It Doesn’t Have to Be All or Nothing: Hiring a Virtual Assistant for Short-Term Work
There are two major ways that you can work with a virtual assistant. The first of these is with management projects, which are completed on an ongoing basis (such as hiring a VA to publish your bi-weekly newsletter). The second of these is based off of short-term work, where you simply hire a virtual assistant for a short-term project that you will need. Depending on the state of your business, you can determine the time allotment for your virtual assistant.
There are two types of ways that you can approach short-term work with a virtual assistant. Both of these will make a difference in the type of contract that you decide to sign with the VA, as well as the types of projects you will hand off to your virtual assistant. Of course, even if you are only hiring a virtual assistant for a short period of time, you can always use the assistant in the future, as they will be familiar with your company and its needs.
The first type of short-term work that you can outsource to a virtual assistant is regarding maintenance that will only need to be updated a few times a year. For example, if you need to have your bookkeeping records updated every quarter for tax purposes, a virtual assistant can work on this and consider it a short-term (albeit ongoing) project. Most likely, this will be considered a per-project agreement between you and your VA.
The second type of short-term work involves seasonal help, such as extra customer service during your busy periods of the year. Often times, virtual assistants will be hired for an event that is taking place or to help out during other busy times. This will allow the extra service and maintenance that needs to be taken care of.
The third type of short-term virtual assistance work involves one-off projects, such as building a website, setting up a shopping cart or creating a sales page.
The beauty of virtual assistance is that the very profession is based on flexibility that will allow you to find the best solutions for your business, no matter what your current needs may be.
Regardless of how much extra help you need, or what you need to be done, you can find a virtual assistant who can help you reach your goals…whether short-term or long-term. No matter what the time frame is, you can easily find a virtual assistant who has the ability to do what is needed for your company.
To find out how we can help you complete your short-term or ongoing tasks, contact us for a complimentary quote.
3 Easy Ways to Turn Clients Into Raving Fans
Whether you own a small brick-and-mortar store or an online business, you will likely have some type of competition. There is a good chance that some – if not most – of your competition will come from bigger businesses that have more financial resources for marketing at their fingertips, especially if you’re just starting out. Although it may seem like your competition has the advantage, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a number of different ways that you go about “wowing” each and every one of your clients that comes to you, to the point where they will be a returning customer, and more importantly, a raving fan.
- Make the buying experience as simple and pleasant as possible. When it comes to “wowing” your customers, the “wowing” process isn’t actually as hard as you may believe it to be. For instance, the first step is to make sure that your store is pleasing and easy to navigate. In physical shops, that means making sure that your customers can push a shopping cart down each of your aisles, without running into merchandise or boxes on the floor. You will also want to make sure that your store shelves are organized in a nice, professional matter. If you have a home-based or online business, that means ensuring that your website is fully functional, with all links pointing to the right place, so that customers can quickly and easily get where they need to go. The last thing that consumers want to do is shop at a store, physical or virtual, that leaves them frustrated and unable to find what they need. You want your customers to enter your store and say “wow.”
- Kill ‘em with kindness. Another way that you can go about “wowing” your costumers is by just being nice to them. Yep, it really is as simple as it sounds. In today’s society, where everyone is in a rush to get things done, and where we’re often consumed with thoughts of our own priorities, we often forget to be kind and polite to others. The best way to “wow” your customers is to follow the old saying: kill them with kindness. For brick-and-mortar storefronts, you will want to make sure that your employees greet your customers as soon as they walk into the door, ask them if they need any help finding anything, and thank for them for their business after being checked out. If you run an online business, smile just before answering your business phone; clients and prospects will hear the smile in your voice and know that you’re happy to hear from them. Just being kind and compassionate to your customers is a great way to “wow” them and bring them back for more kindness, especially since that kindness is now missing from many of your big-time competitors. Go a step further and call them up once in a while just to see how they’re doing. Even if they’re not available for a quick chat, the gesture alone will ‘wow’ them.
- Give them extra incentives to shop…on the house. Another simple way that you can go about “wowing” your customers is by offering them free discounts or savings. You may want to think about making coupons that can be handed out to all of your customers, preferably those who end up spending a certain amount of money, like fifty dollars or more. Or maybe run a “Client Appreciation Month” where you give all current customers $25 off that month’s invoice, just for being a loyal customer. Of course, money-saving coupons are used by many shoppers, but most of the time you have to go searching for them, as most retailers don’t hand them out free of charge, preferring instead to hoard them or only use them to entice new customers to buy. Gifting your loyal customers with money-saving coupons is a great way to give your business a good public perception and also greatly enhance your chances of long-term customers. I’m part of a group-coaching program that meets every 60 days. Each time we show up we receive a gift card that can be used toward other programs or VIP days. This is one of those ‘unannounced’ bonuses and everyone loves them.
The above-mentioned approaches are just a few of the many that you can consider when looking to “wow” your customers. When it comes down to it, the best way to “wow” your customers is to look at your business from the prospective of a customer. If you were to walk into your store or visit your website as a potential customer, what would you want it to be like and how would you like to be treated? Then be sure that you’re doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Website Makeover for StartLivingYourPurpose.com
When I came to Marta I already had a website I created myself from a template and the problem was the site looked like I created it myself… I wasn’t proud of my website and found myself hesistating to share my web address with others. I sought help from Marta because I wanted a website that looked professional and was uniquely my own. Marta and her team were able to translate my vision and ideas for how I wanted my site to look and feel into an amazing finished product. The quality of the work she and her team produced was amazing and I love the look of my new website. I am extremely happy with my website and I now confidentely refer prospects and clients to my site. I have Marta and her excellent team to thank for the results!
Testing the Waters with Your New VA
When you decide to hire a VA, before signing on the dotted line, it’s wise to put a limit on your initial time working together, much like a probationary period. As with any working relationship that’s new, both parties need time to assess if things are going the way they intended.
In the beginning, you’re excited at the prospect of working with your first VA. But don’t let that excitement cloud your assessment of the work. Yes, even if you get on like a house on fire! Having a good rapport is really great, but never forget you’ve hired someone to work for you and so you should expect them to perform accordingly and to be professional at all times.
Now, if you’ve done your due diligence in the hiring process and outlined your expectations and communicate effectively, you’ve got a good, solid footing. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with making the job fun and light. After all, we spend so much time at work, it should be uplifting, especially when we’re free to do what we love because we have someone in our corner taking care of details that drive us up the wall, right?!
So what’s a good rule of thumb for seeing how things go? Well, you could give it a month but I recommend three. Why? Well, in the first month, your VA is just trying to get up to speed on your business as they start diving into tasks. However, you’ll also get a good sense of how they work/communicate in the first two or three weeks, so if red flags are going to fly, they’ll start taking flight then. Remember though, for anyone taking on a new job, it takes at least three months to really get tuned in and comfortable.
Watch that your VA is organized, meets deadlines, and is pro-active in their approach. If you get all that plus a great rapport, you and your business will be stronger for it!
Keeping Track of Your VA
So you’ve hired your first VA, and you’re starting to hand over tasks. Now how do you keep tabs on what they’re doing (and no, I don’t mean in their personal life!)? Well, in the “old” days, you had to rely on the VA keeping track of their time on their computer, maybe in a spreadsheet or some other manual record and then sending it to you with their invoice. Today, there are so many online systems, for not only time tracking but for project management as well, it’s super easy to know what your VA and everyone else on your team is doing.
This is a somewhat revolutionary aspect of working virtually. Rather than guess what’s going on, you can now see all activities, correspondence, files, and more in most of these snazzy systems. Mind you, they aren’t all free. The cost will depend on how much you want your system to do for you. Some people use systems only for tasking and time tracking. Others use them for more. The trick is not to go in cold and haphazardly start using a project management tool with no organizational thought behind it. As with anything in business, think strategy!
Here are some of the most popular project management tools:
Central Desktop - http://www.centraldesktop.com
Basecamp - http://basecamphq.com/
TeamworkPM - http://www.teamworkpm.net/
Zoho - http://www.zoho.com/
MyClientSpot - http://www.myclientspot.com
Most of these work-a-day tools have free trials and, of course, tutorials. Most of them are pretty straightforward to use but as always, you may find something that throws you a curve ball (and you want to hit the programmer up the side of the head!) but, for the most part, they’re pretty intuitive.
The idea is that you can bring your business into the 21st Century by having an online system that becomes your new back-end of operations. One of the neatest perks is that since everything is stored online, if you or any of your team members has an individual computer meltdown, it’s no problem, because vital information won’t be lost (as long as files have been uploaded to the system, that is…).
It won’t be long before you’re hooked on using a project management system. And as you grow and your team grows, there will also be the need for someone to manage the team and those systems, so getting a project manager like an OBM (Online Business Manager – sorry, shameless self-promotion for www.obm-4-hire.com) will be well worth your while because as you know, if you don’t get out of the details, you’ll never get anywhere you want to go.
Remember, these tools are here to simplify – not complicate – your business. I highly recommend them to keep you organized and on track for success!
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? The coach or the VA? The VA or the OBM?
It was four years ago this month that VA-4-Hire was born. Before that I had flirted with the idea a bit, taken on a few projects, done a ton of research, but August was the month when I launched my first website and really put myself out there as a business owner.
Approaching this milestone has put me in a reflective mood and I realize that every time I invested in my business, in a big way, whether it was an expensive training program, bringing on a team member, or working with a coach, my business leapt forward.
I’ve also seen a huge difference between working with clients who have worked with a coach and those that did not.
Nowadays, when I’m speaking with potential clients, I can tell almost immediately whether they do or not. The ones who’ve never worked with a coach are usually the ones without a clear vision or plan for their business. They’re unsure about their ideal clients or what to say to them, or cloudy about how they want to do business in general.
Sometimes, I have to gently suggest that a business owner seek the help of a coach to help them move forward. For many of you the cost of coaching seems prohibitive. For many of you the cost of working with a VA seems prohibitive. Some of you will go ahead and try to do one or the other and still feel stuck.
What’s the answer? Which should you do first? How can you afford to do both?
There is tons and tons of advice on both subjects, working with a coach and working with a VA. I won’t get into all of that, but I will share my experience with you.
My business coach, Suzanne Evans, often talks to us about finding the fastest path to cash in our business and although it seems obvious, I often see, firsthand, how much time business owners spend on non-essential or non income generating activities.
Last week I shared with you the opportunity to attend a call with Suzanne called “It’s Your Fastest Path to Cash: The Simple 5- Step Formula to Close More Clients this Week (than all of last year!)”. Did you join the call? If not, you haven’t missed your chance. Register for the encore here.
Attending these types of training calls is one way that you can work with a coach, albeit a very limited way. But some people leave these calls with enough content or focus to go apply the techniques to their own business and see results!
Another affordable way to work with a coach is to purchase one of their products or programs. Now, don’t go crazy and start buying programs left and right! The key is to buy one at a time and go through the program and actually do the work. Implementation and consistency are two very important keys to success in any business.
And speaking of implementation….that’s where your VA comes in. If I had a dime for every time I heard a business owner mention that they had a certain product launch blueprint blah blah that they haven’t implemented! Sending those products or programs to your VA for implementation is where you will see some immediate ROI (return on investment) for working with a VA.
As you start implementing what you are learning, and the business starts to grow as a result, you can then start increasing your level of investment in coaching as well as in your team to get to that next level.
It’s not an all or nothing proposition. You don’t have to invest at the Diamond Level right off the bat to benefit from a good coach. Just as you don’t have to bring in a VA team, an OBM, a marketing manager, social media consultant, copywriter, web designer and graphics person all at once.
Take stock of where your business is now and find the way to move forward in your current circumstances.
Can’t see the forest for the trees? Sometimes we’re so immersed in our own business stuff that taking stock of things with clarity is just not possible. If that’s the case for you, I’d love to get the bird’s eye view on your business and talk to you about your options. Schedule your Take It Off My Plate session with Marta.
How to Streamline Your Project To-dos
When it comes to launching a new teleclass series, a new e-book, live event, or membership site, things need to happen quickly, and any virtual assistant worth their salt understands that. They know you don’t have time to waste, because the longer things take to complete, the more time you lose getting potential business in the door. Yet, if you don’t take enough time to properly map out what you’re going to do and involve your VA in that process, you are basically shooting yourself in the foot!
For instance, it might only take your VA a couple of days to get your teleclass landing page ready, complete with the registration thank you page and accompanying autoresponders, but if you haven’t allowed at least four weeks of marketing before the event starts, then the push to get the word out not only presses your VA for time, but you’re not going to get the participants you want, due to poor planning.
So, for a more successful scenario, I recommend creating a project matrix or map of your project that includes every single task involved, who is responsible for that task, and when the relevant deadline is. Listen, I know most online business owners don’t want to know everything little thing their VA does, they just want to say “Engage,” like Star Trek’s Captain Picard. But I promise you, this not only makes everything clear for both you and your VA, but it will cut down on extraneous communications and make the process a lot more streamlined. And your VA can easily take this task on an send the matrix to you for approval and then engage!
Oh, and this procedure does more than just map out project steps!
It also helps you understand the typical time and turnaround times your VA needs for repetitive tasks, which in turn, helps you when creating foundational systems for your business, like an operations manual.
Plus, when you start hiring more VAs to become part of your operations team, you’ll have a guideline for the time it takes to do certain tasks, which will be the benchmark you can use when monitoring team performance.
Not only that, you’ll also have some great information that will help in training new VAs to take on various duties.
Who knew all these benefits would be created from making the time to map out project specifics! Imagine how much more productive and effective both you and your VA and/or VA team will be when you put a project matrix into action? I think there is something to be said for being able to view everything in one place – like a spreadsheet, for example – that way, no one has to guess what the next step is or when tasks need to be completed. Everyone is on the same page. Yeah!
Next time you start to plan a project, try this and see how it goes. I’d love to hear about it!
4 Tips For Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant
When most people start their online businesses, they typically fill all the positions of chief, cook, and bottle washer. This isn’t a bad way to start, as in the beginning, finding clients is generally the focus. And until you’re swimming in them, it’s pretty easy to run your business yourself.
But as soon as you start getting busier, your ability to keep up gets compromised. Oh, oh…this is an unfortunate part of the process…now tasks start slipping through your fingers, and soon clients will, too, if you‘re not careful. As the weeks start flying by, you keep thinking to yourself: That’s okay. I’ll just catch up on the weekend. The weekend comes, and you’re in another frenzy, trying to finish a presentation for a meeting with your exciting, new client or the family has talked you into a day at the beach. Now the harder you try to keep up, the more overwhelmed you get. Yikes, not a good place to be!
Well, guess what? This is the ideal time to bring a virtual assistant on board.
You might think this is intimidating, especially since you’ll be handing over tasks to someone you can’t see. Not to worry, though, it is easier than you think. Just have a little faith!
Here is a simple checklist that will help anchor you as you take steps toward hiring your first VA:
1. Make a list of all the things on your plate, no matter how big or small. Then separate the list into two sections: “Tasks I know/want to do” (List 1) versus “Tasks I hate doing/don’t know how to do” (List 2). Now choose what the priorities are on List 2. You’ve just zoned in on what you need to hand off RIGHT NOW. The rest can be added in as medium and lower priorities accordingly, and expanded as you grow.
2. Choose the priority tasks you will hand over first to your new VA. Then create a job description that summarizes what they are so you are well prepared ahead of time when it comes to interviewing potential candidates.
3. Create your ideal VA list. Put down all the qualities you want, e.g., do you prefer someone who is upbeat and cheery or someone who is straightforward and direct? Also add the things you’re looking for in the relationship overall, as well as what your expectations are for the short and long term.
4. Decide on what you can afford. When hiring someone else to help you shoulder tasks, don’t look at doing this as an added expense, but an investment in you and your company. Your business simply cannot grow without this crucial step.
Once you’re really clear on what you need to delegate, who your ideal virtual assistant is, and what your initial investment will be in this partnership, you can then begin searching for the right candidate. Give yourself plenty of time to do some online research, ask colleagues for referrals, carry out phone/Skype interviews, and check references before making your decision. With any luck, you’ll hit the bulls-eye on the first try, and start getting the relief you deserve so you can carry on building the business of your dreams.
4 Ways to Optimize the ROI on Your Squeeze Pages
It’s no secret that all Internet marketing starts with building your list. And how you choose to do it is crucial to your success. While websites that have opt-in boxes on each page (top right, like mine over there –>) are the most proven and widely-used method, you can go one step further to maximizing the opt-in process by utilizing a single-purpose webpage called a squeeze page.
The squeeze page’s job is to make it super simple for the quick-reading/scanning website visitor to take one, simple action, whether that action is to sign up for your free offering/newsletter, make a product purchase, become a member of your coaching program, or register for an event.
Remember that your website visitors are typically only on your site for a few brief minutes, so you have to capture their attention effectively in the moment. Your squeeze page needs to have one targeted message which speak to their pain points, and exactly how you can take that pain away, no matter what it is you are offering.
Here are 4 tips to keep in mind when developing your squeeze page:
1. Brand continuity. Make sure your squeeze page is branded to your website look, especially if you’re doing an opt-in squeeze page. This type of squeeze page is the very first page people will see when they land on your website, and has three distinct elements to it; a captivating headline, brief, succinct copy targeted at one or two specific pain points and how your valuable free offering addresses them, and, of course, the opt-in box. By keeping your brand continuous throughout your squeeze page and website, it further solidifies who you are and what you do to your prospects.
2. The make-it-or-break-it headline. The headline on any webpage is the most important key to either compelling or repelling your visitor. If you don’t have a captivating headline that grabs hold of your site visitor’s attention right away, the opportunity to have them join your list is lost in a nanosecond. This is such a crucial step that you don’t want to leave it to chance. If you feel you can’t write the copy yourself, hire a qualified copywriter; someone who really understands Internet marketing and who can write persuasively and in your voice.
3. The call to action must be loud and clear. Strangely enough, some single-purpose webpages can have excellent design, well-written copy and great testimonials, but the call to action – the single-most important thing the visitor is being be asked to do – can be understated or confusing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that having a big huge “sign up here” graphic is the answer. It is part of the equation, certainly, but what you’ve said beforehand is just as much if not more important. Never take for granted what you need to ask your site visitor to do. Make taking action simple and quick, and unmistakably clear.
4. Optimize for Optimum Return. Another important factor in creating your squeeze page is to ensure you have it fully SEO-optimized. Keywords and phrases that are targeted to your prospects and customers need to be included in both the meta data (coding behind the scenes) as well as in the copy on the page. Although you may send your squeeze page URL to your list, and your affiliates, you also want to capture other members of your prospective audience who are surfing the Internet as well. It’s also a good idea to have Google Analytics installed so you can track your visitors and conversions. The great thing about the tracking is that you can alter your design and copy to test the waters – sometimes just a small tweak can make a big difference.
As an online business owner whose storefront is on the Internet, you have to use all the tools you can to attract your ideal clients. Your website is like your brochure. Your squeeze pages are like your number one salesperson, always at work creating buzz, talking to your prospects in their language, and asking them to take the simple, easy action of giving you their email address so you can keep in touch and build the list that will, in turn, build your business.
Need some help creating your Squeeze Page? Schedule a Take It Off My Plate Session with Marta to get started on yours today.
