Wishing, hoping, and praying are great ways to raise your spirits. But that’s not a strategic plan to grow your business. What if your potential client was using this same method to pay you? It would be unacceptable. Recently I read Chris Spurvey’s book It’s Time to Sell, and it was a game changer. Not only is it a great book to help you sell your VA services, but I encourage you to take advantage of Chris’s knowledge. He has sold more than $300 million in consulting services, and he can help you make a strategic plan for free if you visit his website, www.chrisspurvey.com.
The time is now. Give your business your best. Give your business your time. Do the hard work now, and one day it won’t seem so hard.
Summary
Now you know how and why to price your services. You cannot sell services without knowing what you charge and what your value is. Pricing is not a competition. You have the ability to stay nimble. In the same manner that you can change your services, you also can change your prices.
You’ve learned the importance of having the right mindset to sell yourself. Get comfortable selling because it’s not a bad word. Don’t shy away from it because when you do, it shows a lack of confidence. When you believe in what you’re offering, you’ll know you’re doing your ideal clients a favor.
You know the best way to collect payment, negotiate, and create a contract in order to create a win-win situation for you and your clients. Remember, you’re not in business to be the only winner because this means your client would have to be the loser. You know that offering more services in the beginning confuses your ideal client.
Now that we’ve laid the foundation and you’re ready to take on clients, in the next chapter we are going to cover how to master the consultation.
CHAPTER 4
Step 4: Mastering the Consultation
I decided to make this a chapter all its own to highlight the importance of mastering the consultation. You’ve done all the work to get to this point and yet here is where I see the hard work of so many being lost. Few things set the expectations and tone of a working relationship like the consultation process. At the end of the consultation, the potential client should view you as an expert in your field.
First let’s discuss the difference between a sales call and a consultation. A sales call is all about the product or service you’re selling. The customer already knows what it is and possibly how much it costs. Your job on a sales call is to collect payment. You might ask or answer a few questions to close the deal, but the potential customer is controlling the conversation. That is a sales call. To close deals over the phone, you need to have a lot of sales calls. I’m not a fan of sales calls. If you list your prices on your website, you’ll have more sales calls than consultations.
A consultation is something entirely different. Now I’ve had people call these “discovery calls,” “get to know you conversations,” and just about everything in between. I choose to call mine “consultations” because the term is universally understood.
Just remember that you control your consultations. Steer the conversations in the way they should go. This is how you help the client. A consultation, whether or not the person hires you, should be enlightening. Your job is to share information, valuable information the client does not have yet.
Start at the beginning—it’s simple but important. Ask the person how he or she found you. Ask what he or she knows about you and your services. The potential client should know some basic information before you start. Also be sure that the process is clear. Your potential client should understand what will happen during the consultation and after so you aren’t wasting anyone’s time.
In your complimentary workbook, you’ll find a copy of the exact consultation form I use. The key is to think of yourself as a therapist. Ask a question and then shut your mouth. Don’t offer your help and don’t try to finish the other person’s sentence. And avoid reframing the question. You need to give the person time to think. Some answers will fly off their tongues while others stump them.
One thing you’ll notice on my consultation form is that some of the questions are vague. That’s on purpose. When I ask a client how they measure success and they start with the VA, I know they are more worried about the VA’s work than their own. If they begin with themselves, I know they are already in a better frame of mind to start working with a VA. If they ask me to whom I’m referring them, I’ll let them answer for either or both. This lets me know they don’t appreciate vagueness. They want both parties to be successful, and they know the measurements are not the same. All of this is extremely valuable information.
The timing of the consultation is also the same as a therapist session, about 45 minutes. Are some consultations shorter? Of course. However, I don’t want to rush the person or not be able to give my full attention to them because I’m worried about running into my next meeting time. The consultation is not about you. It’s about the potential client.
When the consultation is over, I invite the potential client to share anything I’ve missed. Sometimes they will add to or refine a previous response. Sometimes they will be ready to end the consultation. The point is, you must let the client say everything they need to before it’s your turn to talk.
Based on the responses you receive, make your recommendation to the potential client. Include details about the work you will complete, deadlines, and what the client can expect from working with you. Explain what the process will look like and how long it will take to complete. Use the client’s words back to them. Remember, this isn’t about you. When you repeat the client’s words, you let him or her know you have truly heard them, speak their language, and haven’t changed the meaning of what they said.
Ask the client how he or she would like to begin your working relationship. Gather as much information as you can at the consultation so you have everything you need to successfully start when the client is ready.
Finally, state your fee. Then go silent and let the potential client respond. Do not speak first! Especially, in the beginning because you’ll be tempted to discount your own prices.
If a client wants to work with you, follow these next steps:
Before you end the consultation, collect the information you need or set an appointment for when it can be collected. Yes, this is before you receive any payment. You don’t have to start working yet, but you need to have something to work with.
Let the client know how you’ll be working together—working hours, communication standards, upcoming holidays or time off, and how you collect payment. Of course, this information also will be in your contract, but there shouldn’t be any surprises for your client. It’s better to speak about the contract now than exchange emails back and forth later.
Email the contract within 24 hours of your consultation. It’s even better if you can send it by the end of the same day. No matter how many services you offer, you should have a standard contract or template ready to go at all times.
Invoicing should be done at the same time you send the contract. Many software platforms allow you to do this seamlessly.
Make sure the client knows the work begins when you receive the payment.
Before you end the consultation, set an appointment for your first check-in (within one week of your beginning the work). You will need to confirm that you’re doing what the client expects from you.
What if the client is unsure? That’s fair. You don’t hire everyone immediately.
Make a follow-up appointment before you end the consultation. At the very least, ask permission to reach out to him or her on a specific day. Remember, these are busy people who feel like they don’t have enough time now. How much time will they have later to talk to you again?
Send a follow-up email by the end of the day, recapping what you spoke about during your consultation—the services that will best fit their needs, how you can be reached, and your fees.
Provide a bonus, something that would be valuable to the p
otential client. It could be a graphic, your favorite eBook on something you discussed during the consultation, or some tips for success in their industry. Give something of value. No email signup required!
What if the client wants referrals?
Send them! Don’t be the person who feels like they don’t have to send referrals to potential clients. If you’re taking on new clients, you can afford the courtesy of providing references.
What if you don’t have any? Use references from previous employers or from volunteer work.
If you don’t have either of those, offer to do some kind of test for the potential client—a short-term project to determine if you both would be a good fit for working together. Be honest and transparent. That is the character all potential clients are looking for.
Journaling
I’m a huge fan of journaling. It’s a part of my daily life and my business life. As you start out on this journey of building your VA business, I highly recommend journaling. Document and compare every consultation you have to look for similarities and differences. Who are your potential clients, and who are your paid clients? What differentiates them? Find every difference and every similarity you can. Look beyond the work and the field. You’ll find it to be eye-opening.
My matchmaking clients and my private clients are total opposites. I didn’t realize this until I started looking through the documentation of my consultation appointments. It was painfully obvious. You will only find what you look for, so make a point to look for similarities and differences.
On the same note, you should journal to look for wins. You would think wins would be easy to spot, but you’d be wrong! One year as I reviewing what I journaled during the previous year, I couldn’t recognize my own thinking. I wrote about something that upset me, but now I couldn’t relate to that emotion anymore. The new me no longer got upset by such things. The win was growing my business mindset.
In another entry, I wrote how excited I was to get a new contract, a contract I wouldn’t walk across the street for now. In fact, as I was reading this old entry, I had recently signed another contract with the same company for literally thousands of dollars more. This time I wasn’t excited. I simply was happy to have kept the client through raising my prices, but the excitement was gone. What a horrible mistake that was. Not only did I almost miss the win, I almost took it for granted!
You need to celebrate your wins. Every win. Every win won’t be monumental, but you do have to recognize them. As a business owner, you will have days where you feel defeated, exhausted, or just plain tired. Going days, weeks, and months without recognizing your wins will cause burnout.
Another benefit to journaling is that things are not always as bad as they seem if you get them down on paper. If you play scenarios over and over in your mind, things can always seem to get worse. Journaling is therapeutic.
You don’t have to journal a lot. Start off with a one-line-a-day journal. Anyone can write one good thing a day! You may find your one thing is being able to make it to your child’s event, being able to take care of a loved one, joining a class that takes place in the middle of the day. A win is a win. Write it down and celebrate it.
Summary
Now you are prepared to master your own consultation. Use the form I shared in your workbook to create a consultation that is specific to your ideal clients. Remember, you set the tone and expectations for the working relationship during the consultation.
You’ve learned the importance of journaling to look for patterns and to celebrate your wins. We find what we look for, and sometimes we can miss or forget what is right in front of us. Use a journal as a positive tool to grow your business mindset.
Now you’re ready to begin networking and targeting your ideal client. Networking and searching out clients before you laid the foundation and know how to conduct a consultation is like buying a car and then learning how to drive. I love to network, so I am especially excited about the next chapter!
CHAPTER 5
Step 5: Networking and Targeting Your Ideal Client
I have yet to meet a VA who didn’t gain his or her first client from their existing circle of associates. However, that is only the beginning. Networking will lead you to multiple clients and a steady stream of referrals, helping you stay relevant and become better known. There are other perks to networking, such as being asked to join boards, giving back to your community in ways you didn’t know you could, collaborating with peers in your field, and so on. Networking changed my life and opened doors that made an entirely new life possible.
The key to networking is having a plan. If there’s one thing I know about admins it’s that we like to have plans!
Most people will tell you to get out of your comfort zone—step out and everything will be fine. I disagree. In the beginning of starting your business, it’s important to have a safe space where you feel comfortable taking calculated risks.
Networking is a calculated risk because the groups you join should require a fee. When you join a free group, there is less of a vested interest among its members. Since many of your clients pay for services and resources related to running their businesses, you should do the same. It will remind you that the group is an investment and should be treated as such. When you spend money on networking, you’ll be more selective about the groups you join as well. You want to be selective and think not only of your ideal client but the impact that group can have on you and your business.
Networking, like building client relationships, is about the long game. To start, you should join three carefully selected groups. I was fortunate to be able to network in person when I first started my VA business. I attended every networking event people invited me to. When someone suggested I might find clients at XYZ event, I agreed, even when they didn’t know who my ideal client was. Huge mistake!
I only had myself to blame. When I first started, I didn’t know who my ideal client was, and I found myself running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I was spending tons of time, energy, resources, and money networking with all the wrong people, in all the wrong places. To say I was drained would be an understatement.
It didn’t click until I went to an event and someone told me I was in the wrong place. As I sat in my car and cried, I processed every feeling I had. Frustration, anger, embarrassment, humiliation, disappointment, and fear. Then I asked myself how the man behind the table knew I wasn’t at the right event. He knew I didn’t belong there because the event was full of his ideal clients, and he immediately recognized I wasn’t one of them.
What he said hurt my feelings, but if I could go back and thank him, I would. Sitting there in my car, crying and feeling like a failure, I vowed this would never happen again. Never again would I attend an event based on another person’s suggestion. Never again would I go where my ideal clients were not. If I went to an event and it wasn’t the right fit, fine. But I was going to do my homework first.
Always remember to go where your clients are. It’s very frustrating to network with people who aren’t a good fit for you. It’s not fun for them either. You should be asking yourself if your ideal client is in this group. If so, is there more than one of them there?
With networking, you have to give it time. I know people who will not purposely work with someone who comes to an event only once or twice. They want to do business with people who are regulars and who want to build relationships. Some want to refer someone to you, but they won’t because they’re not sure if they’ll ever see you again and they wonder if you’ll still be in business a few months from now. My rule of thumb is to join a carefully selected group where I think my ideal clients are, then dedicate a solid year to it.
I originally joined the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) because it seemed like a safe place to learn about business. A place where I could be free to be vulnerable with other women, ask the “embarrassing” questions. A space where women were committed to helpi
ng one another. Almost a year after I joined, I signed my first contract as a direct result of the group. The contract was for more than 2,000 percent of my annual fee and the largest contract I had signed up to that time. The woman who recommended me for this contract did so because she knew she could count on me. I was a regular, reliable, and dependable member of the group.
I highly encourage you to choose in-person groups for your first three networking groups. We’ll talk about online groups later, but I believe there is no substitute for being in the same room as other people. Also, most business people believe they can judge a person’s character and knowledge within the first few minutes of meeting you. This process takes much longer online.
I’ll share a secret with you. The number of VAs who network in person is very small. Frequently I’m the only VA in the groups where I’m a member. Who do you think gets every referral when someone needs a virtual assistant?
Each of your first three networking groups should have a distinct purpose. You must know your expectations for each group. Then determine if you have the time to commit to the group. No group, no matter how fantastic, will allow you to reap benefits unless you commit to putting forth an effort to create relationships. As you choose your three networking groups, consider one of these purposes for each group:
Group 1: Support
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