The Gritty Virtual Assistant

Grateful Mondays: Visual Delights

There is a neighbor down the boardwalk here who has six resident hummingbirds populating the flower garden he's grown on the side of the hill. Recently, I took a little early morning stroll and was able to catch this beautiful footage...

Can you spot the hummingbird in this shot?

I love these little guys. They're like the little terriers of the bird world. Little bundles of energy who think they are bigger and tougher than they are. They're very territorial and always squabbling with each other.

And they are sooo tiny... this guy wasn't even as long as my thumb! You'll see something shoot by like a bullet, thinking at first it's a fat little bug, but then you realize, nope... that was one of the hummingbirds. :)

Clients Listen With Their Eyes

The title of today's blog post is borrowed from one of my favorite marketing experts, Mark Merenda of SmartMarketing.

Mark graciously gave me permission to share one of his recent SmartBlog posts with you because its topic is something Virtual Assistants can take a cue from as well, which is the idea that clients will make instant, conscious and unconscious judgments about you and your business based on nothing more than what your website and marketing materials look like.

Clients will directly correlate the level of your skills, expertise and value with the quality of your website and other marketing collateral. No matter how illogical that is, no matter how you think they should be judging you, it is a fact nonetheless. Which is why I'm always preaching: Stop the DIY and get a professional to create your business image.

I've talked about this before, but I always love how Mark gets these ideas across in such an elegant, but no-nonsense, way. That comes from his being a journalist in a past life, I guess. But his expertise comes from building and running a multi-million dollar marketing firm that gets its attorney and financial service professional clients multi-million dollar results. So he knows of what he speaks... and it's advice worth heeding.

Your Potential Clients Listen With Their Eyes

By Mark Merenda, President, SmartMarketing

When I speak to lawyers about the power of image, they often get resentful and turn the discussion into a moral question: "What should matter," the lawyer says, "is what a good lawyer I am."

I'm afraid I sometimes fail to contain my sarcasm and respond, "Yeah, that's like going into a singles bar and thinking, what should matter is what a good person I am."

There are a million holes in this argument, but let's start with one. Almost no one, apart from another lawyer, is in a position to know and judge how good a lawyer you are. In general, people are not blessed with broad legal knowledge, nor with x-ray vision. When you take the position that you don't need a sophisticated corporate image, or a "slick" brochure, or a "fancy" website, you are irrationally demanding that others simply know how great you are, without your having to go to the trouble to convey your greatness by any visual means.

Malcolm Gladwell brilliantly explored the phenomenon of first impressions and snap judgments in his book "Blink." His conclusion: almost everyone makes up their minds about other things (people, companies, products, situations)  in the first 30 seconds, and once they have, it's almost impossible to get them to change that impression.

Women know this better than men, because biologically speaking, men overwhelmingly judge women by their looks. Thus the multi-billion dollar fashion and make-up industries.

NBC's popular "Today" show regularly "ambushes" women outside their studios for a free makeover, a segment that appeals greatly to its female audience.  Some of the results are staggering. (Click on image to enlarge.) Keep in mind, this person is exactly the same inside in both photos. But imagine the reactions to her in both of her incarnations — in her social life, her romantic life, and in the workplace. Imagine you were the employer and each of these "two" women (actually the same woman) presented "themselves" for a job interview. What would be your impression of each? Which would you be more likely to hire?

Want a little more fun? Check out your favorite celebrities without their make-up. These are people of huge talent and gifts and success. How good an actor he/she is should be the most important thing, right?

We think that the overwhelming evidence of our eyes should not be the most important thing in judging others. But it is. You can curse human nature and refuse to participate, or you can accept it and make it work for you.

Get Your Virtual Assistant Industry Survey Flair!

You can help make this the best year yet for the Virtual Assistant Industry Survey. The more Virtual Assistants that participate, the better, more informative and representative the results will be for the industry.

We are a little over the halfway mark in meeting our participation goals of at least 500 respondents. Tell all your Virtual Assistant buddies. Let your colleagues know by reminding them in the forums and listservs you belong to. Post the information and links to your blog.

To make it a bit more fun, we've also created some flair for your websites and blogs to tell the world you are an active, contributing member of your profession. You can pick up your survey flair in three different color options here:

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/surveyflair.htm

Virtual Assistant Survey Going Like Gangbusters

Wow! The Virtual Assistant Industry Survey is going like gangbusters so far. I came back from a little mini get-away and found the responses have been pouring in over the weekend.

Every once in awhile I'll take a peek at the results thus far. It's so interesting and fascinating to see the diversity in our businesses. I also love reading the comments to the open-ended questions. One that came in over the weekend is just so on-the-money and very representative, I think, of what we Virtual Assistants deal with in a large part of our marketplace's current mentality:

"That experienced, US-based VAs are charging way too much, but at the same time we should be able to do everything under the sun. That we should just do what we're told to do and not think for ourselves, and in the next breath that we're not proactive enough."

I think crappy articles about Virtual Assistants like this are a huge part of the problem. For God's sake, it's over 10 years now and they are still using terms like "wages" and phrases like "connecting with employers." When are these reporters going to get it right?! It's also up to Virtual Assistants to stop using wrong terminology like this, the kind of terminology that creates an "employer" expectation in clients (and when they think like that, of course, they are going to think we charge "too much"), and start correcting journalists when they get it wrong and demand retractions and corrections.

So what are the other solutions? Is there anything we can do? Once a cheapskate, always a cheapskate? Are there things we ways we can explain and illustrate our true value that can help getting those market segments thinking in different ways about what we do for them?

Does profiling our ideal clients and being more circumspect about our target markets help us more easily look for and find our right clients, instead of "cheapo" clients? Are there industries in particular (especially on the Internet) that seem to predominately have that cheapskate, "I-want-everything-but-I-don't-want-pay-for-it" mentality? Are there some industries that Virtual Assistants have just spoiled? What about standing firm for our standards and rates and not giving in?

Get Thee to the 2008 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey

The 2008 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey is underway and if you are a Virtual Assistant, you are personally invited and encouraged to participate!

Every August marks the time of year when Virtual Assistants can contribute to the statistics and body of knowledge that is improving the industry's understanding of itself and the education of its market. Sponsored by the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce, over 10,000 Virtual Assistants from around the world are invited to participate.

Created by Virtual Assistants (the folks who know the industry best!), the Virtual Assistant Industry Survey is the most comprehensive and in-depth survey in the Virtual Assistant profession. With 101 questions, the survey includes detailed cross-sectional data that offers unprecedented information about individual and business demographics, market data and services. Other survey topics include:

• Education, experience and credentials
• Employees and subcontractors
• Clients and target markets
• Hours and services
• Pricing and income
• Training and continuing education
• Marketing and networking
• Success, profitability and entrepreneurship
• Standards, Ethics and Educating the Public

This year's survey focuses on how the media portrays our industry, what they're getting wrong and what they're getting right, our qualification standards and the issues that give a black-eye to the profession. Our collective voices can be heard and have a very real impact on properly educating those who work with us and write about us. That's why it's so very important that each and every Virtual Assistant take a moment to participate, be counted and have their say.

The 2008 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey is open to all professional Virtual Assistants. A copy of the 2008 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey Report will be provided at no charge to every participating Virtual Assistant at the end of the survey period August 31.

You Can Help Spread the Word!

By participating, each and every one of us makes a difference in shaping our industry. You can help us in the effort of giving every Virtual Assistant a voice by helping spread the word. Hey, it's a great excuse for a blog, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn post, and if you belong to other Virtual Assistant forums and listservs, please tell everyone you can.

Feel free to copy and paste text and graphics as you like from any of these sources:

Office Press Release:
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/releases/2008/080208.htm

Gritty VA Blog Post:
http://www.grittyva.com/the_gritty_virtual_assist/2008/08/get-thee-to-the.html

Survey Page:
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/survey.htm