You’re out there everyday, telling the world how great your service is, that what you have to offer is exactly the solution they are looking for.

The best way to prove that your services are the answer to your prospect’s problems is to build your credibility as a professional and to show that you’re the expert in your field.

photo credit: gcoldironjr2003

Here’s how to prove that you are the solution:

• Prove that you deliver what you promise. Live by this mantra: Under-Promise, Over-Deliver.
• Look at your marketing material with a critical eye. Would you hire yourself?
• Add an element of tangibility to your services by sharing real success stories and testimonials.
• Write and publish articles about your area of expertise.
• Fill your pipeline by getting others to introduce you and refer your services.

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-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!

Get Aggressive About Referrals

Does the word aggressive scare you? I hope not. I’m not talking about being unprofessional, annoying or offensive. And I certainly don’t want you getting involved with icky high-pressure marketing techniques.

I say aggressive because this week (well…  every week) I’m challenging you to take decisive, purposeful action to grow your business. Get ready to kick your business to a whole new level with this referral system.

Rick Crandall calls it “The Most Aggressive Referral System” in his book, Marketing Your Services: For People Who HATE to Sell, which was the inspiration for this Weekly VA Marketing Tip (scripts are taken from his book as well).

So, how does a virtual administrative assistant go about launching an aggressive referral building program?

The very first step is to believe that your virtual office assistant services make people’s lives better.

The second step — which is pretty much the cornerstone of marketing a service-based business — is to be willing to spend most of your resources (time, money, energy, etc.) reaching out to your ideal clients, letting them know how you can make their lives better.

Once you’ve nailed down those steps, you’re ready to move on.

When you have a satisfied client, make sure you tell them:

“As you know, I get most of my business from referrals. [If applicable, continue with: For instance, you heard about me through So-and-So]. Would you be willing to write a letter commenting on how I’ve helped you in your business?“

Most satisfied clients will gladly help you in this way. BUT (there’s always a but!) your well-intentioned clients are busy people and they’re not really sure what to write. If you leave the conversation at that, you may not see a letter for a long time (if ever). Don’t take it personally.

Now your job is to continue making your client’s life as easy as possible. This is where you:

1. Thank them profusely for agreeing to help you in this way.
2. Acknowledge how busy you know they are.
3. Offer to write the letter on their letterhead.
4. Send it to them to review and sign.

Tip: Interview them for 5 minutes or less (record the call) and draft the letter based on their actual words.

How do you want your referral letter to sound like? Think about the different aspects of your business:

• your personality
• your strengths
• your work ethic
• your values
• the quality of your work
• etc.

For each client, draft different questions that will cover all the benefits of working with you.

Are you uncomfortable just thinking about doing this? WAIT… I haven’t got to the aggressive part yet!

Blow this referral-building marketing strategy out of the water with this next step.

After your client has agreed to write a letter (or have you write it for them), say:

“Would you mind if I sent this letter to some people you know, rather than just keeping it as a general letter for the files?“

Ask them who comes to mind. After they give you a name or two, continue with:

“Could we go through your database to get ideas about to whom to send it?“

Aggressive, right. But for whom? Admit it, it’s only aggressive, because you’re feeling uncomfortable.

If your clients are business-minded professionals, they will admire your tenacity, drive and diligence. They’re thinking: If she’s this persistent with marketing her own business, imagine what she can do for mine!

Remember, if this tip makes you squirm in your chair, know that it’s making most other VA’s who read this blog uneasy too. What’s more, at least 80% of you will procrastinate and flat out refuse to undertake this week’s marketing project.

Are you part of  the 20% who will choose to use their discomfort as an opportunity for growth?

So… that’s your assignment this week! Get aggressive about your own business. Crusade for your own success.

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!

“What Else?”

So, last week’s Weekly VA Marketing Tip was a heavy one, so I’ll go easy on you this time ’round! (Now you have more time to continue working on your small report!)

This week, it’s really simple. I want you to send an individual, personalized email message to each of your current clients (include past clients if your list isn’t long enough) and ask this simple question: What else can I do for you?

That’s it.

It’s all about creating front of mind awareness — which also goes by its ugly acronym, FOMA.

Some may have nothing for you now, but you may be surprised what comes your way because you took the initiative. If you get a positive reply, call them right away to find out more.

Why not continue the email conversation? Two reasons:

1. If your clients are lazy anything like me, they figure it’s faster to actually do the task than to type an email about it. You calling them saves them the frustration of tediously typing out their instructions.
2. Your clients are busy, that’s why they needed you in the first place. They may not have time to respond to your email right away. You calling them saves you from playing the email reply waiting game.

Pick up the phone and get them to tell you what they need help with.

Let us know how it goes!

Have an awesome week.

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.

Colleague and public speaking expert, Suzannah Baum president of Ideal Communications, wrote this article for WomenEntrepreneur.com.

You’ll find great tips to help you get started public speaking (including a few quotes from yours truly!). Enjoy.

Speak Better: 5 Tips for Polished Presentations by Suzannah Baum
Public speaking is a marketing tool that keeps on giving, so get past your fear and nail every speech every time.

Most successful entrepreneurs agree that good public speaking skills are among the core techniques they need to propel their business forward. A well-delivered presentation can result in getting some extra funding, securing a new distribution channel, locking into a new referral stream or gaining new customers.

Read the entire article here.

Seeing as I haven’t given birth yet, I figured I’d mosey on over to LinkedIn Answers and pose a new question: What are the 3 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when giving their 30-second intro?

As usual, the responses received so far have been insightful and informative. Want to join the discussion? Click here to post your answer.

Mistakes aside, what are your 30-second intro pet peeves?

Just as an aside… things are “happening”, if you know what I mean. Last night, I had a false alarm, with a succession of painful contractions. My hubby was just about to call the midwife when everything stopped. Woke up this morning and still no baby!! But, it’s a good sign that things will happen soon!!

In the meantime, I just had to share with you the conversation going on at LinkedIn Answers. This week, I posed the question: What are the top 3 elements to successful networking?

So far, 16 people have shared their answers and I highly suggest you check out the caliber of replies received to date. While you’re there, why not share your top 3 networking success strategies!

For the first time, I posted a question on LinkedIn, not really knowing what kind of response I’d get. I don’t know what’s taken me so long to discover the Q&A feature on LinkedIn (thanks to Lara for the suggestion), but I’m sure glad I did.

My question was a simple one: Do you have a 30-second intro? So far, I have not been disappointed with the replies.

My friend and colleague, David Cohen, started the conversation this way:

30 seconds? No way…that’s far too long…how about something short and sweet and catchy so you don’t drone on and on like everyone else at a networking event. Like, I help business owners grow their businesses by over 10 per cent…if this is a result you’d like in your business then let’s talk…

30 seconds is way too long…if you catch me doing that shoot me!

Most people who have answered agree with David — the shorter the better. I agree, although, to be honest, it’s something I struggle with.

So that got me wondering: What’s your take on your own 30-second intro? Are you consistently reworking it to be shorter, or do you find yourself trying to cram in as much information as you can in 30 seconds?

Last week, I posted a call for help to a few VA online groups I’m on. I needed assistance with an important, detailed, last minute and complicated RFP for a client.

Most replies were professional. There were those who offered advice and even provided outlines and templates, while others submitted formal service quotes.

A few replies, however, totally blew me away — not in a good way.

The first reply had for a subject line “[Listname] off list,” so I wasn’t even sure if it was in reference to my request or if it was sent out of the blue. The actual message was even more baffling — it goes like this (I removed all incriminating references):

So do you need my advice?

I’ve coordinated workshops, special events, and have done handouts. I use MS Word and that’s it.

Probably a lot of others will contact you.

I am skilled in a lot of things.

Why not break up the project into small groups of people, up to 3 people.

I can spare a bit of time in the morning after 8 am if you need me.

I’ve done this biz for 14 years, and 2 days.. for 7 years with an organization that had tradeshows, workshops etc.

How much would the subcontract rate be?

I’m good at proofreading

You can hire me for 45 min if you want to help you with all kinds of advice $[X] x 5%

I’m very resourceful.

[Name]
[Signature Line]

I mean really… what kind of reply is this???

1. First of all, who starts off a professional submission of their services with “So do you need my advice?” This person didn’t even bother to address me by name.
2. Secondly, there is NO reference to my original request for assistance with a RFP. Why exactly are you sending this to me???
3. Third, all (except 3) of the choppy sentences contain the words I, me or my. This person is more interested in talking about themselves than in what I really need.

If you’ve been in business for 14 years and 2 days… surely you must know this is NOT the way to promote your services!? Oh, there’s so much more to say about the rest of this message… but I think you get the point.

A second perplexing (sad, really) reply I received was this:

Subject: ongoing offsite support [all lowercase, but at least I know what this is in reference to]

Cristina, [thank you for addressing me by name]

I would be interested in helping with the ongoing offsite support but I don’t know how to do the RFP. If you know anybody that needs subcontract please let them know about me, I am looking for work. I am attaching my resume. Thank you.

Sincerely,

[Name]
[Signature]

You’d be surprised (then again, maybe not) at how many emails I get like this.

It’s not so much annoying as it is saddening and troubling. This person is taking the time to reply, but ends up sounding desperate and pitiful.

A better reply would have been:

Subject: Ongoing Offsite Support

Cristina,

I saw your message for help with your client’s RFP. While I don’t have experience in that field, I would be interested in working with you regarding your request for ongoing offsite support. As you can see from my attached resume, I specialize in [name your specialty here]. If this is what you’re looking for please contact me for details. My business grows by referrals, so if you know someone who would benefit from my services, please feel free to forward them this message. Thank you.

Sincerely,

[Name]
[Signature]

OK, so writing is not my forte… and that’s not the point. The point is, if you’re going to take the time and effort to reply to someone’s call for help and you KNOW you’re the right one for the job, don’t pussyfoot around with excuse-making and begging. If you’re not exactly the right fit or if your service has NOTHING to do with what’s being requested, don’t bother sending a reply. You risk hurting yourself a lot more had you not replied.

Think of this: If you received these 2 messages in your Inbox, would you readily refer them to colleagues and clients?

Unfortunately, I will not. I’m certain these entrepreneurs are good at what they do and are really nice people, but their unprofessional approach created a bad first impression that I just can’t shake.

Are you sending message like the ones I received? If you’re unsure about how your message will come across, send it first to someone for feedback.

The world of email marketing is a tough and cruel one. Your audience can’t hear the modulation of your voice or see the expression on your face. When promoting yourself by email, make it count and be sure you’re sending the message you intended to send.

As you know, I’m working through Step 2 of my Office Organization Venture — Contact Management (following Tracey Lawton‘s The Complete Office Organization System).

If I’ve been a little quiet lately, it’s because I’m working long and hard hours on this one. This second step may prove to be the most time-consuming of all four, seeing as I’m practically starting from scratch (other than Outlook and iContact for my newsletter, I’ve never taken the time and effort to put in place a reliable, automatic and regular contact management system — now I know why!).

I spent all of last and some of this week just setting up an automated Complimentary Coaching Session scheduling procedure. Here’s how the process is broken down (completed actions steps are crossed out):

1. A potential client who checks out my web site and is interested in experiencing my no-nonsense coaching style signs up for a Complimentary Coaching Session by filling out a form.
   Action: Create sign up form in iContact.
   Action: Create Complimentary Coaching Session web page.
2. The person soon receives a “Welcome to Complimentary Coaching Session” email with scheduling instructions. They must click the link in that message to access my online scheduling program. Once there, they select an available date and time slot for our call.
   Action: Create appointment type, schedule time slots, Thank You message, and reminders in Web-appointments.com.
3. After filling out and submitting the scheduling form, the program displays (and sends an email with) a Thank You message confirming our scheduled time, calling instructions and a link to a short Pre-Session Questionnaire.
   Action: Create Pre-Session Questionnaire in iContact.
4. After answering and submitting the short Pre-Session Questionnaire — that’s it. At the scheduled time, we each dial in to my teleconference bridge line and I do the rest manually (send a thank you email with link to recording of call).
   Action: Create and set up follow-up auto responder messages in iContact.
   Action: Make Complimentary Coaching Session web page live on my site and let the calls begin!!

Isn’t that a lot of work? Not only that, each step requires testing to ensure a smooth transition to the next.

Why am I adding so many steps to this particular process? It’s simply my way of filtering serious potential clients from the not-so-serious (those just looking for a freebie coaching session). Entrepreneurs who are serious about achieving their goals, want an accountability partner and are ready to go places they haven’t before will take the time to go through each step.

What’s next in Contact Management? I’m not sure it’s ever done, especially as I make more products available to you.

With the impending arrival of baby #3 this July, I’m motivated and determined to automate as many processes as possible. That means clearly outlining a marketing funnel and setting up more auto responders.

If only there was a way to automate the article-writing process for my monthly newsletter… then (most of) my woes would be a thing of the past!

How have you automated your business? What tools have been a Godsend? What would you do differently? What systems are you working on?