Pull out your business card and have a look and see how many points of contact do you have on your card? One? Two? Three or more? It seems that many feel that because they have an email address or a website, they no longer need to add any further contact information on their business cards. I believe this is the wrong way to think and you need to make it easy on your prospective clients. As an avid networker I go out regularly to meet with other business people and what they put on their … [Read more...]
Do they know how to contact you?
I'm seeing an increasing trend of people creating brand new websites for their businesses but neglecting to put the most important information on their sites! Namely, how to contact you. Personally I don't like doing business with people who only have a contact form and no other form of contact on their site. Makes me wonder what they're trying to hide. I know, from personal experience, that many prospective clients like to pick up the phone and talk to me. Why wouldn't clients want to do the … [Read more...]
Beware of being ‘faceless’
I got an approach recently, from a company wanting me to outsource my VA work to them. They told me they wanted to partner with me. Naturally I went and visited their site and in particular, checked out their 'about page'. Pretty much a stock standard paragraph or two on the services they provide but nothing about who 'they' are, no names, nothing about their knowledge, experience, background, no photos (other than stock photos). In other words they were faceless and there was no way I could … [Read more...]
My Story
I was chatting to a member of my network today. We'd jointly gone for a meeting to see a potential sponsor for the Australian VA Conference which is being held next month (March 2015) in Melbourne. The owner of the printing business decided to share his story with us and the reasons why he supports some businesses and organisations over others. Basically his work life and goals are driven by what he believes God would have him do. He's built a very successful printing business although he, … [Read more...]
The importance of Networking online and offline
I'm a firm believer that networking should be done as much offline as it is done online. I belong to two regular networking groups - one weekly and one monthly, and then go to others periodically too. I find I pick up a lot of referrals this way from people who like to meet who they're going to be doing business with, or who they will be referring to. This is how I began doing business before the Internet and I still am actively networking on a local basis regularly, over 20 years down the … [Read more...]
Learn about your client’s industry
There is good value in learning as much as you can about the industry/ies your clients work in. If your niche is a particular industry this is even more important. Each industry will have a number of things to help educate people in that industry: newsletters, magazines, trade shows, industry association events and the list goes on. It makes sense, that if you want to provide the best value you can to your client/s in a particular industry, then why not subscribe to their online newsletter? Or … [Read more...]
NEVER stop building your client base
I frequently see VAs posting on VA forums that their client is leaving them, cutting hours or doing something else and when questioning further about their situation, it often becomes apparent that they only have one client. You don't have a business when you have one client. What you have is a job, in general terms. It's very easy to stop doing the promotions and searches when you gain a client, but it's very important to keep promoting, keep networking and keep marketing, all the time. I … [Read more...]
Are you going to AVAC?
The 6th annual Australian VA Conference will be held at Melbourne Docklands in March 2015. The early bird bookings close very soon. If you're planning to go, why not go visit the AVAC site to get your booking in now! Dates are 20-21 March. All details are on the website. … [Read more...]
Join Australia’s oldest VA Network today!
Not only Australia's oldest VA Network, but also the second oldest in the world. Established as a network in April 1996, "A Clayton's Secretary" has witnessed many changes and lots of growth in the Virtual Assistant industry during that time. Until 31st December, we have a special offer for 12 months' membership at the price of $99AUD. You can apply here and follow through with your resume and subscription payment to become a member of this team of Virtual Assistants, with members in many … [Read more...]
