The Gritty Virtual Assistant Blog

Here’s an article published today in “The Portable Business™.” If you’d like to subscribe, go here…

If business has slowed for you due to effects from the recession, don’t panic. A slow-down is actually a wonderful opportunity to improve your business and make it stronger and more purposeful and financially successful than ever before. Following are just some of the actions you can take to leverage the gift of extra time you’ve been given.

Processes & Policies

• Systemize your processes. For each process in your business, map out the details step-by-step. Besides being a great start on that SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) manual you’ve been meaning to get done forever, the act of diagramming things will ferret out any gaps or inefficiencies that you can then correct or improve upon.
• Automate repetitive steps. What actions or steps are always the same in a process or workflow? What questions do you answer over and over? What software can be used to manage and deliver certain functions? The idea is to formalize in writing and consolidate with tools so you aren’t starting from scratch or reinventing the wheel every time. Creating an FAQ (frequently asked questions) that you can email to clients in PDF format or direct them to on your website is an example of automation. Using an autoresponder service to grow your mailing list and deliver sequential messages automatically is another example.
• Switch to upfront payments. You don’t do yourself or anyone else any favors by allowing clients to be in debt to you. By moving to advance fees, your cashflow will be immediately improved, administration will go down (because you won’t be dealing with payment terms, collection hassles and chasing down monies due) and clients will know what to expect and can budget much more easily.
• Stop billing by the hour. Focus on value instead. Update all your offerings around packages of bundled value, not hours. This way, when you’re delivering results and expertise for clients, you aren’t cheating yourself out of being paid for that value just because it doesn’t take you as long.

Clients

• Get rid of bad clients. Complainers, nit-pickers, late-payers, non-payers, clients who just don’t get it, anyone you dread hearing from or working with… These kinds of clients are unprofitable and cost your business far more than you realize. You have to let go of poor-fitting clients in order to make room and have more time and energy for right-fitting ones.
• Get feedback from your clients. Make a point of soliciting feedback from all your clients on their opinions and experiences working with you. Create a tool to collect the information. Not only is this a great way to capture testimonials, but you’ll glean invaluable information about what clients want and where you can improve. Moving forward, be sure to incorporate your feedback plan into your client relations as an automatic part of your process.
• Get to know your target market better. Invite someone from your target market to lunch and pick their brain. Find some folks in your target market to interview over the phone. Devise online surveys for your website. The point is to always keep learning as much as you can about your target market, what they want, and what their common interests, goals and obstacles are so that you can hone your solutions to better fit their needs and speak their language.
• Explore a new target market. If your current target market is being hit by the recession or is otherwise not turning out to be a profitable avenue, you might want to look into others. Just remember that a profitable target market has to have a solid need for what you offer, be able to afford you, and be easily found so that you can find, market and interact with them.

Offerings & Marketing

• Innovate for your best, current clients. It’s a well-established fact that catering to existing clients costs 11x less than it does to drum up new ones. So ask yourself… are your current clients aware of the other services you offer? Do you see a consistent need within your current client-base and market that you can create new offerings around? How can you hone your current offerings to create even more value?
• Write at least one awesome white paper. Create a report that deals with one specific common problem your target market shares and allow it to be disseminated freely around the Internet. It’s called viral-marketing and it’s a fabulous way to get the word out and demonstrate your expertise, understanding and know-how. The trick is to make it super relevent and high value.
• Create new and/or passive income streams. You know your target market. What information can you bundle up for them? What simple, stand-alone services can you offer them separately? What DIY instructions or training can you create for those you can’t work with directly or who otherwise aren’t ready to commit to your premium one-on-one fees?
• Devise a simple marketing plan. Consistency is key. Focus on just two or three activities and then commit to taking action, following up and tracking results.

Invest in Yourself

• Brush up or learn something new. Now is a great time to take that class you’ve been putting off. Increasing your knowledge, updating your skills and learning new ones is always smart business.
• It’s a no brainer—hire a Virtual Assistant! A Virtual Assistant can take on much of your back-end administrative work and help you implement all of the ideas on this list. You’ll then have more time to do more marketing, strategizing, working with clients and all of those other things that you do best.

RESOURCE: One of the best ways to become indispensable to clients is to not only know your target market inside out, but also understand what you are really providing to them. “Understanding Your Value: How to Craft Your Own Unique Value Proposition and Cash-In on Value Billing Methodologies” is a workbook and study guide designed to help professional service providers gain that deeper understanding and communicate their value in ways that resonate more attractively and meaningfully to clients. It also covers steps for profiling your ideal client, identifying your target market, defining your value and then putting it all together.

About the Author: Danielle Keister is a business advisor, innovator and thought leader in the Virtual Assistance profession. A veteran Virtual Assistant of 12+ years, her logical, no-nonsense approach to business development has gained her recognition as one of the leaders in the field. She loves what she does and is passionate about sharing her knowledge and know-how with the world. She’s all about inspiring others to reach for their highest excellence. When not taking care of clients in her own Virtual Assistant practice, The Relief Virtual Assistance, she is busy leading the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce.

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