Welcome to this edition of Weekly VA Marketing Tip! This series is specifically designed to help virtual assistants avoid marketing insanity. Every Monday, my posts will prompt you to accomplish one specific marketing action to promote, brand or position your professional virtual business.

Implement these tips each week and I guarantee you’ll sustain your marketing momentum, increase credibility and visibility in your field, build stronger relationships, boost your ‘know, like and trust factor,’ get more ideal clients looking for you, and have a consistent marketing game plan for your virtual assistant business.

You might even start to like marketing!

Take a 5-Minute Interaction Break

I stole this week’s marketing suggestion from Scott Stratten’s  (@unmarketing) Twitter post this morning:

“Daily reminder to reply/retweet others for the next 5 mins. Nothing about you. Engage, interact, build.”

Of course, you can reach out and connect using all forms of communication — email, telephone, letter, and obviously, social media.

This week, make it your goal to, every hour, take a 5 minute break to deeply, purposely and personally touch a select few in your network (use a timer).

Will you make a difference by showing you care? You can’t afford not to.

Have a great week!

Really quick post. Today is a holiday in Quebec, and we’re getting ready to go out biking. I didn’t have time to type out this post, so I recorded it for you to listen.

Click here to listen to today’s post. [a little under 11 minutes -- I know!]

It’s not edited, not scripted, and I did it in one take. So there are lots of “ahs,” “ums” and long pauses. I hope it makes sense.

I’ll write it out later on so you can all read it! Enjoy!

Have a great one!

This question came up on LinkedIn a few weeks ago:

What do you do at a Business Networking meeting when you meet a competitor who seems to know everyone … and you don’t…?

I felt compelled to leave this reply:

I tend to use my natural defense mechanism (to be disarmingly charming) to my advantage.

I would befriend this competitor and make him/her my ally. I’ve had no qualms in the past about saying things such as “It seems like you know everyone here and I don’t know a soul. Is there anyone here I should meet? How did you get to know all these people?” etc. Ask questions and figure out how they got to where they are today.

There’s no disgrace in admitting a weakness and asking for help.

This may seem counterintuitive, but GIVING a referral is the best way to GET a referral. I’m not saying you must give a referral to your competitor (but don’t rule it out). Approach your networking group from the standpoint of “Who can sincerely refer to this person?” Make the referral and follow up. Yeah, it’s a little more work, but well worth it. You’ll create meaningful relationships and you’ll get known in no time flat!

A few days later, I received a message from the woman who asked the question. She thanked me for my “refreshing response,” and said she loved the “really simple, practical ‘woman to woman’ solution.”

Since someone else found my advice to be useful, I thought I’d share it with you here and see what you thought of it.

There is a difference between conceit and confidence. Conceit is bragging about yourself. Confidence means you believe you can get the job done. — Johnny Unitas

If you want to get the business, you must instill this kind of confidence in your potential clients. In order to instill it in others, it must first be inside you.

If you sincerely believe your service will solve their problems, don’t worry about coming off as egotistical. If you can back up your claims, you’re no longer a braggart, you’re a solution provider.

I often tell clients that when someone says “no” they simply mean “not now.” Here’s another way of looking at it:

An objection is not a rejection; it is simply a request for more information. — Bo Bennett

You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you. — Dale Carnegie

The greatest good we can do for others is not just to share our riches with them, but to reveal theirs. — Zig Ziglar

Yesterday, a client explained her business model to me, justifying (red lights already) why she thought she should attend a trade show as a vendor, putting her family $5000+ in debt: “If I’m a vendor, then I’ll get clients and contacts. Then I can build relationships with them and get referrals.“

Hmmmm. I experienced my typical visceral reaction. I asked, “What would happen if you turned that model around? Build relationships, GIVE referrals, and attract clients to you?“

The words were hardly out of my mouth when she replied, “I’m scared of doing it that way.“

“Scared of what, exactly?“

“My model is safe. In doing it the other way, I’m putting myself out there to be rejected.“

AH! The coachable moment. I knew we were on to something.

As I gently delved deeper, I discovered my client had recently felt like she was “burned” by a potential client. A professor was highly interested in her service a few months ago, and gladly offered to be her guinea pig. He raved about her service during the trial period, but when it ended, the professor, according to my client, ignored her. He didn’t reply to emails or voice mail. My client understood that as his way of saying he had no need for her service and wouldn’t give her referrals, not even a testimonial.

In my clients’ eyes, this was a betrayal. The way she sees it, she “sold” him her service (“He agreed to a trial run. He really wanted my service.“), spent lots of time and energy building a relationship, hoping he’d turn into a paying client and/or a referral source. “After all,” my client reasoned, “he knows me personally. How can he reject me like that?” I even caught her using the word “jerk“…

That’s when the old tell-it-the-way-it-is-Cristina turned it on. I had to lay it out for her.

“A business relationship is NOT a personal relationship. He doesn’t REALLY know you personally. It’s not personal, it’s business. Besides, even if he does come right out and say ‘no, I don’t need your service’ — or anyone for that matter — it just means ‘not now.’ You can’t give up that easily.“

I took it a step further. “Instead of taking his non-response as a rejection, take it as feedback – and always assume the best. This professor is probably so busy, he really DOES need your service, but he just doesn’t have the time to sit down and write an email or pick up the phone to call you. Assume the best and your reaction will be a positive one.“

It was a hard pill to swallow, but after a deep, cleansing and reflective sigh, she understood the message. Clients are not friends. It’s business, not personal.

By the end of our call she was excited to implement a few follow-up strategies, without annoying the busy professor, and without putting the family in debt.

I’d love to find out your thoughts. How do you view your clients? Does viewing them as friends help or hinder your business? How do you degage without being unresponsive or cool? How do you get close without crossing the line?

The way you treat your clients is a sure way to be remembered — good or bad. What are you doing to make your clients feel special? What is your original “trademark”?

I just watched a powerful presentation all about the spirit of personalized customer service.

Click here to watch it.

It’s only 3 minutes long and you’ll love it. Once you see it, you’ll never forget.

Do you find out what your client needs before you start servicing him?

For example, if you were contracted for your letter writing services, would you get to work right away? Or would you conduct a preliminary interview with your client to find out:

• What style and voice does he want you to use?
• Who are the letters destined for?
• What is the end goal?
• Is this a marketing campaign?
• Has he done this before?
• What challenges has he faced in the past?
• What does and doesn’t he know about letter writing?
• etc…

In thinking about this subject it reminded me of getting a massage.

I don’t know about you, but I love massages. I’ve been to all sorts of massage therapists. Some are VERY good, some are VERY bad and others are just OK.

The very best are those who, the first time we met, sat down with me for 30 minutes to find out more about ME. What do I do for work? Do I have kids? How much stress is in my life? Do I have any health issues? Have I ever been to a massage therapist before? What did I like/dislike about them? What intensity am I most comfortable with? What are my expectations?

And, most importantly, where do I hurt the most?

Here are some things these questions indicate to me. The masseuse:

1. … knows what they’re doing.
2. … knows what they’re talking about.
3. … sees me as an individual and not just as another client.
4. … cares about my experience.
5. … is interested in creating clients for life, as opposed to making a quick buck.
6. … is worth what they charge.
7. … wants to tailor their service to my needs.

Let’s turn this around. When you get a new client, do you let your excitement get the better of you? Do you lump all your clients into the same boat? Do you offer a cookie-cutter service? Are you afraid of losing money by conducting an initial needs assessment?

If so, I urge you to change your mindset.

The extra time it’ll take you to unearth your clients’ individual needs is well worth the effort. Doing so gives your clients a sense of security, they get a taste of what it’s like working with you and they’ll feel heard. You’ll be seen as a serious professional and valuable resource to whom they’ll look to for guidance in the future.

Show your clients you care by getting in the habit of asking Where do you hurt the most?