Starting a successful virtual assistance business (or any business) is not for the faint of heart or for people who lack patience. Also, I’m not completely sure that being a virtual assistant is for everyone. Some people seem to have more success than others. Here are the five traits I’ve noticed that very successful virtual assistants have:
1. Ability to communicate I have only met of my clients.
99% of my communication with them is either via e-mail or via phone. Without the advantage of body language, it is sometimes difficult to get ideas across. Also, because you are not working in the same office as your clients and work for several clients, it is really important to be able to regularly communicate the status of projects to your clients.
2. Ability to create systems The key to a successful virtual business (or any business) is having strong systems in place.
The more the day-to-day work is systemitized, the easier it is to outsource work and concentrate on growing and marketing your business. Clients treasure VAs who can help envision, put into place and maintain these systems and processes.
3. Love of Technology The Internet is changing every day.
Clients depend on their VA to let them know about what is new on the technology front and help them to utilize the technology in their business. Good virtual assistants LOVE to learn and love to apply what they learn for their clients.
4. Partnership Mentality This works on two levels.
The first level is seeing yourself as a partner with your client. The thing that my clients tell me they love the most about having a VA is having a sounding board and brainstorming partner for their business. The other side of partnerships is being able to find and create partnerships for your clients. The VAs who are “naturals” are always thinking about ways to connect their clients with helpful people and resources.
5. Patience
Again, this applies on many levels. First and foremost, you need to have patience with yourself. Nothing good ever happens overnight and it takes time to start a successful VA business (or any business). If you have the right skills, you can make the learning curve shorter, but it will still take time to build a full practice, learn to balance the spinning plates of client work, business building and home life. Two thirds of businesses fail in the first five years ? many times it is because new business owners give up before their businesses take off. You also need to teach your clients to be patient. Building a business takes time and e-mail lists and client rosters don’t grow overnight. The most successful businesses chart a course and stay with it as their businesses grow.
So, no. . . starting a virtual assistance business is NOT magic. But, if you have the right skills and the right attitude, it can be a magical business choice. . .
Posts Tagged ‘Patience’
5 Traits of a Successful Virtual Assistant
December 15th, 2009Virtual Cio Tips For Helping Your Clients Understand Your Role
December 10th, 2009Are you trying to set yourself up as a trusted Virtual CIO for your clients’ businesses? If so, you need to know how to convince small business owners that signing a long-term service agreement is in their best interest. You have to know what small businesses will need from you. As a Virtual CIO, you provide an outsourced Virtual IT department for your clients and become an extension of their businesses. You will have to give them the continuity of knowing you will be there every week, every month and over the course of several years (at least!) to oversee their IT needs. You will help with strategic planning as well as execution of technology plans, management, supervision and training, as well as coordinating all different types of IT vendors. An on-going service agreement solidifies your role as a Virtual CIO and formalizes your relationships with your clients. Use these 3 steps to get clients to understand your role so you can build long-term relationships. Establish Yourself as the Main Technology Contact. Your small business clients are not going to have the patience to deal with a lot of different technology vendors. As a Virtual CIO, you need to have the attitude of the-buck-stops-here, and be able to take care of everything IT-related, soups-to-nuts. Use Strong Prospect Qualification Strategies. To attract clients that will be receptive to your role as a Virtual CIO, establish effective strategies to make sure they are a good fit for your services. A prospect survey is a good way to ask important questions that will weed out those prospects that will not be interested in long-term relationships. Ask important questions about the size of your prospects’ businesses, where they are located, how many PCs and servers they have, and which type of industry they are in. You can fax, e-mail or mail this survey directly to prospects, or establish an area on your Web site that allows them to fill it out online. Leverage Your Rate Card. If you want to be a Virtual CIO offering on-going service agreements, you need to have a one-page rate card to show qualified customers the difference between “pay-as-you-go” and service contract rates. This rate card is both a marketing document and a reference for your existing clients. It outlines the unique benefits you provide as part of your service contracts and defines your company as their outsourced Virtual IT department. Stress benefits such as better rates, waiving some premiums, better response time and proactive monitoring to help show customers why they need to sign service agreements to protect and grow their businesses. In this article we talked about 3 tips to help you sell yourself as a Virtual CIO to local small businesses. Learn more about how you can attract great, steady, high-paying clients as a Virtual CIO now at http://www. VirtualCIOKit. comCopyright (C), VirtualCIOKit. com, All Rights Reserved
