by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Oct 9, 2013 | Delegation, Small Business, Virtual Assistant
Operating your own business is a dream. You know all of the ins and outs; what is required; the nuances; your target markets; you have it down pat from sunrise to sunset. It is all second nature that you could run it in your sleep if you had to.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with this scenario, ask yourself is it productive? Is it efficient? Are you and your company operating at 100% in order to experience growth?
I would venture a guess that your responses are probably teetering more toward the “No, not exactly” versus “We are the best and on target to triple our revenues.”
Many of my clients have been in your position, realizing they are not poised for growth and they want to move from entrepreneur to more of a small business status. As I have stated before, being able to effectively delegate represents a readiness and growth mentality. You must relinquish much of the day to day tasks in order to be able to focus on your “real” business goals. “Entrepreneur, Fire Thyself.”
“The whole transition from working in the business to working on the business means letting go of what you’re comfortable doing. You always need to be thinking big and challenging yourself.” Mary Jo Gorman, member of the 2011 North American class of Entrepreneurial Winning Women.
There are several steps or processes to be able to arrive at this juncture and once you do, it is still a matter of understanding and learning how to work with a virtual assistant, when you have always done everything on your own.
I get that! I really do.
- It took me a few years before I was ready to delegate
- I had always done it
- No one could do anything better or faster
- Why should I write out all of my policies and procedures when it is quicker if I just manage it on the spot?
I am over that and value the freedom and ease of having a tremendous virtual assistant. I don’t need to do every single task or project. If I was so bogged down in each and every daily business operation and activity, I wouldn’t have the time to build my business, provide personalized service, work ON it rather than IN it and I wouldn’t have enough hours in the day to write a blog post. I would be a slave to the clock and the company. That is not the kind of business dream I have.
Clients have asked what should they outsource and what is the best way to work with a virtual assistant.
Outsource anything that
- Doesn’t directly generate revenue
- Isn’t your core genius
- Represents administrative tasks
- You don’t like to do
- You don’t want to do
- Is too tedious
- Takes up too much time
- Provides a low payoff
Here is an exercise that may shed some light on your time spent versus invested: for one week track every task and project that you work on.
Note the time spent. What wasn’t completed, what was overlooked, any appointments missed, activities half completed, which ones generated revenue. How many low payoff activities usurped your time?
At the end of the week, review it. What should you move off of your plate?? It should be very clear.
What every day operations are you involved in that also aren’t the best value of your time? Sure, they are necessary, but do YOU need to do them?
Working with a Virtual Assistant (Best idea ever!)
After you have chosen your vested virtual partner be ready to experience outstanding results.
- Understand your daily processes and business operations
- Be well aware of your core genius and high payoff activities
- Clearly outline your goals
- Know what you want to outsource: for example, content curation, proofing/editing/uploading of blogs, email and calendar management, social media and project management
- Outsource one offs, projects, administrative tasks and daily business operations
- Establish your workflow
- Define specifics, desired outcomes, expectations and deadlines
- Prepare documents to support the processes you use to complete tasks. You may also discover that your VA has some other efficient tools and ideas as well. Be open for discussions
- Accountability and communications are a must for success and satisfaction
- Provide valued, honest feedback
- Trust the VA you have chosen – avoid the need to micromanage
- Expect to participate in monthly strategy calls to brainstorm, share ideas and talk about your business
- If they are to interact with your clients or vendors, create an email address for them at your domain
- Recognize that you are part of a TEAM, investing in your partnership and business
- Every month, review what is working and what isn’t. Consider outsourcing additional operations management or projects while you may decide to pull back others
- Continue to foster and nurture your relationship just like you would with an in-house staff member
Thes
e suggested tips may seem a little overwhelming or daunting at first, but once you lay out the foundation or the architecture of your partnership, the coming months and years will prove to be very lucrative for you. It is worth the investment and time to set up your blueprint for success.
If you are ready to talk, let’s give it a shot. Call or send me an email to schedule your free consult.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Oct 4, 2013 | Communication, Customer Service, Small Business
We are never too perfect or the absolute best at everything NOT to ask for feedback from our clients, stakeholders, or teammates. There is always room for improvement and growth on many different levels. Input from your network can offer guidance for better communications, systems and service. When you are passionate about doing your best and providing unsurpassed products and service, then requesting candid feedback is a must.
We need feedback in order to keep ourselves in alignment and not attempt to dance in tunnel vision.
Don’t think of it as criticism, but an opportunity to discover what is working, what isn’t and where you can make corrections, further develop your processes or enhance your performance. If you aren’t asking for input, then you are losing the chance for change.
“Feedback is the food for champions.”
What you do with it is then up to you. Choosing to only ask and then ignore ensures stagnation, a place to remain the same with closed ears. If you want to elevate you and your business, then you need to be prepared to listen, evaluate and take action.
Feedback is a tool to identify strengths, weaknesses, isolate problems, boost execution and improve your operations.
Consider Feedback as a SHARP tool
Specific: when asking for feedback, make sure you request details on what is working and what isn’t. Where did you fail or hit the mark.
Honest: feedback should be nothing but brutal honesty or it is pointless
Actionable: consider each sentiment and statement. Think deeply and take it to heart. What action steps can you implement?
Recovery: know that these learning cues are meant to be authentic, valuable tools, rich with insight to make amends, re-evaluate and upgrade
Progress: feedback allows you the greatest opportunity to instigate change for forward movement. You should feel empowered, like an endorphin rush, with such SHARP information.
Embracing feedback is a gift to you and your business. It reflects your professionalism, your dedication to correcting things and demonstrates your desire for exemplary customer service. Follow up on concerns and implement action, letting your responders know you are committed to change and improvement based upon their helpful feedback.
Leverage feedback to deliver value and exceed expectations.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Sep 30, 2013 | Delegation, Productivity, Small Business
Business growth depends on your ability to leverage time, money, expertise and “human” power. As you have probably discovered, it is virtually impossible to manage every single task, system and project in your business, all by yourself. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to operate at 100% effectiveness, 100% of the time. Even with your action lists and priorities, you only have two hands and one pair of eyes. Your income is limited by your time.
Can you just imagine how freeing it would feel to be able to count on someone else for support? A team partner? Someone who is vested in the success of your business while still saving you money?
The answer for your small business?
Leverage the power of other people’s strengths and time so YOU can get more done: focus on your core genius to scale your business to the next level. Think of all of the everyday mundane tasks that while necessary, do not represent direct in-pocket revenue for you. Why do you use your valuable time for these low payoff activities?
“Within the first 6 months I added a virtual bookkeeper and personal assistant. I went from making about $4,500/month to making over $15,000/month.” Melanie Benson Strick
- What tasks do you perform on a daily basis that actually generate income?
- What projects or business operations are required, but are not money makers?
- Which of the two take up most of your day?
- What is on your plate, that shouldn’t be part of your steady diet?
Are you truly cognizant of all of the hours you spend on basic office administration? Project management? Social media? inbound marketing?
This is just a small sampling of what you should be outsourcing so you can focus your time on what you do best. How many of these low payoff activities do you manage every day?
- Triaging and responding to emails
- Creating email templates
- Researching statistics and industry data
- Content curation
- Social media best practices
- Social media automation tips and tools
- Sending out client birthday/holiday cards
- Travel planning
- Editing, proofing blog posts
- Image search and creation
- Uploading blog posts and adding SEO
- Creating systems
- Tracking deliverables
- Generating office policy and procedure docs
- Researching online business tools
- Managing your database
- Creating spreadsheets
- Managing your online newsletter
- Tracking web statistics
- Testing new software
- Interface with team members
- Blog promotion
- Cross promoting your content on social media channels
- Calendar and appointment scheduling
“Exceptional leaders, however, understand the importance of and how to surround themselves with exceptional talent and delegate tasks and responsibility to them.” Peter Gasca
How much more do you think you could accomplish if you outsourced just 5-10 hours per week? I am not suggesting anything new to you or something I don’t do myself. I have a phenomenal virtual assistant and without her tremendous assistance, I would go insane. When you continue to do it all, or attempt to, you become the bottleneck to your growth and expansion. If things are falling through the cracks, you have little time to yourself or you are a slave to your business, it is time to re-evaluate your systems.
What are you willing to give up in order to grow?
If you are interested in testing the waters or learning more, please contact us to discuss your business, operations, systems and how we can partner. Working through any apprehensions about working with a virtual assistant is easy with a little guidance and reassurance.
We can do this together.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Sep 10, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Small Business, Social Media
Social media isn’t merely about creating profiles on various platforms to broadcast your best content. It has become one of the cornerstones of marketing. It is your opportunity to build a trusted and loyal community. In this community exists partners, colleagues, collaborators, customers and friends. Treat them with the respect and courtesy they deserve and that which you expect in return.
Every day you read about etiquette, best practices and thousands of different tips to engage and build your following. What I find interesting is that much of this content is disseminated from alleged social media experts, marketing and PR firms or social media managers who don’t always follow their own suggestions. Their tweets and posts offer real life recommendations on engagement and proper “politeness” yet they do not care to practice what they preach. I am not sure why, but if they are writing and sharing the content, do they not believe they should follow their own advice?
Acknowledge the voice of your network.
If you want to build a credible authentic network, engage in conversations, thank people for sharing your content, ask questions, post rich and valuable information, don’t ignore anyone, unless of course they are bots, spam or porn.
Simple rule of thumb: treat others the same way you want to be treated. Sure, this is so cliché, but it is common courtesy. Would you just walk away from someone at a networking event or cocktail party after they asked you a question or tried to engage you in a dialog? I think not.
Since you have taken the time to be online, then make the time to learn about your audience. You have the potential to meet and greet some pretty incredible people but only if you choose to actively participate.
We are all a brand: whether it’s personal or business, we have an online reputation to develop and construct if we want a strong presence and ROI. Maintain your relationships. Be authentic. Be human. Be professional.
Sharing: refrain from overselling yourself and your products or services. Constant self-promo is a sure fire way to generate a mass exodus. Make your marketing mix diverse. Share relevant content that is of interest to your network. Solve problems. Be cognizant of trending topics. Repost and respond to the content of others. Share the love with a retweet. Always give back. Be a resource.
“In a recent article about brand identity, Digiday argues that brands need to loosen up and act more human instead of focusing on expertly tailored mass market messages.”
Provide the personal experience: interact with your fans and followers. If they ask a question or have a complaint, respond immediately. Find out what is wrong. Don’t ignore them. Troubleshoot, create trust and provide impeccable service. Social media is your conduit for making human connections. Acknowledge all contact.
“The absolute best way for companies to stay relevant in social media and to effectively engage their followers is to listen to what their fans are saying. Don’t try to steer the conversation; instead, listen to what customers are saying and respond. Reply to user’s feedback and jump into conversations that are already happening.” Lisa Parkin
“Stories that resonate on an emotional level, that put a human face on a global business, drive engagement and amplification.” Brian Pember.
Read: actually click on the links shared in your social media channels. Don’t just blindly repost them. You are probably missing out on some fabulous content. Be able to make a comment or engage more deeply regarding the article. Seriously, don’t just spew it because it is a “pay it forward” thing to do. If you are going to retweet or share, be real about it.
Invest: your digital footprint can be far reaching but it will only be what you make it. Consistency and frequency are two key points to remember. Don’t desert your followers. Be present and invest in the time to generate interest in your brand. You get back exactly what you put in.
Strategy: know your goals and reasons for creating your profiles. Who is your market and what do they need? Create your content and set a schedule for fresh ideas, retweets, quotes, contests and conversation. If you are all over the board, people won’t understand your brand or may question what you actually do.
These are some pretty staggering numbers from Jeff Bullas: 10 Social Media Facts, Figures and Statistics You Need to Know exemplifying exorbitant growth and opportunity to establish trusted relationships with your network.
- Facebook has over 1.15 billion active users.
- Google+ has 343 million active monthly users.
- Twitter has over 288 million monthly active users.
- LinkedIn has now reached 238 million users.
- YouTube has over 1 billion unique visitors every month.
- Instagram has now reached 130 million users.
- Pinterest has 70 Million users.
Don’t just create an account or promote yourself. Meet your community. Generate interest. Engage. Enjoy your network. Be personal – show your human side. Social media isn’t rocket science, although many would like you to think it is. A large portion of it is purely being social, not DOING social.
It is common sense, active participation and thoughtful interactions. Just like you would do in the “real” world.
Don’t trade off personal communications or hide behind a digital persona. Get out there, listen, shake hands, measure, and extend a virtual hug to your network. If you want to see the payoff, just be a human brand.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Sep 6, 2013 | Customer Service, Small Business
Image credit: Wikipedia
When you are selling to a customer do you market your service or how you will make their lives easier? Cost or value? Selling yourself and your company solely on a dollar amount may degrade your services and proficiencies. Are you only a chunk of change or do you have expertise and industry experience that is worth more?
“When you’re selling on price and not value, you’ve already lost.” Chris Brogan.
Value revolves around benefits, solutions and quality.
- Leverage your strengths and experience, building confidence and comprehension of what you offer and how you solve problems.
- Identify your buyer personas – who is your customer and what are their problems?
- Price is a function of perceived value – demonstrate and substantiate your value.
- Utilize your customer testimonials to show support and document successes.
- Highlight the benefits with conviction and belief.
- What are your key differentiators?
- Offer insight and be intuitive. When you know and care about your customer, you are able to present new ideas and solutions.
- Present new ways to improve their lives.
- Exemplify your customer service. What makes you stand out from the competition?
- Focus on building rapport and personal touches, getting to know the client’s needs and business.
- What are your measurable results to help you showcase your value?
- Do your mission, vision and values support your client needs and purchase drivers?
- Execute and commit to guaranteed service and satisfaction.
- Be the service provider you value most.
Clients that understand your value are lifetime clients, knowing you will provide the service with the services. How do you communicate value and your pledge to service?
NEVER simply say what you think they want to hear. Whatever you tell the client, mean it and back it up because they trust and value you enough to purchase your services. Empty words and promises will not keep you in business but character and integrity will.
Service is key. Selling value is priceless.
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Warren Buffett
I recently saw an advertisement for a virtual assistant that read: Professional Virtual Assistant $5.00/hour and was bewildered at the word professional. I have been in the industry since 2002 and I cannot even fathom ever giving away my services at a cost lower than what it takes to live, shortchanging my education, lifelong learning, industry experience and outstanding service. While this is obviously an overseas ad, you will get what you pay for.
Competitive pricing is a must, but giving away your services for pennies does not signify your own worth, nor is this client your ideal client because all that matters is the dollar sign. Yes, saving money is important to the bottom line but it may come at a sacrifice.
I have had prospects message me, only asking what I charge. They don’t seem interested in my knowledge, customer service, developing a long-term partnership, my 11 years of experience, the size of the offerings from my network or how I will solve their greatest pain points. The only concern is: “how much.” Personally speaking, this is not a desire for top-rate service, it is about the getting the job done. Any quality virtual assistant cares about the client, their business, their success. We run the extra mile because we want to help you achieve your goals. The finish line isn’t just point A to point B. It is all of the in between that we do and care about. Our partnerships extend beyond the one offs and daily tasks. You have a vested business associate working alongside you just as though we were in the same office. Value this relationship.
“Customers are much more than one-dimensional money savers. They want to do business with suppliers who not only serve their needs, by also match their values.” Vanessa Merit Nornberg.
People pay upwards of hundreds to thousands of dollars for upfront or box seats at a sporting event. They see a greater value in being up close or having more concierge style service. They want the best. This is just sports. (I know, this could be blasphemy to your ears). Once the event is over, you hopefully saw your team win the game, had a beverage or two and wow, you have a ticket stub to show for it. A piece of paper at what cost? If you will pay this much to watch a game, have a drink and get a piece of paper, how much are you willing to INVEST in the support of your company?
What do you value in running your business? Nosebleed seats or ringside?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Sep 3, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Productivity, Small Business
I was listening to a podcast this weekend about sales and service. There is always room for work and personal development when you own your own business. It never stops. Personally, I am always on and eager to learn more for both you and me.
Back to the podcast: You want the best service and products and we want to deliver. That goes without saying but being the best customer goes beyond signing an agreement or clicking pay now.
This post isn’t about creating your buyer personas and identifying the ideal customer. It is about BEING the best customer to ensure complete satisfaction and deliverables.
As the vendor, your vested partner, we have a job to do and most of us strive to be the pinnacle of providers. Our business depends on it because if we don’t, there is someone else who will. Your needs are to be met, better yet, exceeded. But we need YOU to do your part as well.
In your mind’s eye, what characteristics represent your own best client? The kind you love to work with? The one that is so productive, enriching and fun, making your job so much easier?
Sure, there can be daily challenges or differences of opinion, but those can be easily seen as strengths to develop a strong working relationship. It takes two to make it work, efficiently and effectively.
The 4 Cs of being the ideal client:
Cultivation:
Doesn’t it feel wonderful when you establish a new relationship, feeling the vibrancy and synergy? You know it is going to work out. You are excited to move forward. Don’t lose this feeling because of the daily grind and pressures of running your business. A successful partnership, like any connection, requires effort and mutuality. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or schedule strategy calls if you have new ideas or ventures you want to discuss. We welcome that interaction and want to serve you.
“One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.” Lewis Carol
Communication:
It goes beyond just telling us about your plans and visions, which of course are vital to our success ratio, but we also need open communications, transparency and feedback. Creating the initial foundation after the sale, especially when in the service industry, is paramount to our long-term partnership. Clear and succinct details and desired outcomes are important to us. Feedback is necessary on our deliverables.
There are many times we also require more information from you, enabling us to do our best and meet your expectations, but if we as service providers are met with an untimely response or lack thereof, we are unable to give you the service you want and deserve.
- Keep the communication lines open.
- Respond in a timely fashion.
- Provide honest feedback.
Collaboration:
Our partnership requires collaboration, a give and take for us to achieve your goals. In the Virtual Assistant industry, you have contracted with us to assist you with your business management and operations. We need to work closely together, using tools and clear communication to achieve your desired objectives. You may have given us project to complete and to create a sturdy foundation for success, we need to collaborate and discuss the details. We will use a variety of tools to streamline the process, and while you have delegated to us, you are still considered a facet of the job, when and if, we need additional information or approval. When we are able to work together, bounce ideas, outline criteria, and act as mutual associates, the outcomes far exceed expectations. As your vested partner, we drive AND thrive to do our best for you. But again, it takes two.
Let’s work together to master your operations and scale your business to the next level.
“LOVE the WE because as I said before we are a team! :)” Recent quote from an ideal client.
We are a team.
Commitment:
You possibly chose your vendor based upon interviews, recommendations, online brand reputation and research. You selected the best company or person for the job. In doing so, you trust them to provide you with remarkable products and service. You made a commitment to the partnership. Commitment is a big word, reflecting on your trust and value in the service provider. If you have made this pledge, why not be the best you can be, so we can be the best for you?
No one likes to be disappointed or to have to repeat the process to find a replacement. Invest in this partnership in order to see your desired results.
Commitment is also the catchall for:
- Cultivation
- Communication
- Collaboration
This post is NOT to put the onus on you. It is about US!
In your quest for the best, you found a provider who exemplifies each of the characteristics above and is fully accountable for their half of the equation. As entrepreneurs, we opened our doors to provide and serve. To be unsurpassed and please you with our goods and services.
“For us, our most important stakeholder is not our stockholders, it is our customers. We’re in business to serve the needs and desires of our core customer base.” John Mackey
Let’s do this together. Are you ready?
What character traits make you the best client?
