We get comfy in our relaxed work state to the point where we avoid face to face human interaction. I mean that would mean we have to put on some make up

BUT imagine if you could get a big batch of clients in one hit, because you ventured outside……

Watch To Find Out How I Got Those 7 Clients

It would be TOTALLY worth it!!!

Does your industry have any regular professional development days?

Cheers

P.S – If you love my videos I would love to have you subscribe to my Youtube channel <3

The post How I Got 7 Virtual Assistant Clients In One Hour appeared first on Donna Brown.

Today I want to extend on that topic and discuss why being awesome at what you do – is simple not enough! It’s not going to be enough to get clients, make money and be successful at what you do.

How do I know this?

Simply because I have met many Virtual Assistants who are amazing at what they do (be it writing, graphic work, websites or other) BUT make nearly no money and have nearly no momentum even though they have been around for a while.

It’s actually because of these continual conversations that I have had which inspired me to record this video and write this post

So what is missing?

Verbal Communication Skills

I don’t care how amazing you’re writing is – if you can’t articulate your thoughts verbally in a concise and interesting way (ie not like a robot memorizing content) then potential clients will be wary of you. It will make them percieve you as unskilled and not a safe investment.

Marketing Skills

Simple “being open for business” is not enough. Think about it – there are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of Virtual Assistants in the world – how are people going to find you if you put no effort into being found? If you don’t have a good grasp on marketing then do you research, read lots of blogs and watch videos. Start to understand how to be found by your clients so they can sign up for your amazing services!

Committment

It seems strange to accuse someone in business as not being committed. I mean who would willingly put all that effort into running a business if they didn’t care of the result? It’s crazy. BUT you would be surpised about the number of excuses one can find to jusity procrastiation on taking action. I can assure you – the more direct action you take, the more results you will get.

If you’re business is not where it’s at – where do you think you’re lacking? It’s okay to admit where your weakness lays – then you can do something about it

Cheers

The post Why Tech Skills Alone Won’t Get You Clients appeared first on Donna Brown.

Thousands and thousands. Some Virtual Assistants are amazing, some not so much – so how do you stand out from the crowd and be seen and heard? How can you show people that you’re one of the better kind?

Many would say saturate the market with content.

Content content content – after all the saying goes “content is king” and to a degree they are correct!

But I believe there is a key element that many coaches are missing in their strategy and this is it.

Specificity + Congruency + Content = Fame

So, let’s break this equation down and explore it further.

Specificity

When you be specific in what you want to be known for and exactly WHOM it is that needs your help your fame grows. It’s ridiculously important when trying to stand out from the crowd for you to be unique and specific.

With the amount of noise that VAs make in the online space – everyone starts to sound a little too similar. A little vanilla.

Commonly used words such as:

“save time”
“stress”
“overwhelmed”

and a whole myriad of other Virtual Assistant heavy jargon start to make everyone seem dull. Blended all as one.

Therefore, being specific on exactly what you want to be known for (i.e. niche) and whom you’re going to help (i.e. your target market) allows you to excel in one kind of service.

For example – let’s explore Target vs Apple.

One superstore sells everything under the sun cheap to everyone the other concentrates on one range of product for one very specific kind of buyer.

Now sure if you had the visibility of Target, your blandness can be rectified by sheer size, but because you don’t – we must concentrate on creating uniqueness via specificity.

Which leads me to the next part of the equation.

Congruency

I cannot tell you HOW many times I meet a Virtual Assistant who wants to help someone in a specific field, that they have NO experience in. Of offer a service they have never done. Themselves personally OR for others.

They don’t truly know what the pain is.
They don’t truly know deep down the common struggles.

This is crazy! How can you intimately share your own story (or your client successes) to build trust when you have no relatable story to share?

If you feel like you’re getting lost in a sea of Virtual Assistants, take the time to sit down and think about your own personal story and how you can leverage that journey to help someone fast track to freedom and success.

For example, if you want to specialise in helping wellness coaches, then you must have a passion and some kind of experience in that industry (or a service that that industry needs).
Helping businesses build six figure businesses with Infusionsoft? Then you must have done it before.
Want to help women get their books under control? Then you must have done it yourself or have a ton of client experience.

It’s a non-negotiable in my eyes.

Fame

With a very clear identity of yourself and your target clients (specificity) and a relatable story (congruency) one can then concentrate on the content saturation strategy that others suggest.

Where you can repurpose your videos into blogs and Facebook content.

Where you can create inspirational quote images that get shared on Instagram and printed
and handed out at networking events.

Where you can pin and tweet your podcasts then converting them into LinkedIn articles.

How Does The Formula Relate to Content?

Simple, it defines and determines the kind of content you share! It ensures that it speaks to one kind of person with one kind of problem.

Taking you from being a generic VA into a highly specialised individual with very specific problem solving valuable information that your target client will readily absorb and be hungry for more!

So, Virtual Assistants, before you do your next round of blogs and vlogs – be sure to have extreme clarity around your identity and those that you’re going to help transform.

If you need help coming up with ideas, let me know

The post The Missing Link In Your Virtual Assistant Content Strategy appeared first on Donna Brown.

We said yes we would help them. That we would support them and that we would be there for them – and now you’re contemplating saying no – eek!!

But there sometimes comes a time when we must let them go.

These are my warning signs that I can use to determine whether it’s worth keeping a client or not.

• Do I avoid their calls?
• Do they pay their bills?
• Do they micromanage?
• Are their expectations unrealistic?
• Do they refuse to comply with my non negotiable work policies/style?
• Is their business something I am not passionate about?

BUT the biggest question you could ask yourself is would you refer your best friend or mum to them?

If your best friend was searching for the exact service that your client offers would you feel confident enough to refer you friend to them knowing that they would get great service and results?

If the answer is no, and any other factors above are showing up then perhaps it’s time to move on.

If the answer is yes then maybe it’s just a matter of grooming them

At the end of the day, for every hour you spend on your current clients you are blocking other potential people from entering your world. Therefore if they aren’t the best kind of people that light your fire and motivate you to do wonderous things then it’s not worth the effort.

Have a think about your current database and ponder whether they are the best clients you can have. Because remember – there are many many more fish in the sea

P.S – If you’re not sure what kind of client you should be aiming for shoot me an email and lets chat!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post How To Know When To Release A Client In Your Virtual Assistant Business appeared first on Donna Brown.

“what does your niche need”
“play to your strengths”
“what do you want to specialise in”
“what do you love doing”

etc etc etc

Yep they are right – these are all things you need to consider but I have another pre-requisite not only for my Virtual Assistant business but for all those VAs I mentor and support.

Is it chunkable and recurring? Is it scalable?

My time is a finite resource so I am always conscious as to what I do in my business (and personal life) is a good use of my time.

That includes ONLY offering services that a commercially savvy. This means services that I can do in advance and chunk my time when completing. Doing services that have a recurring nature and services that are scalable so I can leverage my efforts and therefore income.

Sure I have the skills to do LOTS of different things for different people, but that doesn’t mean I should. Neither should you.

I’m not going to lie, it’s hard!

It’s hard to say no to someone who is ready to pay you to do something when you KNOW you can easily do it.

In the beginning I said yes to everything and everyone and I think that you should to if you’re starting out. This will give you a chance to see what you like, what you don’t like (for me I can’t stand bookkeeping & transcription) and start to gain clarity on what you want to specialise in and for what kind of client.

But come 6 months of serving clients, its about time you release those that are not your most profitable. Have a moment to think and review how much effort each of your clients take.

What ever you do though, don’t create custom packages for your clients – but that’s a whole other issue you can learn about here.

When ever a Virtual Assistant contacts me for help designing a custom package that they can offer their clients – we always have the discussion around what you can do vs what you should do. Because they are always trying to package up services that are not ideal simply because they know how to do the work. It comes easy to them.

If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.

This is where you need to learn the act of saying no and being okay with not helping everyone.

I know this is hard – especially for Virtual Assistants as it’s in our nature to help! We love it! But this is what needs to happen in order for you to build your business. Currently there is a good chance you have a stressful business that doesn’t give you as much freedom as you had originally hoped for vs what you truly want which is a commercially savvy practice that gives you financial and life freedom!

So back to the original question – what services should you offer?

Yes pick something that you love and are skilled at – but pick something that can be packaged recurring and can be scalable.

Could you offer this service to 1000 people with support of a team?

If yes – awesome. If no, then it’s time to rethink your plan. You are the designer of your business and therefore your life – it’s okay to change your mind!

Let me know if you need help refining your service offering and I hope you have an awesome day!

The post How To Decide Which Services To Offer In Your Virtual Assistant Business appeared first on Donna Brown.

If you’re reading this then there is a good chance you are already familiar with sales funnels…..But perhaps not in your Virtual Assistant business?

But for those of you who aren’t – a brief summary in my own words.

I liken the sales funnel as a clients journey. It’s the process of bringing someone into your world and converting them into a high paying client.

People can enter your world (aka your database) by:

– opting in on your website
– downloading a free gift you share in an online business group (such as an eBook)
– attending one of your webinars
– watching and reading your content

or any other client generating strategy that you put out there.

We then want to take them from that free stage of existing in your database or social network into a paid client. The best way is to have a sales call with them.

I call sales calls LCC’s. Low Cost Conversations. That is because I generally charge a nominal fee to have the sales call but its a very valuable experience for the prospect.

Why do I charge for the sales call?

Simply put, I need the prospect to get into the habit of realising that they must invest in my knowledge, time and expertise – that I don’t just give everything out willy nilly. They can get plenty of free stuff in the form of my blogs, videos and other free resources available online – but one-on-one time with me 95% of the time involves some kind of monetary transaction.

Some one-on-one time where you can show them how fantastic you are and sell your services (which I hope by now are some pretty cool packages, and no hourly rates or retainers).

BUT Virtual Assistants are notoriously nervous about sales calls. Or they go about them the wrong way.

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen some generic templated information spouting huge lists of services that the VA offers and the same standard 5 benefits of using a VA (that EVERY OTHER VIRTUAL ASSISTANT is advertising) being sent out to a prospect.

Hint: When you all offer the same services and you all have the same benefits the only way a client can make a decision is based on price. For what other variable can they base their decision on? This is the last thing we want them to do. For when they buy on price they will ALWAYS (even subconsciously) be looking for a cheaper option over time. Read on to find out how we can change this.

If they do get the chance to speak to someone over the phone or face to face, Virtual Assistants often take the passive approach and let the client dominate the conversation and just ask simple questions like “how many hours” or “what is your budget” – none of which SHOWS the prospect your amazing skills!

How can we not only encourage more sales conversations but also convert more into clients?

Now if you have worked with me at all then you know and I am a BIG lover of reverse engineering things. I love starting with the end goal in mind and then working backwards and designing the process or steps to achieve said goal.

The same goes with my approach to sales funnels in Virtual Assistant businesses.

If you know what Package or service you want to sell then we can design a sales conversation that actually brings results to both YOU and the PROSPECT.

How can this be?
How can we bring results to the client in a sales call?

By simply ensuring your LCC or sales call is super value driven.

Given that 99% of sales calls are no longer than an hour, I simply ask this question to my mentors all the time.

“What is something that you can solve for your client in one hour that brings MASSIVE results and wow factor BUT it’s very little effort or resources for you to deliver AND is related to the end package you want to sell?”

Okay so lets break this question up.

The first part – solving a problem for a client that is big impact for them, but easy peasy for you.

This approach means that you get to WOW your client, take away an initial pain, show them your magic, take very little effort for you to deliver (maximum result, minimum effort) which is a win-win situation.

Even if the client doesn’t buy anything off you they walk away feeling like they have received TONS of value and will happily refer others to you.

This part of the sales call is important as it gets you to display your skills far more than an email or flyer can AND you can begin to build rapport with the prospect

The second part is where it becomes more trickier for some.

I have no doubt there are hundreds of things you can do for your clients that will knock their socks off but they have no place when you’re trying to sell x package or service.

For example, if you are trying to get your client to buy a newsletter package there is no point in doing some bank reconciliation in your sales call. What do the two have in common? Nothing! So don’t do it.

Similarly don’t offer a logo design if you’re planning on answering their calls.

I am sure you get what I am trying to say here .

So what can you do?

WELL you do something that directly relates to the end package.

Something that enables you to plant the seed where you can nurture it lovingly and generously.

Let’s revisit these two examples…..

If you want a client to sign up to your newsletter package then why not use your sales call to help plan out the next 3 months pieces of content?

Or perhaps design a plan to grow their database to x numbers so they have more people to send the newsletter to

If reception is your game – why not spend the sales call showing them how to use a soft phone??

You see when you show people how much you know in the area of their businesses they are currently focusing on – then you get the wonderful opportunity of offering to help in a more in depth fashion right when they are already focused in that area.

This will enable you to convert many many more clients AND they will be ones that are into the services and packages that you wanted to sell anyway!

I guess I should mention (if you haven’t yet realised) you REALLY need to know what the end product or service is going to be for this to work.

To be honest, the LCC is only one step (the middle one) between getting your prospects attention and selling them a package, but its a really powerful one I wanted to teach you about today.

If you would love help designing the whole funnel for your business, I am uncharactistily offering to do some for free! It’s my gift for thanking you for reading until the end of the post

Book some time here, and I will see you on the other side!

The post How To Design A Sales Meeting In Your Virtual Assistant Business appeared first on Donna Brown.

Unfortunately many Virtual Assistants never move out of this role. They become lazy with the “easiness” of subcontracting work….yep that’s right lazy.

Because it takes effort to grow a business on your own.

As I outline in the video below – when you rely wholy on another VA for leads, work, growth – its going to be vastly reduced! Simply put – the power of your business is mostly in someone elses hands!

There are other ways to generate leads in your businses without relying on others – you just have to put the effort in.

If this was a lightbulb moment for you I would love to hear from you! Comment below what changes you’re going to do this week to move out of your current business set up.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post Why You Shouldn’t Subcontract Long Term As A Virtual Assistant appeared first on Donna Brown.

Eventually we know when their kids birthdays are coming up or how their summer holidays have been.

We become more than just someone that they outsource to and the longer we work with someone more often than not relationship dynamics change to a point where you may not be able to point out when:

• Their content is crap
• The freebie on their home page is boring
• Their product is shit

BUT that is precisely what they need to hear!

I talk about in the video above about delivering the expertise that they hired you for and this is where many Virtual Assistants start to crumble. Simple because they haven’t really begun to OWN their identity, their expertise and deep down down don’t yet believe that they are awesome at what they do.

If your kid questioned your authority on whether you should keep milk in the fridge or whether blacks should be washed with whites you would stand strong on your beliefs because of your years of experience in what you do day in and day out.

You wouldn’t falter and hesitate – but instead answer strong.

The same applies to how you work with your clients. If you are offering services that you are very experienced in (or as an authority on the subject) then you can easily identify mistakes or poor quality when you see it. Then have the balls to tell them that you (as a team) need to do better!

So next time you know that a client’s failing at a project because of an obvious error or quality issue on their part – tell them.

They deserve to know.

Save

Save

Save

The post Why You Shouldn’t Be BFF With Your Clients appeared first on Donna Brown.

The post The Daily Schedule Of A Master Virtual Assistant appeared first on Donna Brown.

Save

The post Why You Should Make Your Clients Feel FOMO appeared first on Donna Brown.