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Marketing Transition Virtual Assistant

Need More Clients? Fish Where the Fish Are!

The number one question I get asked about Virtual Assistance EACH week is:  “How do I get clients?”

The answer is very simple.  You have to “fish, where the fish are!”  And you have to “fish” consistently.

Many VAs find it difficult to market their services and thus struggle to consistently attract clients.  This has mostly to do with one’s mindset, because we can often hold ourselves back from success because of limiting beliefs, fears or doubts.  Have you ever thought to yourself:

  • “I can’t charge that much!”
  • “No one is really going to pay that for what I do.”
  • “Marketing is too hard and I’ll never be good at it.”

If you tell yourself things like this you’re right.  But if you tell yourself:

  • “My time is worth X and I deserve to be paid that much!”
  • “There are plenty of people who need my services and I’m going to find them!”
  • “I can learn how to market my services in an authentic and comfortable way!” Continue Reading>>

Marketing Networking

Marketing Resources Virtual Assistant

How to Find Your First Ideal Client

This is the question that plagues all virtual assistants regardless of how long they’ve been in business. Clients are our lifeblood. But you don’t want to be so anxious for business that you will take on just anyone as a client. You need to have standards for what you will and won’t put up with in a client.

Virtual assistants have to be proactive about finding and acquiring these ideal new clients. Thanks to the Internet, prospecting for clients has become easier in regards to your ability to reach more people in a shorter amount of time. But the basic business practices that apply in the brick and mortar world still apply.

There are three ways to grow you business, online or offline. And they are:    Continue Reading>>

Marketing Virtual Assistant

Turning Your Website Into A Client Attractive Marketing Tool

Smart virtual assistants recognize the power the Internet has to build their reputation and bring new clients to their doors. We often invest money in a beautiful site, launch it and expect to be flooded with new clients. Unfortunately, they don’t usually come. A beautiful web design and catchy business name is not enough to attract clients anymore. Continue Reading>>

Marketing Networking

Getting In Front of Your Target Market In a BIG Way

This week I am meeting with my fellow Mastermind members to spend three days working on my business.  I applied for the Mastermind at a marketing workshop I attended this past spring.  In attendance at the workshop were several hundred solo service professionals who were looking for tips and strategies to implement into their business.

Why am I telling you this?  Because attending events such as this, has been a MAJOR contributing factor in growing my business to its current level.  Did it cost me money to attend this?  YES!  (The registration fee was $2,497!)  Plus, I paid my own travel expenses AND took off time from my business.  But was it worth it?  ABSOLUTELY!  I walked away with contact information for several hot prospects that were just itching to work with me.

Even better than that, I CHOSE to work with as many or as few of these individuals as I wanted and have had no qualms about charging my standard retainer and project fees.  I ended up working with four new entrepreneurs who have been an absolute delight to work with.  You see, working with just one of these prospective clients MORE than paid for the time and expense it cost me to attend the event.  (In fact the combined revenue has been more than 10 times the investment to attend the event!)  As an added bonus, it was another great opportunity to hone my networking skills and connect with lots of folks that I had never met face-to-face or hadn’t seen in a while.  As you can see, this experience was a win-win all the way around!

What is the moral of the story?  We are BUSINESS OWNERS and we MUST invest the time, money and energy in our businesses to grow and market them effectively.  I try not to get irritated when I hear VAs say, “Oh, I can’t afford to go to any events, they cost too much money!”  That thought should NEVER cross our minds, let alone come out of our mouths. If you tell yourself that you can’t afford to go, then you won’t go.  So don’t tell yourself that!  If you think you can’t afford to attend live events or invest in programs to enhance or gain new skills it is probably due to a two-fold problem:

1) You aren’t charging enough money for your services and
2) You aren’t setting aside money and time each month/year to invest in yourself and your business.

If you truly want to grow your business and start working smarter, not harder, you MUST invest in your business.  It’s simply not optional. And if you are tired of working with DUD clients, who drain your energy, don’t pay you what you’re worth and don’t belong in your practice then you need to identify your IDEAL client and start getting in front of them.

The marketing workshop was filled to the brim with my ideal clients … smart, sassy, forward-thinking women who are ready, willing and eager to take their business to the next level.  I was truly inspired by many of the people I met there and made some GREAT connections that I know will lead to new joint ventures, projects and other opportunities.  That was EXACTLY the reason I chose to attend the event. .  I had recently phased out two non-ideal clients from my practice and was looking to replace them.  That’s why I went.  And that’s what I got.  Putting myself RIGHT in front of my target market and clearly articulating how I can help them improve their business guaranteed me new clients.

As you prepare your business and marketing plan for late 2009/early 2010, be sure you set aside time and money to attend live events to get in front of YOUR target market.  It’s one of the fastest, easiest ways to grow your business quickly.

I’d love to know your thoughts on this article, as well as your experiences and questions, so please feel free to post your comments on the blog.

Action Steps for the Week:

  1. Choose one target market.
  2. Find online and off-line places where people in that market congregate.
  3. Look for 2 or 3 events that you would like to attend before December 2009.
  4. Register for the events and make plans to attend.
  5. Fix in your mind the problems that you solve for them and the big benefits that your clients receive from working with you.
  6. Prepare to attend the events and confidently share your expertise.
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