The bonus of being a Virtual Assistant is that you are your own boss and it is you that determines how you want to run your business. This means that you can choose the type of client you want to work with.
You need to determine your niche market and create a profile for your ideal client (see marketing chapter for more information) in order for you to filter out those that you don’t want to work with.
The bonus of using a client consultation is that you can determine in advance if you would be a good fit before starting work and shows that you are a serious and professional business owner.
Don’t go through the information as soon as someone calls with an initial enquiry, have set times each week where you conduct client consultation sessions and schedule them into your diary. This then makes the potential client realise, sub consciously, that you are not an employee but in fact a fellow business owner.
Prepare your process and questions in advance as this will make you come across as a true professional who knows what you are doing.
You may want to consider some of the following questions when drawing up your own client consultations.
Contact information
You need to ask for telephone numbers and email address before your scheduled consultation so that you can contact them if they don’t call.
Business type
What industry do they work in? What products / services do they provide? What types of clients do they work with?
What are your goals / vision?
What are their goals for the next 5 years? This is a good question as you can tell them how you could help them to achieve their goals.
What are you struggling to complete in your business?
Some prospective clients may have an idea of areas they could use some help.
After I have ended the consultation, I ask all prospective clients to keep a list, over the course of a week, of all the tasks they haven’t got time to complete or don’t like doing. I then schedule a follow up call in 1 week to go through the list to see where I can help them.
Have you worked with a PA or Virtual Assistant before?
This is an important question as you can ask further questions if the answer is yes to see if the relationship worked / didn’t work etc.
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