Here are the 3 of the most common mistakes new VAs make when they start out. Avoiding these crippling mistakes will speed up your business success rate.

Mistake #1: Working without a plan

Let’s think about it differently. When you want to take a vacation, do you first

• Think about where you would like to spend your holiday;
• Look at the dates that will suite you and your family best;
• Set time aside to find the best accommodation and make the reservations up front;
• Fill the car with fuel or buy the plane tickets;
• Pack the right type of clothes?

Or do you just decide one day: I’m going on vacation right now. Gather everybody. Jump into your car and start driving without really knowing where you’re going?

Off course you don’t.

To prevent the holiday from turning into a disaster, you’ll probably do some planning upfront.

It’s the same with business. To ensure your business do not turn into a nightmare, it’s better to create a plan that will ensure you’ll reach the place where you want to be in future.

Creating a plan doesn’t need to be difficult. Your first plan simply needs to include

• What services you’ll focus on (and here the emphasis in on ‘focus’ because even though you might be able to do a whole lot of things, you cannot focus on all of them).
• Who needs those services the most? Who you would like to work with?
• How you will reach them?
• How much income do you want to generate on a monthly or annual basis (because that will tell you how many clients you need to enroll every month).

And when you make your plans, don’t just do it in your head – write it down. Put it on a piece of paper or somewhere on your PC where you can access it daily, so you won’t forget about it.

Mistake #2: Putting the cart before the horse

One of the biggest benefits of having a VA business is your ability to work remotely with clients. For this reason, many new VAs believe they first need to get their online presence in place.

Well, contradictory to this belief , the most important thing you need to do when you first start out is NOT getting a website online or setting up your social media presence or designing a logo for your business.

Although all of these things are important for the long term success of your business, don’t focus on them in the beginning… because if you do it’s like putting the cart before the horse and then your business won’t go anywhere fast.

The most important thing you need to do when you first start out is to get paying clients.

This will give a much better return on your time investment because when you enroll clients first (even when you don’t have a website, yet) you start earning an income. And when you have income, you have more options and can make better long-term decisions to benefit your business.

Mistake #3: Waiting for clients

As said in Mistake #2, many new VAs focus their start-up time and energy on getting online and using online marketing tactics to get clients.

This include things like creating a website, writing blog posts or doing guest blogging, completing profiles on online job boards, posting status updates on various social media platforms and online groups, and spending time in online forums.

Then they sit back and wait for potential clients to get in touch.

Well, although online marketing tactics and strategies are great for any business, it takes time for online strategies to produce great results – time that new VAs don’t have.

With online marketing, you do not have much control over who will get in touch, when they’ll get in touch and how many people will actually get in touch.

So, instead of relying on online tactics and strategies in those first critical months (where you have to wait for clients to get in touch), rather focus on marketing where you have more control over the potential results.

Have courage to go out, to meet people and to speak to them in person or over the phone. These direct marketing strategies put you in control of your results and often leads to many more clients in a shorter period of time.

Getting clients doesn’t have to be tough. It can be easy and fun if you follow the right processes and create marketing momentum in your business… right from the start!

To Your Success

We often take “listening” for granted…

But, when you become good at it and when you listen to– and understand what people REALLY say, you gather important information that can shape the future of your business.

We can compare “listening to clients” with eating a jawbreaker – those round sweets that consist of several layers and are so hard that you just cannot bite through them without breaking a tooth. When you eat a jawbreaker you have to suck through the hard shell and the different colored layers to eventually reach the soft, yummi core of the sweet.

It works the same with listening when you want to create a connection with your clients and experience that unique client chemistry where you truly understand them and they truly trust your abilities. You have to figuratively suck through the hard shell and the different layers of your clients to eventually reach the core essentials (the soft, yummi part) of what they really want….and you can only reach that core through attentively listening to clients.

When your clients are doing the talking, you gain a window into what he or she is thinking and by carefully listening to what they say, you gather valuable information that can help you:

• understand their needs
• connect with them better
• provide tailor-made support
• solve their problems
• create more trust and understanding
• tailor your marketing message
• improve your marketing strategies
• and eventually get more clients…

So, next time you have a discussion with a prospective client; are on the phone with an existing client… or even when you are just in a social conversation with someone else, keep the following listening tips in mind:

1. Listen with concentration

Be fully present in the conversation. Open your mind and ears and be receptive to the messages the other person is giving. Start listening from the first word and give the person your undivided attention. When people talk to you, listen and concentrate to make sure you hear what they are saying. Good listeners are not passive and they do not drift away with thoughts of their own.

2. Listen without interruption

The purpose of listening is to understand the message. Although you might think you know and understand what your clients want to say, avoid the urge to interrupt or finish their sentences. Be polite, listen carefully and always “put your brain into gear before you put your mouth into motion”.

3. Listen with the mindset to discuss

Effective listening is not a one way street. Make notes of what is being said and ask open ended questions. By asking the right questions, you are not only encouraging your client to do the talking, but it also allow you to get the key information you need about what your prospect is really looking for. Then take part in the conversation.

Ralph Nichols said “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.”

So now it is over to you…:)

Share with us below how listening to clients has helped you in the past…and if you liked this post please do share it. Thanks!

~ Francis xo

But how can you use your website to get more clients?

Well, to answer this question, let’s first look at how you probably search for information on the web.

If you are like me, you enter a few keywords into Google, scan the results for the best description and click on the link to enter the website. Once you’re on the site, you look at the header and outlay; get an instant feeling if you like the site or not; read the headline; scan the other sub-headlines; scan the sidebars and navigation links and if your eye doesn’t catch anything that interests you on the site, you leave and try the next Google result.

Well, this is what most visitors do with your website as well. Although we think that our visitors spend hours on our site to read each and every word (wouldn’t THAT be great!), they merely scan the content.

So, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. If you think about it, this is actually quite scary, because if your web visitors leave without taking any sort of action on your site, they are probably lost forever and you have lost a change for them to really get to know you better.

So the bottom line is: For a website to be an effective marketing tool and to help you get more clients, it needs to convert visitors into prospects and eventually into clients.

One of the best ways to do that is to grab your first-time-visitors’ attention by offering them something valuable for free – something so irresistible that they do not hesitate to give you their name and email address in exchange for your free offer.

The truth is you never know how long it may take for someone to start working with you. Some people will make the decision instantly after visiting your site, but most people need some time to first get to know you better. If you do not have a way to capture your site-visitors details, and then stay in touch with them via your e-mail marketing, you lose out on potential clients.

So, here are 6 tips for setting up your free offer and turning your website into a “lead magnet” for getting more clients.

1. Know who your target audience is. You do not want your free offer to attract anyone and everyone. You just want to attract your ideal clients – the people you really want to work with and who have the problems that you can solve with your services.

2. Identify your ideal clients’ most pressing problem. People search the internet to find solutions to their problems.

3. Provide a solution to that problem in your irresistible free offer. You want people signing up to learn something, gain something useful and / or experience some “a-ha” moments. The info and value in your free offer needs to win the like and trust of your subscriber and make it easier for you to convert them into a paying client when the time is right.

4. Use an eye-catching headline / topic for your free offer. Clearly state the value a subscriber will receive after signing up in order for them to not hesitate giving you their name and email in exchange. (Ensure visitors have to sign up for this offer – i.e. give you at least their name and email address in exchange for it. Don’t let them just download the offer. The whole purpose is to get their contact details so you can stay in touch afterwards).

5. Display your offer prominently on EVERY page on your website. You never know where a visitor enters your site. Your free offer should also be one of the first things a visitor see when they land on your site, so you can display it either as a pop-up, in the header, across the top part of the page or in the top sidebars.

6. Market this freebie everywhere. Mention it in all your marketing and other communications. This will drive more visitors to your site, leading to more people entering your client pipeline when signing up for your free offer.

Using an irresistible free offer on your website can eventually result in converting more prospects into paying clients.

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About the author:

Francis van Wyk is a business and marketing mentor and the founder of Be Virtual Assistant Wise. She helps  Virtual Assistants and women solo-entrepreneurs  with a results-focused, step-by-step, “how to” approach for positioning and fine-tuning a business to get more clients and enjoy a better income. Sign up for her FREE training on the “6 Steps To Business Success” at Be-Virtual-Assistant-Wise.com

Email marketing

It all starts with incorporating an irresistible free offer on your website that invites your site visitors to give their name and email address in exchange for it. Their details are then added to your subscriber list and allow you to stay in touch with those subscribers via email on a regular basis.

Here are 4 simple steps to get started:

Step 1: Getting Email Marketing Software

The first thing you need is email marketing software. This software allows you to put a form on your website to collect email addresses and other details from visitors on your site in exchange for something you offer for free. It is similar to the one opt-in form on my website where people can sign up for free training. I use a company called Aweber, but if you search around there are many other options available and you can choose one to fit your budget.

The email marketing software enables you to set-up and schedule a series of automated emails called auto-responders and/or once-off emails, typically for sending a regular newsletter or e-zine to all your subscribers. Furthermore the software provides basic to detailed statistics to keep you updated with how many people open and read your emails.

Step 2: Develop an Irresistible Free Offer

Your irresistible free offer is all about giving your website visitors a ‘taste’ of something they could not go without.  It’s giving them something irresistible that THEY want in exchange for something YOU want ….their contact details.

The free offer can be anything from a PDF report, a small e-book, audio CD, workbook, e-course, checklist, video, consultation etc. Its purpose is to get your visitors to take notice and sign-up.

The moment your web visitors sign up to receive this free offer, they enter your client pipeline. People understand that by signing up, they are giving you permission to send them e-mails and to stay in contact with them. This is when the process for email marketing kicks into action and where you can (on a regular basis) provide your subscribers with valuable information, special offers and promotions via email to help build trust and credibility.

Tip: When you develop your free offer, put yourself in your ideal client’s shoes. Ask yourself what type of information would attract their attention and get them to sign up.

Step 3: Develop a Series of Auto-responders

An auto-responder is an email that is send instantly/automatically to a subscriber who signs up to receive your free offer.  It can be only one email or a series of emails that are delivered over a period of time.

Your first auto-responder will typically introduce you and your business, letting your audience know the type of information they’ll be receiving and how frequently you will be sending e-mails. It will also contain a link to your free offer or explain how the subscriber could access the offer.

A second, third and fourth auto-responder email can be sent 2 or 3 days after the previous one, containing something really useful to your audience. It could be a tip that will help them solve a problem or a tool that is available online and that they will find useful.

Tip: Auto-responders are excellent time savers. You set it up once and then basically forget about it. The first 3 to 4 emails are really important since they build the initial trust with your audience. So they should contain high value content your ideal clients can use.

Step 4: Create an On-going Email Marketing Plan

The value of an email marketing plan is to build a great relationship with your list. This can be done by sending top quality content on a regular basis via your newsletter or e-zine.

The purpose is to stay in-front of your potential clients on a frequent basis. As much as we would like to think that our subscribers are always thinking of us (wouldn’t THAT be nice?), it’s unfortunately not the case. So, repetition is necessary to remind them of you, your offerings and your expertise.

Tip: Establish objectives and build a plan for the year.  Start by mapping out what type of content to send on a regular basis. What type of information or topics you want your subscribers to receive? What promotions or campaigns you want to do and when you want to do it? This plan will help you reach out to your customers at the right time with the right information.

***

The truth is: You never know how long it will take somebody to decide to work with you. When you do not make use of an opt-in process on your website and email marketing, you lose the chance to:

• Capture contact details and build a database of people who are interested in your services;
• Regularly connect and provide additional value and information to people who want to know more;
• Create an ongoing relationship with potential clients;
• Increase your credibility, build the know, like and trust factor and eventually convert prospects into paying clients.

It is a bold statement to make.  But the change in mindset that MUST take place when you want to have a successful, long-lasting and profitable business is to change it from running your business with an employee orientated mindset to a business orientated mindset.

Let’s think about it: When you work in corporate as an administrative employee for a company, you are not really involved in planning the future of the company you work for. In many cases you are not really allowed to ask too many questions about it. Your employer will most probably not ask you advice on how you think they should grow their company and you are merely there to react to – and follow the orders of your employer.

When you decide to move over from being an employee to becoming a business owner, a lot of changes happen:

• You leave your place of employment and no longer have the protection of your job description;
• You move from a place of safety to  a place of unknown;
• Nobody is telling you what to do anymore;
• You have to start thinking about ways to get your own clients and to grow your own business;
• Clients now expect from you to meet them on an equal footing;
• Clients want you to participate in discussions by asking questions and giving ideas and suggestions on how they can do things better in their businesses.

So there is a total rearrangement in the dynamics of how you operate as an employee vs how you operate as a business owner.

Now, a problem I see on a daily basis is that when people move over from a job situation into a self-owned business (like when they become a VA) their initial mindset and how they operate the business is still that of an employee. And this complicates things.

Instead of taking charge of their business, they wait for things to happen. They might have done some of the right things; like setting up a website and having all the right equipment, but the way that they’re thinking and the way they approach their business, getting clients and working with clients is still that of an employee.

You can see the employee mindset in a couple of things: Like for example

• When VAs haven’t changed their mindset yet, they are waiting for clients to come to them and to ask them for help. They start their business, get everything in place, send out a brochure or a few marketing pieces and then…. they wait. They wait for the clients to come. They wonder “where are all the clients, why are they not coming? I mean…. I have all these wonderful skills. I have this beautiful website. I left a couple of brochures at the dentist. My business card is on the bulletin board at Spar – why aren’t the clients coming? I can’t understand that.” Then, when the clients don’t come, they start to doubt their abilities and eventually they reach the point where they feel: This business just does not work for me.

• Another example when VAs haven’t changed their mindset yet, is when they prefer to be delegated to. They wait for the client to take the lead in the relationship and to tell them what to do.  They don’t ask their clients questions to get better insight in how to best help them. They don’t make suggestions, because they feel it’s not there place to do so. What ends up happening in a situation like this, is the business owner either takes advantage of the VA and treats them like an employee OR the business owner feels that the VA does not really understand what they need and ends the working relationship. In both cases it is the VA that struggles in the end.

So what I really want you to do right now is to think about the mindset that you operate your business with.

Do you take charge of your business? Do you meet your clients on an equal footing because you know you are the expert in your business? Or do you wait to be delegated to?

Do you take charge of the situation to actively look for clients? Getting out there, speaking to people on a daily basis, building relationships and informing people about what you do and what problems you can solve for them? Or do you sit at home, wondering where all the clients are?

Now, it is often difficult to change your mindset. The good news however, it is possible.

Changing your mindset is a process that becomes easier with time, but it is something that you constantly need to work on. Each time you don’t have clients OR when you talk to a client, think about what a successful business owner will do in that situation and then start taking action to do the same.

It is vital to work on your mindset daily, because changing your mindset from working as an employee to working as a business owner will help you see that:

You are the expert in your business…. even if your client is the expert in theirs.

This will help you gain confidence to go out and get more clients, and then to work with those clients on an equal footing to build a successful and profitable business.

• You have every intention of reaching your most important goals, but things keep getting lost between ambition and execution.
• Instead of moving forward you’re spinning your wheels and getting nowhere fast.
• Week after week, month after month, you are working really hard to leverage your time and energy, get more out of each and every day, maximize your efforts to achieve real results, but in spite of it all, you are still missing the mark, and falling way too short of where you want to be with your business.

…just know you are not alone!  What you are experiencing is not uncommon among women solopreneurs like yourself.

This is why, this summer, 7 experts will be blogging about their secrets, best tips, strategies, and giving away training, products, and services that will give you the boost you need to be more productive and your business more profitable.

They want to help you achieve more, so you can grow your business and earn more money too!

Join my colleague Monique Wells for the Productivity for Profits, Summer Blog Tour and Giveaways starting 14 June 2012.

The truth is: knowing your clients really well, is the beginning of an upward spiral: the better you know them, the better you can tailor your marketing message, the better clients will relate to it, making it easier for you to attract them and convert them into paying clients.

To help you create this positive upward spiral in your business, here are a couple of things to know about your clients:

1)    Who are they? Everyone talks about the importance of defining a target audience…your ideal client…yet very few businesses actually do it. However, the clearer you are about who you work with, the easier it will be to identify places to find them.

2)     Where do they spend their time? Knowing where they spend their time, helps you to also be present – either in person or via your marketing materials.

3)     What do they struggle with? Every business has a number of frustrations and struggles that they want to get rid of. What are those struggles for your clients as it pertains to what you do? Knowing what they struggle with can help you position your business to become their problem solver.

4)     Why are they struggling with it? There is always a reason why people struggle with something. E.g. do they have these struggles due to time constraints or lack of specific knowledge and skills or lack of technology and equipment? Finding the reasons can help you tailor your marketing message.

5)    Why would they work with you? Do you stand out from your competitors? What will be the deciding factor to help your clients decide that you are the one to work with?

6) When do they need your services? Understanding when a client needs your services means that you can approach him at the right moment to maximize the chance of a sale, e.g. if you provide financial services you can start advertising your tax related expertise during the start of tax season increasing the likelihood of attracting clients searching for tax help and advice.

7)     What do they expect when working with you? Understanding client expectations means you can encourage a positive customer experience from the start and maximize the chance of repeat business.  E.g. when you know they expect to be kept in the loop about the project, you can bring that into your very first client conversation to put them at ease about working with you. Then ensure you do that to retain their business.

8)     What are their top 3-5 priorities? The more information you have on what your clients’ top priorities are, the better you will know how to speak to them and understand how you can help them.

Knowing your clients is a powerful way to propel your business forward. It allows you to make positive changes in your own business to accommodate their unique and varied needs. This helps you stand out and makes you much more client attractive.

To clarify the difference: A Jack of All Trades is someone who delivers a wide variety of different service to clients because they have the skills to do it.

A Master of Some is a VA who becomes exceptionally great in one or two areas and only offers that as a service to clients?

Here is my personal opinion.

A Jack of All Trades (JOAT) can certainly build a decent business. By being good in a number of skills and doing most things pretty well, you can serve clients in various ways. But, I believe a JOAT will always have a ceiling they can’t break through.

• It will always be difficult to differentiate their services from others in their field
• They will always have lots of competition.
• They will constantly fight for survival to get clients.

One of the biggest problems for a JOAT is that it is often hard for prospective clients to understand the value of your services. Being able to do “whatever” does not always present you as the solution they need. Many small business owners are looking for an expert to assist them with a very specific task.

Just think about it. If you have a water leak you call a plumber, not a general handyman. If you have a heart problem, you need a cardiologist not a GP. It is the same in the VA industry.

Therefore, I believe someone who is a Master of Something (MOS) , can move quite easily past the glass ceiling, and build a very successful business because…

• They automatically stand out from the competition
• By becoming a specialist, clients will seek them out
• They can demand higher rates and reap better financial rewards in the long run.

We see Masters of Something all over the world in the form of people like Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, Oprah, and many more.  While they might not be good at everything, they are a master of one thing, which is the reason they are set apart from others.

The decision though between being a JOAT or a MOS really depends on what you want from your business – not everyone wants to specialise.

Still, if you wonder how to become a Master of Some, my suggestion is to ask yourself the following questions:

• What services do you enjoy most and love doing already?
• What areas do you consider yourself an expert in? What are you already good at?
• What skills and knowledge areas do you want to develop further?

Evaluate, decide and then start focusing on those services.

Because, when you enjoy what you do, you will figure out a way to be excellent at it. When you are excellent at what you do, you will serve your clients better by doing it really well. When you serve your clients well, you will be rewarded well.

Why not join the debate and share your thought below .

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About the author: Francis van Wyk is a business and marketing mentor who helps virtual assistants and women solo-entrepreneurs with planning for success, attracting more clients and building a meaningful business.

Francis created the 6 Step to Boost Your Business System, a results-focused, step-by-step , “how to” approach that teaches simple strategies for positioning and fine-tuning your business to get more clients and enjoy a better income.

Here are 6 ways Facebook can benefit your Virtual Assistant business:

1. Increase Visibility – Facebook can be a great resource for generating visibility. If people don’t know about you, how will they work with you?  But as you expand your network on Facebook and more people become connected with you, you become more visible and increase the chances to attract new clients.

2. Increase Know, Like and Trust Factor –  When a potential clients Like your Facebook page and receives constant valuable updates from you on their profiles, the more familiar they become with you and your business. This builds the know, like and trust factor and can encourage people to share information about you with their friends and/or start working with you.

3. Increase marketing reach – The simplicity of sharing information with friends and family via Facebook is a wonderful platform for potentially going viral with your brand and increasing your marketing reach. Facebook empowers your clients and friends to share information they like with their friends. Since the average person on Facebook has around 130 friends, this means that anything the average person comments on or likes on your page is automatically shared with their 130 friends. This can increase your marketing reach significantly.

4. Increase Client Engagement – Facebook is a great medium for reaching out to your clients and potential clients in a personal way which encourages interaction, feedback, sharing of information, communicating promotions, contest and events. It encourages clients and potential clients to get engaged and create a positive affiliation with you and your business.

5. Track Client Behaviour – Facebook helps you to understand how people interact with your page, what they find useful, what they like and what comments they share. This gives you insight into how to increase your visibility, marketing reach and client engagement – thus improving the know, like and trust factor.

5. Drive Web Traffic – By sharing content from your blog, special promotions and events on Facebook, it acts as a portal point for driving traffic back to your website and potentially increase the probability of people entering your clients pipeline.

The bottom line is, using Facebook effectively for your business can enhance your marketing efforts and help you get more clients.

Online Marketing

So here are 5 online marketing tools to help you get more clients.

Website

It goes without saying that any VA business should have a website. Your website is where you send visitors to when they see or read about you elsewhere on the web. Thus your site should ideally be more than just an online brochure as it is important to tell your site visitors what you want then to do. Should they sign up to receive free information from you; should they contact you for a free consultation? As an effective online marketing tool, the purpose of your website is to get (at least) the contact details of your visitors. This will ensure a visitor who might be interested in what you offer, do not leave your site, never to return. When you offer them something of value in return for their contact details, you can stay in touch with them and grow the Know, Like and Trust factor. By keeping in touch you can turn cold leads into warm prospects and eventually into paying clients.

Article marketing

Article marketing is the practice of posting keyword-focused articles on article sites to make a wider audience aware of your existence. Some of these article sites have a significant readership following and a well written article (and bio of you and your business) can result in a traffic boost to your website. The key is to write helpful, informative, easy-to-understand articles that can help readers and make them curious to find out more. When they follow the link to your website (usually in your bio at the bottom of an article), it gives you the opportunity to attract new potential clients into your clients pipeline.

Press releases

Online press releases are similar to article marketing, but instead of writing a piece on just about anything, a press release involves placing a newsworthy story about your company, website and/or your services on the web. A press release is more time sensitive (much the same as news), and is generally used to create short-term buzz for a particular event or to promote a certain aspect of your business for a specific purpose. It has the same purpose to lead readers to your website.

Online Networking

As with “off-line” networking, online networking is used to build contacts for your business. Online networking is primary through joining forums, chat groups and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The purpose is to connect with people in your industry as well as with people in your target market. The golden rule is to do diverse networking. Do not only be part of VA forums and social groups. Also build networks on business forums, marketing forums, women’s forums and social groups that can place you in direct contact with you ideal clients. Participate in the discussions, become visible and start building the know, like and trust factor.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM  is when you market online by:

• improving and optimizing on-site and off-site elements of your website to help it rank higher in the search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo (called search engine optimization (SEO)). A better ranking site will increase the number of visitors to your website.

• buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads : These are ads placed with a search engine, such as Google, Yahoo or even Facebook. These ads can appear in search results when people search for specific keywords or they can appear on other peoples’ websites when their site is set-up for displaying ads. PPC ads increase your visibility and reach and although you pay each time someone clicks on your ad, a well written ad can attract targeted visitors to your website.

Online marketing should be part of your overall  marketing strategy. The Internet has greatly enabled VA businesses to prosper because of the reasonably low cost to start and maintain a web presence and the ease of spreading the word.

However, before you do any marketing, always keep in mind that knowledge of your targeted clients (who they are, what they need and where you can find them) is critical to give your marketing efforts maximum impact and make it most effective.