VA-a-GoGo

Winning the “Bid”

Christina Littrell-Williams — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:43:12 PDT

Bids, most of the companies create bids in order to secure an account. As a VA we speak with our potential clients, evaluate their needs and put together a proposal bid, not unlike most service businesses. Here are some quick tips for “winning the bid”
1) Target the correct company for you and your services. Make sure they are a perfect fit with your company and same the other way around. You do not want to be putting in a bid on a job just because and then do the job poorly.
2) If you are a “smaller” company think about working with larger service suppler companies! This allows you the opportunity to work with clients you might have never had the chance to work with before. 3) Get certified! For a lot of the smaller service based companies you can look to be certified in different service arenas. Organizations like Women’s Business Enterprise National Council www.wbenc.org offer certifications and this shows larger companies you are serious! Get out there and check out the opportunities, they are everywhere!

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Delegation… Works Best When You Build a Relationship

Christina Littrell-Williams — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:24:53 PDT

It seems that no matter where you go in the business world one of the key elements is building a relationship. Well the same holds true for those who do work for you, you want to build a strong and personal relationship.

If this is going to be a strong support person for you they need to know about you and your business, not just the task at hand. You want a support person or staff to be invested in your business and that can only happen when you make them a part of your business. It has been proven that an “employee” or “sub-contractor” takes more pride in their work if they feel like they are a part of it. So take a bit of time to get to know your support team and let them get to know you and your business. With this small investment you will get a return worth a fortune based in higher quality of the output of work and the higher level of responsibility! Keep an eye out for next week’s next delegation tip!

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Delegation… a Lost Art Part Two

Christina Littrell-Williams — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:26:36 PDT

Do you find yourself thinking I don’t even have the time in my day to delegate a task to someone… This is a pitfall many of us fall into. The truth is you don’t have the time NOT to delegate.

As a business owner your calendar is probably your most valuable tool. Notice I called it a TOOL – you need to use it that way. Schedule everything you have to do on the calendar that includes shopping, paying bills not just business meetings and networking! You will get a clear picture of the REAL amount of time you have in a day. Now while you are scheduling things – schedule in a block of time for delegating tasks, the beginning or end of the day is always best!

During this time you will focus on tasks you can hand out to others to complete type up an instruction email, include all attachments and don’t forget to include a date you expect this task to be completed – send it and consider that task completed! Your support team will get it done! It is important to make time work for you not you rush around trying to keep up with time!

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Delegation… a Lost Art Part One

Christina Littrell-Williams — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:04:27 PDT

Are you the King or Queen of the “I can do it better myself” attitude? Or do you say to yourself, “It will take me longer to explain this task then if I just go do it myself”? First of all let’s agree that is totally the wrong attitude in both situations!

You are losing money left and right if your focus is not directly were it should be and that is working ON your business! You should have a support staff, even if that is your high school son/daughter and other family members working on databases and paperwork. Every business owner should have support and then more importantly know how to delegate tasks to that staff correctly.. Over the next couple of weeks I will provide you with tips that will help you become a better “delegator” and help you regain your focus ON your business!

Hint #1 – Understand the Task at Hand: You must understand the task at hand yourself fully. How can you expect someone else to understand your explanation of what needs to get done if you don’t know that much about it. Also, you do not want to end up in a pickle where this is a repeating task and the one person that always handled it for you, leaves and you are stuck with it not getting done and not knowing how to do it.

Hint #2 – When sharing this task, make sure you share the expected outcome that way your support person has the full vision of what you are looking for.

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Client Retention…Do You Have It?

Christina Littrell-Williams — Mon, 24 May 2010 08:30:28 PDT

Making a sale once or handling a client’s account once is better than not having either, right? But will they come back to you if they need your product or services again in the future… that is the question.

Client retention is so important. You want to create a customer “loyalty” to you, your services and your products. You want to create a “community” within your business! You want them to refer you!

Here are a couple tips on bettering your Client Retention…

• Take time out of your day to check in with a couple (2) existing customers/clients – ask them about THEM and what they might need or want or for feedback on their last visit with you.

• If you do a monthly newsletter or article – highlight one of your “champion” clients in the community. Maybe something special is happening in their business you can share.

• Provide something for your clients & customers – a freebie like a car wash, give-aways or even a client appreciation day at your place of business (remember to take pictures!)

Personal touches are so important – remember we are building “relationships” with our clients! If you would like to hear about what I consider to be the BEST client retention tool for ANY business owner, contact me!

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VA’s can save you money!

Christina Littrell-Williams — Sat, 22 May 2010 22:36:54 PDT

How do you save money if a Virtual Assistant’s hourly rate is higher than an in-house employee?

This is a question that hinders a lot of business owners from hiring a virtual assistant. The cost of hiring someone to come into your office or business location for $20 per hour seems like such a better deal than hiring a virtual assistant for $35 per hour, right? In the long run NO WAY! State to state in house employees salary laws are different but just take this – with a fringe benefit of 35% you add $7.00 to your in-house employee’s income per hour, then you take in the overhead (office equipment, supplies, worker’s comp and so on) of 50% you add $10.00 to your in-house employee’s income per hour for a total of $37.00 per hour. Those costs seem to get lost in the shuffle because they are either calculated by a payroll service OR through the accounting program you have set up. Those are costs that are not included in your Virtual Assistant’s wages. On top of those “extras” you need to calculate in tardiness, sick days, vacation days and slacking time which every employer pays and have no completed tasks to show for it! Again this is something you do not calculate in when working with a Virtual Assistant – they get paid for the project completed OR for the house actually worked! It has been calculated that you pay on average 2,080 hours per year for an in-house employee and can get the same amount of work completed by a virtual assistant in 480 hours per year (an employee’s 8 hour day can usually be crunched into a 3-4 hour day with a virtual assistant) – calculate this out and it is a savings of over $60,000.00! Now that is a savings!

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Inviting Through Facebook

Christina Littrell-Williams — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:50:18 PDT

OK by now you should have a Facebook Profile/Fan Page… did you know that you can use that profile/fan page to market your services. Please be aware that Facebook frowns on you using it to solicit sales of products but to market a free event it is GREAT. Free events could be something like Stephanie Graziano’s, Building Your Own Business – once a month coaching conference call (www.buildingyourownbusiness.com) or Judith Cassis’ Teleseminar Series she is prepping for (www.successmadesimpleteleseminars.com ). When she has a topic that is open to the public she can “invite” through Facebook. Even the great “gatherings” McKenna and Green do in the store for their clientele, they too can send invites through Facebook events. How great to open up your visibility and get more exposure. True Stephanie’s and Judith’s are set for an “audience” from anywhere in the world but do not discount the marketing you can do just by sharing information. You never know who is really in your backyard! Use every available tool out there to get noticed! More advertising!!! Don’t forget Merchant Circle also, this is more for local businesses…

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I have never heard of a Virtual Assistant. Are Virtual Assistants a new thing?

Christina Littrell-Williams — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:44:27 PDT

The quick answer to the question, “Are Virtual Assistants a new thing?” is NO. It started back in the 1970’s. The founder was Stacy Brice. Stacy looked at the traditional secretarial role of assistants and felt there should be more. Not just a person performing “tasks” but one who assists in getting tasks completed but also be a part of the overall outcome. She felt there should be a bond between client and assistant and in that builds a relationship between the two. This idea forever shifted the “model” of boss and assistant. You can imagine the effect this had on efficiency and value one took on in completed tasks as well. By 1992 Stacy had created a platform in which she was working virtually full time from home. She even was working internationally by then. By 1996 the Virtual Assistant was “coined” by Thomas Leonard while speaking with Stacy on the phone. In 1997 Brice opened AssistU which is a school to be trained and certified as a Virtual Assistant. In 1999 Christine Durst and Michael Haaren stated International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA). From this point on every year brought a new group onto the scene that had the purpose of support for the Virtual Assistant, whether they be new to the business or a veteran to it, along with a place for people searching for a VA could go and post “help wanted” adds. The industry has grown very large and I for one am thankful to Stacy Brice for having such a vision. I love what I do! How many people can say that about their “job”?

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Take the Time to Invest in Your VA!

Christina Littrell-Williams — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:55:09 PST

I have been asked several times by other Virtual Assistant friends and team members “How do you get a long and like your clients so much?” They go on to tell me how they have clients that do not invest any time to get to know them, respect boundaries, or share the products that they with them.

This is a common problem I hear around the “virtual water cooler”.

The best advice I can give business owners using virtual assistants (and really any kind of assistant) is to take time to invest in them. Granted, you pay your virtual assistant for the work they do but believe me you will get a lot more if you invest in them as a person too.

This needs to be real and not a passing question that is later swept under the rug… but one from your heart. It only takes a few minutes a day/week to get to know your team member and the rewards will be endless! Does your virtual assistant have a family – do you know their names? There ages? How about “working hours” and “working days of the week”, do you know them and respect them?

Too many times business owners are so caught up with what their project is or needs are that they are expecting a lot from their VA and expecting it immediately. Is that really fair? Would any business owner allow them to be treated that way, even if they were doing something in a joint venture? I think not.

Several business owners will not share their product line with their assistants – this is silly… you want them to know everything about what you do right? You want them to invest a piece of themselves in your business and success, this is a very inexpensive way to invest in your VA – build on their education.. trust me it is a win win for you both!

As a Virtual Assistant I love what I do! I love helping my clients and making them shine! I have great relationships with them and we understand one another. I have taken the time to get to know them as a person not just a client and they have gotten to know me and my family. It makes a difference when you are called upon at 6:35am on a Sunday for help.. I can promise you that!

As a Productivity Consultant working with Business Owners and their teams, I cannot stress that the relationship between the client and VA is the most needed part of a strong working foundation.

Good luck, go and bond.

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Moving Ahead in the New Year!

Christina Littrell-Williams — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:53:23 PST

The new year has arrived and the first official Monday is tomorrow! Are you ready to make a difference in your life and business this year? Not that you have not made a difference every year but a new bigger difference this year!

The roll over of the annual calendar allows us all to make changes, updates, new commitments and face the past challenges head on.

This is the time to find ways to Move Past and Move Ahead of it all. If you have not sat down and made a list of what worked last year, what did not work last year, what changes you would like to see happen this year, what people you would like to connect with this year – it is not too late!

Take a moment to review your logo, your website message (your tag line and the direction the message is being delivered), your meta tags, your keywords – be sure your branding is in line with where you want your business to be going! Sometimes we start out with our branding in once place and after a few years (or maybe even a few months) the direction or mission has slightly changed but your branding has not been updated. Updating your branding to be sure the most current direction of your company is being relayed is vital to your growth! You want to continually connect with your target market right? Stay up to date!

There are several Virtual Assistants that specialize in niches like this – they can assist business owners who might not have enough time to go through all of the changes. There are VA’s that assist in keeping your SEO up to date and continually adding to your key words and meta tags so you stay on top! Last but not least there are Marketing Strategists that can help you from point A to point Z in putting it all together!

Remember there are Virtual Assistants and Strategists out here to help you… if you are interested in getting a couple of referrals, please contact me and I would be happy to make a connection!

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