Have you employed your Virtual Assistant and now don’t know what to do? If you are unsure of your needs before you hire you may end up with the wrong person for your business. Choosing someone needs to be based on what they can do for your business and if you haven’t a clear idea of what you want them to do, then your ability to choose the right person for the job is made more difficult. Likewise, if you are unaware of the capabilities of a Virtual Assistant, you may be looking at a work load that you think you need to do, when in fact the work load is better managed, and more efficiently done by a Virtual Assistant.

Your team that you employ need to be given a clear picture of what you see as the future of your business, what you want to see happen and where you want to be. If they know and understand your vision they can apply their knowledge and ability to help you reach your goals.

For your team to be able to achieve this, they need to be aware of the ‘big picture’ and will be working at a disadvantage if you expect them to gain this knowledge by mind-reading or ‘osmosis’. Don’t hire a team and think that all the work is now done. You still need to share with them and keep them updated on changes that could affect your vision. The inability to share the knowledge with your team will lead to frustration for them, and could lead to an incorrect decision being made. An error in judgement leading to a wrong things being done, result; a waste of time and money. The other scenario being no action by your team, again a disgruntled you and a frustrated team, twiddling their thumbs and again, a terrible waste of man power.

Have things run well for a while but things seem to have taken a backward step? Did you jump at the chance of hiring and made a mistake and hired the wrong person for the job? Or were you unsure of where you were heading? Before hiring, clarify where you are in your business and what you want to achieve. This gives you a basis for selecting the right people for the job.

For more help and advice, contact us by email or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Virtual events allow you and your business to present your message and brand, easily and effectively, providing your audience with the information they require.

Your virtual event needs to be easy to use and without the requirement to download, leaving you free to run your business. You can then concentrate on what message you want to get across rather than how to use the programmes.

With the recent rise in the cost of travel and transportation, the virtual event, can reduce your expenses in getting your message to your audience, by removing the need for people to travel.

With the requisite travel removed, so too, the overnight accommodation and extended time away from your audiences’ employment. All these, in any business, will be costed against a real world conference or trade show producing a substantial cost to a company.

Reports say that you may well have 4 times more sales leads from a virtual event than a physical one. Together with a database of attendees to use again and again, which will lead to more sales.

There are 2 basic types of virtual events:

The virtual show – This would ordinarily occur in a large conference hall or similar and brings a large physical production, that may have taken months to plan and augment, to your computer-using audience, wherever they may be. They can listen and watch your presentation, digest your information and immediately put it into action.
Your ability to showcase your latest products so easily and inexpensively will reduce your costs and benefit your audience by removing the hassle factor of travelling to a physical event.

Your presentation can avoid boring slides and using the tools available can be turned into a very interesting and flash production.

Just as your audience can be anywhere in the world, likewise your expert speakers can do their presentations from their own offices or wherever they can receive a signal for the Internet connection (even in the nearest Wi-Fi zone when the internet is down). Without the problem of time and travel, which is factored into a physical event, you will be able to provide quality content and speakers who will be able to concentrate on their presentation without the drain on energy of hours spent travelling.

Although you may have a list of attendees for your ‘live’ event, or a boxful of business cards, attendees of virtual events will have logged in with an email that ‘exists’ and provides you with a ready made database of visitors to your event.

The webcast

Revolving around either a single person or a group, no matter where they are located, the use of several different technologies can be used to deliver your message.

Webcasts work on different browsers and platforms, enabling all of your audience to view and take part without the need to download programmes.

Your webcast can also be recorded and distributed after the event, with an ability to reach an even larger audience.

Recording of your event removes the need to take notes and allows reviewing of content at an attendee’s convenience. Removing the hassle for attendees to attend a live event allows you to supply a consistent and engaging message.

Your webcast can be a two-way thing with attendees able to ask questions (or instant message), which lets them learn more and add to your presentation. Your audience can be allowed to communicate with each other also. The extra interaction adds to the value of the webcast for people viewing the presentation after the event.

See next week’s blog for more on virtual events.

ON24, a virtual event company, their research shows that between 20% and 95% savings are achieved when the event is a virtual one. When you realise it doesn’t just stop at savings made by attendees and all the travel and accommodation costs, the people who are arranging the event also gain from the ease and speed of arranging a virtual event, together with additional benefits of spending less time on the project.

In creating a virtual event you have produced a permanent record for future use, whether in a learning base, or for repeating at a future date to another audience or to re-purpose the information to use outside of the event.

A virtual event generates excitement, meaning extra customers and more leads. ON24 research reports that 4 to 5 times more leads are generated from a virtual event than from a physical one.

Your database of attendees will supply you with information of not only who attended but with any other information you wish to gather from them (eg. location) which may assist you in the promotion of your products.

Leads generated at virtual events are far more numerous than those made at physical events, with a neat database compiled as a bonus. Unlike physically collected names and email addresses a virtual event attendee will have always supplied a valid email address otherwise they would not be able to attend (and your report will inform you of who attended). A database from your virtual event informs you of which item your lead is interested in so you can promote that offer (about which you will have learnt everything possible!).

In contrast to the whirlwind of a physical event, where numbers and attendees to each specific part of the event are difficult to track and evaluate, the technology involved in a virtual event can report on numbers of attendees, specific areas of interest and sessions attended. Reports track and log your virtual event(s) showing who showed and what time they spent there. The ability to analyse their interactions with others, what they downloaded or viewed is a very useful tool, which can tell you about your audience.

Virtual event technology can provide you with valuable marketing data based on any criteria you or your sponsors decide upon. The genuine information provides you with information to target your marketing efforts. This can be a real time saver for you when you can ‘read’ your market.

Go green.… a fringe benefit, or it maybe one of your overriding objectives to run a ‘green’ company, using virtual technology to promote, teach or gain leads, ticks many of the boxes to help you achieve this end. The savings on fuel, travel, time lost to events, both attending and producing, compared to the physical event has to be of benefit both to you and your audience in helping to create a greener environment.

Some of our events that we have joint hosted on Eventbrite

Within Eventbrite you can list and promote your event, with analytics and data gathered for future reference.

Blog your business to success! Antonia Chitty of ACEInspire & Tamara Baranova of TJConsulting

Using Facebook to Create Business Success Monique Lester of London Digital PR & Tamara Baranova of TJConsulting Virtual Assistance

Without a business plan, how can you, or any one else involved with your business, judge where you are? You can have the best business coach in the world, be motivated and have a fantastic idea but a plan makes the difference between disappearing into the darkness or becoming a shining light in your niche. With business plan in hand, you and others involved with your business can time-line and measure your progress. You can tell when you are ahead in your game or dreadfully out of alignment and therefore need to alter your website to regain your audience and customers.

Business plan:
There are several different ways to create a marketing plan to promote your online presence. Your local Chamber of Commerce may offer free or discounted business planning and development resources to members and non-members or you can try the do-it-yourself way with Marketing Plan Pro by John Jantsch ,powered by Duct Tape Marketing.( It is a simple, practical marketing plan software that makes it easy to plan and carry out the marketing activities you need to grow your business.) Another approach is to find a coach or consultant that specialises in creating marketing plans.

Marketing:
With a business plan in place, now is the time to activate your marketing. If you find yourself without the resources to put the plan into action, use Duct Tape Marketing principles to get things moving until you can hire additional resources. A virtual assistant or online business manager may be an alternative. Paying per hour reduces the costs but gains you experienced help for putting your business plan into action. With a business plan in place, all those involved in moving your business forward are aware of your goals.

Steady as you go:
Now you have a plan in place, you have identified the resources to implement; now it’s time to set off. If you have limited resources, aim for a slow, steady approach and find a rhythm that works with your available resources.

Measure:
The results of your marketing plan and strategies need to be measured and assessed for effectiveness on a regular basis. Do you have an e-newsletter or e-mail signup on your site? How many are subscribed? Or unsubscribe? Aweber and other e-mail/e-newsletter programs generally have reports so you can tell how well different campaigns have worked. Google analytics tracks site visits, page visits and time spent on your site so you can analyse how well each page is working. In the beginning, don’t try and track everything but be aware that the information is there when you are ready. With your reports and knowledge gained from these, you can develop consistency in your marketing to build and grow your business.

You should definitely consider outsourcing vs do-it-yourself when:

There are many advantages to outsourcing. Most of those start with “you don’t”:

What “you do” get is quite important to any small business:

So how do you go about outsourcing your workload to other business professionals?

1. List all the tasks in your business that you are currently doing yourself or would like to get done, but never have the time or skills to complete
2. Work methodically through your list, asking yourself “If I don’t do this myself, regardless of how experienced/intelligent/well-trained my partner is, will my business grow?” Move the task into the YES column (it can be outsourced) or NO column (you will still have to do it yourself for now).
3. If you are honest with yourself you will be surprised how many items on your list will move into the YES column!
4. Next you need to group them into business areas: finance, administration, HR, production, research, sales, IT, etc.
5. Finally you will need to find suitable partners who can assist you with one or more areas from your list. You may find it easier to manage less suppliers each dealing with a large number of tasks, or find a business manager who will manage as many smaller suppliers as you need to complete each individual task.

What next? Repeat the process with your NO list every 3-6 months. The more you outsource, the more liberating it will feel. The more you will be able to let go next time you are going through the process.

To gain the most advantage from outsourcing you will need to manage the relationship with your suppliers by having regular reviews of the tasks you outsourced, results they have achieved, processes you asked them to follow, your goals and expectations.

Our final piece of advice: No matter how good your supplier is, don’t expect them to get everything right 100% from the beginning. They don’t know your business like you do. They will have questions and will need your guidance around your expectations, processes and systems. And they certainly are not mind-readers! So clear and concise communication is the key to a successful outsourcing relationship.

1. Increase the number of clients
2. Increase the average purchase value
3. Increase the frequency of the purchase

Many business owners focus their time and energy on the first strategy – attracting more leads and converting them into sales. They embark on costly PPC campaigns, network like mad at all possible events, send 1000s of leaflets or direct mail letters.

But the easy money in your business rests in the other 2 strategies. You are simply asking people who have previously bought from you to buy more or to buy again.

Getting that elusive first purchase is the hardest deal to close for any business, whether you are B2B or B2C.  Your prospects are terrified of making a mistake, of picking the wrong product and wasting money. Fear of getting it wrong is the main reason that stops them trying something new – you.

So why would you then put all your sales and marketing energy into developing new clients? Of course every business needs a stream of new clients but you will see stronger, more predictable revenues by encouraging existing and past clients to buy more from you more often.

How to achieve this? You will need to put in place a process to encourage customers to come back to you, and this process needs to be as formal as any processes in your business. Here are the key steps we use in TJConsulting:

1. Make regular clients feel part of something special. Set something up to reward them for their business and make them feel special. For example, you might give extra products or services to your best clients. If they believe they are getting something free that other people have to pay for, that gives your business an enormous psychological advantage. And that’s very good for retention. Our VIP clients receive a wide of range of discounts and freebies as a thank you for staying with us.
2. Set realistic expectations and plan to beat them. If you know you can deliver within 24 hours, then say it will be delivered within 48 hours. Not only can you delight your clients by appearing to deliver early, but also when things go wrong (as they do sometimes), you have an extra 24 hours in which to fix the problem. And if that fails – apologise and explain what happened. Most people will understand as long as you are honest and upfront.
3. Remember the little things. Do you know when you clients’ birthdays are? Where they are going on holiday this year? It’s easy to send a Christmas card – we all know it’s Christmas time well in advance! But it’s the little things that will make you truly stand out. You can get an automated marketing system or CRM (client relationship management) to do the remembering and reminding for you. If many of your customers use social media then services like FlowTown or MailChimp Faces can pull a lot of their personal details from the public information displayed on social networks.
4. Give things away! Clients already trust your expertise – that’s why they use your business – so when you give them valuable information for free it will be highly appreciated. Don’t be scared: clients are not going to steal your ideas or set up in competition with you but they will feel as though you are adding immense value to their business. That’s why in TJConsulting we run monthly free webinars covering various subjects related to online marketing and offer regular Business Healthchecks to all current customers.
5. Make your business memorable. If you took two businesses selling the same things at the same prices, something fun and memorable, that’s unique to your business, can seriously affect the buying decision.

And if that fails – remember at least to get a full testimonial from each past customer to help you attract new leads. High quantity of quality testimonials will significantly improve your conversion rates.

What’s your way of getting your clients to come back and buy more and often? Please share here with us and other readers.

Secondly, it’s all about the process and self-discipline. Keep your books up to date and avoid piles of receipts and invoices stacking up in the corner. Tackling books a little and often would reduce your fear and overwhelm when dealing with it. You can also employ an accountant to keep an eye on your records. This will be much cheaper than getting them to do it all for you, but you won’t have to fear making a mistake and being fined by the “tax people”.

Finally, realise why you are doing it. Bookkeeping is a wonderful practice helping you as a business owner understand where you need to reduce the expenses and how you can gain more profit. Bookkeeping is a core area of your business, it’s the blood pressure measurements of your cash flow lifeblood. If you don’t do it regularly you may miss the warning signals of your business running out of cash. As a solopreneur coach or consultant you would really want to avoid that at all costs!

Here are our useful tips on how to deal with your business bookkeeping:

• Your bookkeeping will be more effective if you have a system that can quickly analyse the financial transaction of your company. You will then see the “large picture” behind the numbers and reconciliation.
• Keep your offline books and registers in either invoice number or date order, rather than entering some in invoice number and some in date order. Try to keep your personal expenses separate from your business expenses at all times. Be consistent with the way you decide to do your bookkeeping.
• Follow a check-off list whether you employ payroll services or you are preparing payroll tax returns by yourself. Keeping a good due date reminders will be the best idea in order to file and pay the taxes on time.
• Keep good records. If your records are poorly maintained, you will not be able to understand the expenses and the income in the past and in the future. You will be unable to decide on important decisions like investment, marketing or hiring staff. This creates massive chaos in your business planning!
• Request bank statement with month end cut off date. This will save your time while reconciling your records with the bank statement every month.
• Establish a systematic practice of monitoring transactions on a regular basis (daily or weekly). This will avoid the small mistakes, lost receipts or the unwanted purchases.
• Depositing the cash immediately at the bank once it’s received. Check how the bank charges you for over the counter services. It may make more sense to receive payments and pay your suppliers via online transfers (direct debit, standing order or direct deposit).

But if all fails and you just don’t want to do it any more – hire a bookkeeper. Online bookkeeping is straightforward and will let you just view the reports and summaries, while someone else, like a virtual assistant, can deal with entering all transactions.

So how can we keep our businesses profitable in tough economic times?

Sell more to your existing customers – you have already created rapport, trust and proved your credibility to them. Use bundles when selling: as your customers decide to buy one product you can offer them another. You can also add low cost bonuses to your offer that have high perceived value – ebooks, member-only sites, consulting, e-reports, etc. And never forget about viral marketing on the Internet!

Create joint venture deals with other businesses and cross promote your products or services. You will reach a wider audience at less cost. Trade advertising with other businesses, find complementary products or services through networking. Start an affiliate program for your business. Less money on advertising, yet more guaranteed sales!

Outsource part of your workload. Outsourcing to a freelancer can be a great alternative compared with hiring someone full or part time. This will save on employee costs, taxes, equipment and office space, expansion, recruitment. Furthermore you will get the flexibility of only using as much or as little of the service as you need – catering for idle periods over holidays and busy times when you have a lot of orders. Why do you need someone helping in your business? Well we can’t all be equally good at everything or equally love all parts of the business. Tasks like book-keeping, call handling, setting up sales pages, marketing, telesales – can all be handled by experienced and able professionals.

Follow up with all prospects. You will need a good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to enter any leads as you find them and keep track of any communications between you by phone, email, fax or in person. Set yourself reminders to chase leads regularly and see if their needs change thus creating you an opportunity to offer your products or services.

Traditionally, company phone systems have been a costly, but necessary means of keeping in touch with employees and customers. PBX phone systems were originally credited with helping to lower overhead costs as they eliminated the need for separate phone lines. Yet, costs for maintaining these systems have remained high. Much like the Internet telephony systems available to consumers in their homes, business VoIP services are springing up to serve small and medium sized businesses everywhere. Business VoIP calls are routed through Internet wiring for a much cheaper alternative than the traditional phone system. Gone is the need for a receptionist to screen and redirect calls, the VoIP PBX system can be set up to do that for you. You can implement a VoIP system as little as one line and as large as a call centre. Some can work with your existing equipment and phone/broadband. And many will offer extra benefits like call diversion rules, custom greetings, group pickup for many agents, e-fax and e-conference centre, call waiting, voice mail forwarding to email account, etc. Our Pro-iPBX VoIP system has been a lifesaver here in TJConsulting on many occasions! And you can always use your favourite call answering service with your VoIP system too.

They fail to understand the fundamentals of selling!

First of all to clarify, when I say ‘sales people’ I’m also referring to business owners who are responsible for making sales.  If you’re in business, then one of the many hats you must wear is that of a ‘sales person’.

There are 2 key fundamentals that drive ALL sales…  Failing to understand these is why most ‘sales people’ struggle and businesses suffer…

1st FUNDAMENTAL – Why do people really buy?

Do you believe the popular notion that sales are made by matching a client’s needs and wants? If so, this is costing you sales! Believing that sales are made by matching needs and wants is why 95% of business and sales people struggle.

There is actually only one reason why people buy and the biggest myth in sales is that people buy to fit their needs with their wants. The problem is, by focusing on the needs and wants of your customer, you’re only touching surface-level emotions. You know that people buy on emotion and justify with logic.

Get this… needs and wants are logical! People ‘think‘ they know what they’re doing, but in fact, don’t understand what is driving their behaviour… Top sales people get this, and know how to assist their clients’ understanding of what’s really driving their needs and wants.  In doing so the client becomes aware on a completely different level.

The only reason why people buy is because… they have a problem!

People are driven by problems they have. It’s what they lack that drives buying behaviour, not what they want or need. The lack of something in our lives, or problems we face, are connected to deeply rooted emotions.  Understand this, and you’ll start asking the right questions right from the start.

Top sales people ask quality questions that allow the client to expand the size of their problem in their mind. The bigger the problem, the more motivation the client will have to finding a solution, which means more sales. Conversely, by focusing on just their needs and wants is the equivalent of a really small size of problem. For the client this will raise more objections, and for you less sales.

By seeking to understand your client’s problems and not rushing this process you will transform the satisfaction of  your client, and the size of your sales.

2nd FUNDAMENTAL – What are people really buying?

There is only one thing that people actually buy from you…

Think about this for a moment. How often are you served by a sales person where everything is right — right product, right price, right demeanour — and well… you buy don’t you? Conversely, what happens when the sales person lacks faith that their product will solve your problem? Your trust in the solution also goes down the pan. It does for me, that’s for sure. And so, the likelihood of a sale diminishes in direct proportion to the certainty of the sales person, doesn’t it?

… top sales people understand this basic truth. There’s only one thing that people buy from you. Certainty!

Client’s are looking for the certainty that your product will solve their problem. Given that time is limited, and they simply don’t have the bandwidth to review all the options, it’s falls on you, the person with the product, to deliver certainty.  If they sense you’re not certain, their barriers of resistance will increase immediately!

Now, you must have the client’s best interests at heart at all times and that’s why the first fundamental top tip is to understand their problem in the first place.  Once you know what’s fuelling their drive to speak to you, you can give them your rock solid certainty of a solution. That’s what they are looking for from you! To become a top sales or business person, understand the fundamentals of what drives all sales.

Seeking to understand your client’s problems and then giving them your certainty of a solution will massively increase your results. Apply these techniques and watch your prospects turn into clients!

Mike Clark is the CEO of Ripple Effect Sales Training – online membership site where you can get monthly support, training, and advice through exclusive resources and webinars with leadings experts like Joanne Martin and Hannah Macnamara. You can download a free report on the same subject from his website, which explains these fundamentals in much greater detail. This report also covers the 6 steps that all buyers go through before they feel comfortable with purchasing.

Work out what you’re best at and express it clearly on all marketing material – niche marketing is a simpler and more profitable way to grow your business, rather than trying to be everything for everyone. The more detailed your customer avatar is – the simpler it will be for you to find them, connect with them and offer something of value. To start creating your customer avatar think of the following questions:

• Who is my ideal customer? Who would I like to work with?
• Are they able to pay my fees? Will they be willing to pay my fees?
• What problem do they have in life, that my offering will help them solve?
• Why is it important to get it solved?
• How many of those customers are out there in the marketplace?
• WHERE… (do they work? Where do they study? Where do they live?)
• WHAT… (do they eat, drink, read, listen to, are interested in?)
• HOW… (do they look for new products or services, do they choose their suppliers, do they pay the bills?)

Talk to current and former clients to understand if they want the services you offer - there is no better way to find out if people want what you set out to deliver than actually asking them!  Talk to your ex-colleagues, people you know in business, create a survey and email it to your contacts. At the end you will have a statistics to hand to show whether your business proposition is viable.

Keep marketing even when you’re snowed under with work – many solopreneurs go through the same business cycle of  ”no work – marketing – lots of work – no marketing – no work”. It may be hard to find time when you are already busy. But by carefully managing your time and finding a few chunks of 60-90min per week to do your marketing will help you smooth the flow of work and ensure that you don’t end up with too many of those “no work” periods. Many marketing strategies are designed for ongoing marketing based on building relationships. Such strategies work best when you regularly commit to doing something over and over again, regardless of the amount of time/work you have at the moment: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, other social media, networking, blogging, etc.

Invoice promptly and chase for payment as soon as its due – if you have done your job well you should get paid for it. And being late with your invoice can show your business as unorganised. Plus it means you are giving your customers a free credit, instead of earning interest on their payment in your own bank account. If you are really late with your invoice – the customer may forget about the benefits of your product or service, may ask for changes or extra work before the invoice gets paid or simply go out of business in the current climate. Can you really afford to lose your income like that?

Keep careful records of expenses for tax purposes – trying to do a year’s worth of accounts actually at the end of the year is more expensive, more stressful and there is a deadline which you can’t miss. Much better way is to keep track of your income and expenses throughout the year and keep your book-keeping system up-to-date. Losing claimable business expenses (especially if paid by cash) could mean that you will have to pay more tax than you should. So speak now to your accountant to see if they offer a book-keeping service, set up your system to do it yourself and get your virtual assistant to help with book-keeping on the regular basis (TJConsulting can offer great deals for our book-keeping customers using Xero or KashFlow systems).

Always use a contract or send clients your terms and conditions, however small the job – make sure your contract has been checked by a solicitor before you start using it. Not sending your contract through for a “small job” can potentially leave you open to payment disputes, invalidation of your business and/or professional indemnity insurance, claims against your business. Better being safe in the knowledge and both parties have clear expectations and know the rules – so spend that 15-30min to draft your contract and get it signed before starting any assignment. Finally, if the client wants you to sign their own agreement – get it checked first by a solicitor to ensure that there will be no unpleasant surprises later.

Put at least 30% of what you earn aside to cover tax and unexpected gaps in income – August and Christmas time are traditionally quiet in the UK. In any country there will be periods when a lot of people take time off to go on holidays. So cover yourself for such gaps you need to ensure there is enough cash in the business. Another issue to consider is tax. Unlike being employed, when your tax is taken off the salary before it’s transferred to your bank account, when you are running a business you need to remember that taxes are due quarterly or yearly in most cases and prepare for it. Your accountant can give you an estimate of how much tax will be due to ensure that you have enough cash set aside to cover those bills when the time comes.

BONUS TIP: Being a solopreneur doesn’t mean you are alone – although you won’t have a water cooler where you can chat to your colleagues, you can find people in similar position to buddy up with. LinkedIn has a large number of groups specific for industries, interests or locations where you can talk to other professionals, exchange tips and experience. Online and offline networking can offer a sense of community and interaction. Finally, having a business coach or a mentor can offer guidance, support and a sounding board for your ideas. Some of our clients regularly have a business briefing sessions when we help them to sort out their ideas and projects, create a structured system of what needs to get done when, offer a sympathetic ear for their business problems – one of the reasons to hire a virtual assistant.

What’s your top business tip? Please share with other readers!