What Is Social Media and Why Is It Important to My Business? Part 3

How to Get Involved With Social Media – Facebook

Many of us have used Facebook for personal networking for several years. But, did you know you can also use if for business? It is a another great way to connect with people with similar interests, and it is easy to build relationships by interacting with other people in your network.

You can also create fan pages for your business and post events to advertise particular product launches.

How to Get Involved With Social Media – LinkedIn

LinkedIn is more of a business networking tool than a social one. It is structured in such a way that your occupation and education are featured more prominently than your hobbies and interests. However, it works in much the same way as Facebook insofar as you can invite people to connect with you and join common interest groups. It also allows you to recommend people, so it is great for requesting testimonials.

For information about networking online and offline take a look at the Networking for Virtual Assistants Online Course here: http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-online-courses/networking-for-virtual-assistants/
 

Virtual Assistant Experts – What Would You Ask?

Emma and Justine spill the beans on how they started their successful virtual assistant businesses and became so successful.

Download your of this exclusive, revealing interview here. It’s free! http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-freebies/
 

What To Ask Prospective Clients

An effective client consultation is a vital aspect of building a virtual assistant business comprising a group of clients with whom you love to work.

But what sort of questions do you need to ask prospects?

What are their short and long term goals?
This gives you an idea of how quickly prospective clients see their businesses growing, and helps to identify specific projects with which you could help them. They may want to start offering live events or teleseminars, which you could help to organise.

Do they want support for a particular project or long-term?
You need to know if it is short- or long-term help prospective clients require, so ask the question before you start to work together.

Which tasks do they currently find difficult?
This is your opportunity to find out exactly what help prospective clients need. So, get them to be specific about the tasks with which they are currently struggling. Make notes to which you can refer at the end of the consultation process when closing the sale.

Keep asking: What else do you struggle with? What else takes up your time? What else do you not enjoy doing? What else could you be doing if you had more time?

What are their working hours?
This question is often overlooked, but it is important, as prospective clients may need someone who is available at set times during the week to do certain tasks. They may only work on certain days or at certain times. Find out at the outset to make sure there are no misunderstandings.

Think about what other questions you would suggest in an effective client consultation.
 

What Are Social Media and Why Are They Important to My Business? Part 2

How To Get Involved With Social Media – Blogging

With a blog you can post content in the form of text and pictures, and it is possible to have a two-way dialogue with people commenting on your posts. You can have control over which comments actually appear on your pages, provided that you manage your comments using specialised blogging software. So, you can approve, delete or mark them as spam.

Blogs can be written in many styles, from informal or personal, to professional or corporate. It is important, as a small business, to inject some personality into your blog, as your followers are trying to get to know you, as well as read your material.

How To Get Involved With Social Media – Twitter

Twitter has become increasing popular over the past year or so, with everyone who’s anyone Tweeting for all they’re worth. Twitter is a micro-blogging site, which limits the length of the comments you can post up to 140 characters. It is not good for posting large chunks of content, but ideal for posting links to interesting information.

Twitter is highly interactive and users re-post, and respond to, other peoples comments (Tweets) if they are useful. You choose who you ‘follow’ – ie, whose Tweets you read – so, it is a great platform for making contacts and establishing relationships.

For information about networking online and offline take a look at the Networking for Virtual Assistants Online Course here: http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-online-courses/networking-for-virtual-assistants/
 

Get a Head Start In Your Virtual Assistant Business

What skills and experience do you think people should have to become a Virtual Assistant?

Find out what two successful virtual assistants (with more than 10 years’ experience) and VA trainers think about this frequently asked question in this free audio interview.

Download it now at: http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-freebies/interviews/

Successful Networkers Do More Than Just Turn Up

I often hear people complaining that they have not got any business from their networking activities. After digging a little further, it soon becomes obvious why… They expect to just turn up and get new business straight away without putting any work in.

To be a successful networker, you need to do more than just turn up. But, what should you do?

Build relationships
Get to know your local business community by attending a number of different networking groups in your area. You will soon start meeting some of the same people at different events. But, take time to get to know people and discover how you can help them. This will benefit you in the future.

Seek people with whom you can form joint-venture relationships
Once you have formed relationships with others in your local business community, you will have a real sense of who has a similar target market to you, yet is not in direct competition. These are the ideal people with whom you should seek to form joint-venture relationships.

Prepare for each event
Think about what you want to say at each event, whether or not you get a formal opportunity to deliver your elevator speech.

Volunteer your time and services
Most networking organisations are run by a small group of members who are always looking for volunteers to help organise and facilitate events. For a VA, this is a great opportunity to demonstrate your skills to all the members.
 

 

Virtual Assistant Document Templates – The New Client Pack

Do you need comprehensive contracts, Ts and Cs, and agreements you can use in your VA business immediately?

Do you lack effective systems and processes, and forget things you need to do or follow up?

Do you want to save the time and money that getting it wrong would cost you?

The New Client Templates Pack helps guide you through the consultation stage from prospective clients to signed up VA clients. This is our bestseller, because it includes a lot of really useful forms and processes that help you to really stand out from the crowd and win those all important clients.

Download yours here: http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-document-templates/
 

Two of the UK’s Most Successful Virtual Assistants Chat Tell You How They Got Started

 In these two audio downloads, VA Success Group founders, and owners of their own virtual assistant businesses, Emma Walker and Justine Curtis share in frank detail how they started their own VA businesses, how they get their clients, and much, much more. Learn all their inside secrets today for free!

Be a fly on the wall and see what you can learn here: http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-freebies/

Why You Need A System For Prospects and New Clients

When you start your virtual assistant (VA) business, it can be overwhelming when you realise how much work is involved. However, you can make things easier for yourself by putting systems in place to deal with every aspect of the business. You will then feel confident that you can handle any situation.

One of the most important systems you need to put in place is one that makes communicating with prospects and new clients straightforward.

An effective system should include:

Information pack – an outline of your working practices, services and rates, which you send to prospective clients interested in your services.

Prospective client questionnaire – a document in which you collate all the information you need to know about your prospect. It should be a guide to the support a prospective client need might need.

Client consultation – your fact-finding process, and a list of detailed questions to ask prospective clients.

Welcome pack – gives new clients all the information they need before they start working with you. Outline your standard operating procedures and pre-empt any questions you think they may have.

‘Pay As You Go’ contract – for work carried out on an ad-hoc basis, or as a one-off project.

Retainer contract – for clients for whom you provide regular, monthly VA support.

Terms and conditions – includes details regarding payment, confidentiality, omissions, etc. These are a vital part of your process as they tell clients how you operate.

New client questionnaire – once new clients come on board, it is useful to get some basic details from them. A questionnaire is a good way to ensure that you get all the information you require.

New customer checklist – use this to make sure so you do not miss anything.

Proposal – detailed proposal, which you can send, if requested, especially to larger companies.

What Are Social Media and Why Are They Important to My Business? Part 1

We have all heard the phrase social media, but what actually are social media and how can you use them to help your business?

In short, social media is a term that encapsulates a number of online communication platforms, which make it easy for people not only to publish their own news and views but also to comment on those posted by others. It is a form of online networking.

Why Are Social Media Important?
Social media have provided a platform upon which people can share their opinions, views and grievances with anyone around the world. Those who use social media often become highly influential, are seen as experts in their own spheres, and can attract large audiences of people who share an interest in their particular areas of expertise.

Communities of like-minded people are forming around common interests over the web, regardless of where they are based in the world, because the regular restrictions of geographical locations do not apply.

How Can Social Media Help My Business?
There are various social media platforms you can use to deliver messages to your readers and followers, which we will look at through the remainder of this series. But before embarking on any marketing activity, it is important to know why it is useful.

Social media are instant, so your messages can be delivered as they happen. And, most importantly, it is interactive – you are actually inviting comment, reaction and suggestion. Of course, the most important point to remember is that the search engines love social media because its content is current and fresh. So, your comments will be picked up by the search engines… How exciting that is!

For about networking online and offline take a look at the Networking for Virtual Assistants Online Course here: http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-online-courses/networking-for-virtual-assistants/