it regularly, you will find that before long you have a very solid network of clients, potential clients and colleagues alike.

For more tips on networking, check out my article on Etiquette Tips and my article on Talking About Yourself.

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

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One Thing You Need To Do To Make Your Business Grow

Posted on December 21, 2011 by

When you do your planning and goal setting in your business, do you really look at your numbers to determine where your revenue is coming from?

If you don’t, you are missing out of a very large part of your business planning.

When you are setting goals, one of the key things you need to assess is where the revenue will come from. In order to do this, you have to do a simple analysis of where it’s currently coming from.

By focusing on this, you will be better prepared to plan new services, products or programs.

It’s a simple thing to do, and it should be a part of your goal setting and business planning every time.

1. Make a list of all of your revenue generating pieces of your business. If you have multiple services, products and programs, break down each part so that you can identify where your revenue is coming in. If you are strictly a service based business owner, indicate each of your services as a separate revenue generator. Determine a rough price per service.

2. Next, look at how much revenue each service has brought into your business over the last year (or if you are just getting started, over the last few months). 

3. Determine where the majority of your business revenue is coming from. If you have indicated your numbers properly, this should be very clear to you.

So how does it look? I bet you will find that most of your revenue is coming from one or two places.

You have probably heard of Pareto’s 80/20 Principle –  in business terms, that is 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of our activities in our business. Look at your list … odds are that Pareto’s Principle probably applies.

If those one or two things are things you love to do, then you are all set. If they are not, you have to make a decision … changing your service offerings .

By doing this simple exercise you can identify the things that are making you money in your business.

Then do one of two things:

1) Plan to do more of those revenue generating activities (the easy solution!), or

2) Recognize that you are not making money doing what you love, and change what you are doing.

This can be a big decision if you decide to take a new path.

But that’s what planning and goal setting are all about! Do the research into your own business and your planning will take you much farther.

I’d love to hear your comments on this article – please share them below!

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5 Great Questions to Ask in a Consultation Call

Posted on December 15, 2011 by

When someone contacts you to ask about how you can help them, how does the conversation flow? Do you tell them about your service offerings? Do they ask how you can help them?

How often do you sign the client when you are on that consultation call? All the time? Most of the time? Only some of the time? Hardly ever?

If you are not closing the sale all or even most of the time, it could be your approach that’s the problem.

I teach my students that it’s more important to listen than to talk on consultation calls. The client will let you know what they need if you ask them the right questions.

Here are a five great questions that you can ask prospects when you are having a conversation with them (and don’t forget to take notes!):

1. Can you tell me a bit about your business? This is one of the most important questions to ask … and a great way to start a consultation call. Even if the client is one of your ideal clients, and you know basically how their business runs, it’s important to get them talking about how they do things. Remember everyone runs their business differently, and you can pick up valuable cues about how you can support them simply by listening to them describe what they do.

2. What types of things do you need support with? Asking the client what they are considering getting support with is a good starting point. Usually they are calling you about something specific. It’s best to get that on the table as soon as possible. As you continue your conversation, you can flesh out their actual needs, as opposed to the initial reason for the call. You will also get a good sense of whether they know what they need, or whether they will need you to make suggestions for them.

3. Have you worked with a Virtual Assistant before? If people are just beginning to get support, you may need to explain to them in detail how things work. If people are experienced with VAs, it’s important to ask how they are used to working with a virtual partner. It may not be the way you work. This question will give you a really good idea of where they are right now, and give you an idea of whether they might be a good fit for you as a client. It’s a good part of the conversation to include!

4. What is your budget for support? Let’s be honest. If you are considering working with anyone, you need to know if they can afford your services. If they are going to be cheap, now is the time to find out. You can’t shy away from asking about the money – so talk about it in terms of budget and it makes it more comfortable for everyone. If their budget is low, give them an idea of how much support they will get for what they are budgeting, and then continue your conversation from there. Most of the time you will find that clients are surprised with how affordable support can be, and they will eventually sign for more than their original budget.

5. Where did you find me? It’s important to know where your leads are coming from. Even if you see that they are following you on social media, ask this question. It opens the door to conversation about how they network, which you will want to know if you are going to work with them. You also want to keep track of your own marketing efforts, to be sure that they are working for you.

Consultation calls, or sales conversations, whatever you want to call them, are a regular part of your business. By really focusing on asking questions and then listening for the answers, you can get a lot more information from your prospect, and that can help you turn them into clients a lot more easily.

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

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Keep your Website Fresh and Current

Posted on December 7, 2011 by

I have often talked about how my business has been referral-only for a few years. What I mean by that is that my new clients come to me through referral from another client, a colleague, and that sort of thing. I typically don’t respond to requests for proposal, or go searching job boards or forums for work. The work … for all intents and purposes … comes to me.

This is a great position to be in from a business perspective – however it’s important that you don’t ‘stop’ marketing your business if you are in this stage. I learned a valuable lesson because I did just that, and I want to share it with you.

I had a consultation call with a potential client. She was a referral from an old client of mine, like most of my new business is.

As we talked on the phone, she mentioned that she had looked around my website. Most of my referrals know what I do for the client that referred them to me (which is why they get sent my way) and some of them don’t even have my website address. This one happened to find my website and look around my site in great detail.

Problem: I hadn’t updated that site in some time because I wasn’t really marketing my business … I really just used it as a place to put some of my services and my portfolio.

She talked at length on our phone call about my website and the qualifications, services and information that she found there. I heard myself say, “I guess I should update my website because I no longer provide that service.” What on earth did I say that for? When I heard the words come out of my mouth I cringed … but I had to tell her because I truly didn’t want to do the things she was considering having me do.

Her response to me was, “From reading your website, I would think that was one of your specialties.” Ugh. She was right!

It was a really sticky situation … at least it sure felt that way. I got myself out of the conversation and I promptly updated my site!

Your website is your online business card, and more. It’s important to keep it up to date and looking great for the people that will look to it to help get to know you and your services better.

I learned a valuable lesson. I did not sign that client on that day. I’m sure my fragmented efforts to explain my inattention to the details on my website didn’t instil much confidence in her … how could it? I wouldn’t have hired me! :)

So now I am very cautious to keep my website up to date with my current qualifications, service offerings, pricing (where necessary) and even testimonials.

Referral or not, you want to be sure to present your best image and profile to anyone who may want to work with you. It goes a long way in developing that know, like and trust that we know is so important!

So … if you are advertising your website anywhere … in your email signature, your social media profiles, or on your business card, stop what you are doing and get it fixed up now. You never know who may be looking and it, and making the decision to work with you (or not!).

I’d love to hear your comments on this article – and be sure to leave me your website address so I can check it out!

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Do You Recognize Your Own Value?

Posted on December 2, 2011 by

I have been reading Harvey Mackay‘s new book The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World.

It’s a terrific, easy-to-read book that takes you through the various components of how to sell effectively – by being you and by knowing what your customers want. That is some serious paraphrasing, but you get the point!

One of the chapters in particular spoke to me and I wanted to share it with you. It’s called Sell Yourself.

Harvey talks about the three toughest sells being Company, Product and Self. As a small business owner and a mentor, I know how difficult selling yourself can be.

Selling yourself can be one of the most difficult things to do, if you do not recognize your own value. If you can’t see and describe the value you provide to your clients, you will have a more difficult time finding new clients.

If you find yourself having endless conversations with prospects … and coming up without the sale more often than with the sale … your problem may be value-related.

Prospects can come up with every objection in the book, but the bottom line is that people spend money on things that they consider to be valuable.

Exercise: Try recording your sales conversations for the next month. Revisit them after you have finished. Note what you did right … and what you did wrong. Listen for missed cues or things that you can fix or tweak for your next call. Improving your skills on sales calls will definitely help you to see if you are missing opportunities to show your value to your prospects.

When you are working on your marketing, be sure to place big emphasis on your own value – what makes you the best choice to work with, your expertise – but always bring it back to the client … and how that expertise you provide will benefit them, and be of value to them. When you look at your marketing message from a value perspective, it’s much easier to sell yourself.

After all, how can your prospects recognize your value if you don’t?

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Did you get any new clients this month?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by

Did you sign on any new clients this month? If you didn’t, you should reassess what you are doing to find clients.

When you are operating a thriving business that means you will constantly be building and growing, and that means that you should be bringing on at least one new client each month. It would be even better if you could bring on a lot more than that, but we’ll just talk about one today! :)

When you are nurturing your business, you will still have to be sure to continually market it, and network with new prospective clients. It’s important to keep your potential client pipeline full so that as your business grows and changes you have a pool of new clients that you can connect with and work with as you wish.

It doesn’t matter what your preferred ‘connection’ activity is with your potential clients. You can attend a business building group, or contribute to a forum, or use your social networks, but the key is that you need to be sure that even when you are ‘busy’ with clients that you continue to make time for these activities.

I remember when my business was on a two month wait – I couldn’t physically take on any new clients … and when I told people I could work with them 2 months later, they actually waited. I knew then that my business needed to grow and the 2 month window gave me the time to get some team members in place who could help with various things so that I could service more clients.

Though my business is what I would consider full, I still try to make sure I sign at least one new client every month. Why? Because as my business grows, there are some clients who move on.

Clients move on for many reasons. Sometimes their businesses change and they have different needs so they decide to work with someone else. Sometimes they run into financial problems (if they aren’t keeping their own pipeline full!) and they decrease the amount of support they need, so I often refer them to someone else.  And sometimes my business changes and I don’t want to provide services they need anymore. There are many reasons that client lists can change. You want to be prepared for when that happens (I promise you, it will!)

If one of your clients left you today, do you have someone who could step in and fill in that billable time for you? What are you doing to keep your pipeline full?

Think about it – and make your plan to sign one new client every month!

 

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