Winning the “Bid”

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!

Delegation… Works Best When You Build a Relationship

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!

Delegation… a Lost Art Part Two

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!

Moving Ahead in the New Year!

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!

The Power of the Unsubscribe Button! {advice from a bystander}

Do you find yourself getting too many email newsletters, updates and blasts from people out there? Do you sit wondering “why did I sign up for this?” or “Oh this is not what I thought it was?” or even “I did not give this person the right to email me!” ? With so many business out there focusing on internet marketing and building lists it s no wonder that you end up a a few of them.

It is likely some are very valuable to you and some are not. Some you just joined the “list” to get the free offer that was available, he he he.

The question is what do you do now with all of these coming into your email account? First of all STOP using your main email account to sign up for promotions – create a free Gmail account or Yahoo account to accept those. I prefer Gmail because of all of the filters and automatic actions you can have it do ~ if you would like more specific strategy information on using a dummy account contact me and I can give you more…

BUT what I want to focus on are emails that you feel “you get too many from this certain person”, you “feel they are too focused on just selling their products and not contributing” or you “feel you never asked to be on their list”. It is very easy to report them as spammers yes, and for some that fall into these three categories it might be warranted but when you think about it they are just trying to make it. By reporting someone as a spammer you really mess them up… their email management account can be shut down and worse yet they can loose their entire database. Is it worth doing that to someone just because they are bugging you? I say no.. it is just as easy to push the unsubscribe button! Some people will email back “Please Remove Me” but understand if the one in control of that account does not remove you correctly you can be imported again and back to getting emails.

As someone who manages several client’s email management accounts on several different platforms it is much appreciated when you just choose to unsubscribe. You might think, well they can see my name and that I unsubscribed – Yes They Can, oh well – they have to understand you do not want their information any longer, it is your choice. In reality if you are just trashing their blasts any ways you are not a true customer and their count is not accurate. Also if you take control and push the unsubscribe button you are blocking them from just importing your name in later down the road – you would have to personally sign up again to get their info!

Unsubscribing can be helpful to the marketer or the leader that is doing the blasting…when you unsubscribe use the comments area to let them know why you are unsubscribing. If you think they are pushing for a sale too much, sending out nonsense, you no longer belong/participate with that organization company or if you have a suggestion to make their marketing better don’t you think they would want to know? I would!

So when you are bothered by your overloaded inbox – think of cleaning out your “subscriptions” and unsubscribing to a few things, but be proactive and helpful at the same time!

Top 5 Ways to Add to the Productivity Between a VA & a Client

Virtual Assistants are here to do just that ASSIST business owners. When VA’s work with business owners there is a bond that should be created. A personal relationship and an understanding of what the business owner’s plans for their company is. Working together for a common goal increases the productivity along with the success of the business. Beyond the “bonding” between a VA and their client, there are some key elements that can increase the productivity of that “assistance”…

5 top ways to add to the productivity are:

• Needed Programs Available & Understood by both VA and BO
• Realistic Due Dates (scheduling is key)
• Authority Given to VA to Complete Tasks (of course once trained properly)
• A Repeatable Process for Tasks
• And TOP #1 WAY to increase productivity – CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS & COMMUNICATION!