Time Management

Your virtual support will be able to manage your time efficiently, primarily by setting up a Google calendar online.

The information can then be shared and synchronised with Outlook or any other calendar.

Contact us by email for help and advice, or telephone Tamara, on 0203 468 8594.

The best of both worlds comes from a team that is provided with a clear picture of your vision , who are then given the freedom to do the job to the best of their abilities.

Are you are afraid of taking the plunge because you’ve heard horror stories of Virtual Assistants leaving you in a mess, and you have no idea how to access the parts of your empire they have dealt with?

To avoid this happening:

It’s a mistake to carry on with something that is only OK, it’s a waste of their time and your money. Don’t settle for second best just because it’s easier. Your team should support your business, helping it progress and grow. If you have chosen your team unwisely, you can change this. Don’t expect things to get better until you have taken responsibility and made the moves necessary to remedy the situation, whatever that entails. Having a heart to heart with your team may sort things and give people the opening to either follow and really work with you at your business or take the moment to move on and find something else.

You don’t have to go it alone, there are many virtual support professionals available who can help you succeed in your business . Trying to do everything yourself is a recipe for disaster . There are people available to do all the jobs you hate doing, or the ones that take you such an inordinate amount of time to do, which would then allow you to get on with building your business while they take care of things.

Have you got the right team?
If you feel, or can say, that your team cares as much for your business as you do, you may well have the ‘dream team ‘.
With the right team in place it should give you the confidence that they understand what you want and they will make it happen. They enjoy what they do and share with you in the success of your business, proving with what they do, that they care about your business as much as you do.

For help and advice, email or telephone Tamara, on 0203 468 8594.

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

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Engaging your audience is a large part of staging a virtual event.

Let your audience determine your content. Make your content interesting and cover popular topics. Find out what your audience likes to do both on and off line. Produce your event so that the content is familiar and comfortable to them.

Promotion

Once everything is in place, event planned, sponsors on board, your twelve week time line gives you plenty of time to publicise your event.

Start your promotion 8 weeks before your event date. The ability to track your promotional activities (campaign tracking) lets you know just how well things are going. You can take immediate action if your promotion is not working.

10 ideas for a Virtual Event

For more information contact us by email or on 0203 468 8594.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Your plan needs to consist of everything you want to happen within your virtual event:

Although they are not so time consuming as their physical counterparts, you will still need time to put together the tools and technology to produce a professional virtual event. Research providers and communicate your requirements, working closely with them to ensure correct amounts of resources are available, so that things run smoothly.

With larger productions, you may need to hire a consultant to examine and advise on the look and feel of your presentation to ensure your information is transmitted effectively.

Check out previous events, ones that have worked and maybe ones that haven’t so you can avoid their shortcomings and modify to your advantage.

The amount of resources that you need to produce your event will depend upon whether you are targetting a few team members or customers or promoting the next revolutionary product within your industry.

If you know your audience and understand the best way to reach them, use the facilities within the virtual event to specifically target individuals and groups, ensuring your message reaches the right people.

Another consideration is to hold a hybrid event, one that has one foot in the physical world and the other in the virtual. Make material available electronically for additional learning and to attract a larger audience of people who were unable to show up on the day.

The needs of your audience should dictate the direction you take and if you take notice of this, it will lead to success.

Timeline

The event

See the next blog for more information about Virtual events and contact us on 0203 468 8594.

Two other webinars we have joint hosted on Eventbrite.

From Zero to Tw-ero – how to start using Twitter for business and get followers, fast! Tamsin Fox-Davies of Enthuse Marketing and Tamara Baranova of TJConsulting Virtual Assistance

Your digital presence: Developing your personal online marketing strategy & using LinkedIn Alexia Leachman of Blossoming Brands and Tamara Baranova TJConsulting Virtual Assistance

Google Alerts – You can set up Google alerts to find out what people are saying about a company, its products, the industry you are in or your niche. The alert can be edited to find web pages, newspaper articles or blogs. Google checks regularly for results in your chosen fields and sends an email to you daily (or as the news happens if you have elected for that).

Blog directories – Technorati and Alltop are good sources for finding what other bloggers are saying about your niche. Both have comprehensive lists that are categorised supplying you with a wealth of information from the blog world.

Subscribe - Follow and subscribe to other bloggers who are experts in your field. This will keep you informed and in the know. Find out what they are discussing so you can gain inspiration from their writings.

Share – When you link to others don’t remain invisible. Have your say, whether you agree or disagree, and add your perspective to the comments. Adding to the conversation makes you more valuable. The Internet loves a good argument and controversy. Encourage readers to comment and interact with with you.

Poll – There are free web poll generators available for you to build your own poll. Ask your niche to vote on things that are relevant to your niche. Results form the poll can be used as content ideas for future blogs. Polldaddy, 99polls, Vizu and if you have your blog feed into your Facebook account you can place a poll on your fan page.

Blow – Blow your own trumpet about anything you are doing! If you are speaking at a conference, hosting an event, launching new products or services, tell your readers about it and post it to your blog. If you have a press release written and distributed place that on your blog too.

Tips – Share information in the form of information and tip lists about things that will be of interest to your followers. Ask them for their views to provoke comments, to not only spread the word but to start a conversation.

Categories – Make a list of your topics that you are blogging about, and then define into sub- topics. Transfer this listing to your calendar so that on any particular day you can see what you will be blogging about. You won’t need to think up an idea, you’ll already have it on your calendar.

Ask – On Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook you can ask questions and get an immediate answer, giving you another source to build your blog.

Top 10 lists – Place a list of what you consider to be the top 10 blogs in your niche, on your blog. People on the list will like the fact that they’ve made it on to a top 10 list and may write on their blog about it. It’s a good way to get known and build a reader following.

After a short time of blogging you will be receptive to all manner of snippets that will feed your blog writing. Keep a notebook handy, online or a paper one, to note down any happenings that could make good blog posts. You may find that a high percentage you may not use but the list can be a useful source of inspiration when you need it.

]]> http://tjconsulting.co.uk/need-some-inspiration-for-your-blog-10-tips-for-content/feed/ 0 http://tjconsulting.co.uk/emails-make-difference-open-rates-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=emails-make-difference-open-rates-2 http://tjconsulting.co.uk/emails-make-difference-open-rates-2/#comments Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:00:42 +0000 Diane Scott http://tjconsulting.co.uk/?p=1241 You can read part 1 of this post here. Below is the continuation – part.2

Because the name and subject line may be all your prospects/customers see in their Inbox, it’s important that first impressions get across as much as possible to achieve higher ‘open’ rates.

Try different things:

Keep a common element in your emails, so even if some parts of it change you have consistency and don’t automatically get deleted when your email, in the main, goes unrecognised.

That’s why many small business owners use one of the 3 types of business calls delegation: call answering, call handling or call managing.

Call answering is the simplest and the cheapest form of virtual reception. Usually it’s handled by teams of people so that there is always someone available to answer incoming calls. Call centres have advanced IT systems installed, that tell them in an instant which company the call is for, how they need to answer it and how to pick up a message. The conversation will go something like this:

Virtual Receptionist: [your company name], good morning! [their name] speaking. How may I help you?
Caller: Good morning. I’d like to speak to [your name] please.
VR: [your name] is not available right now / out of the office / away in a meeting. Would you like to leave a message?
Caller: Yes please. [introduce themselves, leave a message and a phone number]
VR: I will pass the message straight to [your name] once he/she gets back to the office. Thank you very much for your call!

What’s the benefit of this service? You don’t rely on the voicemail machine any more. Your phone is answered quicker. Callers are more inclined to leave a message, rather than listen to a voicemail recording. You will receive the message via email and/or a text message and can decide if it is so urgent that you have to stop what you are doing and return the call as soon as possible. This service is usually used by businesses that only need to divert their phones on rare occasions and/or have a small calls volume.

Next level is call handling. A professional call handler knows as much as possible about the business or the person they are answering the call for. In this case they can not only take a message but are able to assist the caller with simple tasks, that won’t require your attention. For example, call handlers can provide information about the business (address, opening hours, how to contact the business, how to request a refund, how to make a purchase, where to find certain information on the website). They can deal with enquiries such as booking an appointment in your diary, taking a new order/payment, chasing a delivery, sending promotional materials. Finally, they can take a more detailed messages, pre-qualify new leads, prioritise urgent matters and in some cases connect those calls directly to your private mobile.

The main benefit of call handling, above those of call answering, is that you usually have the same person(s) dealing with your calls. You can train them how the calls need to be answered, they learn more about your business, your systems and operations. Efficient call handlers save you time by dealing with simple matters that you don’t have to be involved with yourself. This service works best for someone who needs their business phones to be manned most of the time, who would like to offer a better customer service without wasting their own precious time to deal with mundane enquiries.

Finally, there is call management. It can work instead or alongside call answering/handling. The key difference is that you, as a business owner, will hardly ever answer any of the calls or messages yourself. Instead, your business manager will. A business manager is someone who works alongside you on all key projects, who know the business inside out, who has access to most systems, documents and information. Typically, a virtual assistant who is heavily involved in supporting your business, could act as your business manager. In this scenario, once the message is taken by one of the two call diversion services, it will be sent to your business manager. The business manager will then either deal with the message or pass it on to you. If you delegated down enough of your responsibilities you will find that most of the messages can be dealt with by your business manager, rather than you.

Some virtual call answering or call handling businesses promote themselves as virtual PAs or virtual assistants. This has been causing a lot of confusion amongst small business owners. But you can see clearly now that it’s not the same. Not all virtual assistants will be available to answer your phones throughout the business hours. And not all virtual receptionists will have enough knowledge and understanding about your business to be able to handle the messages.

So next time you are switching on the voicemail to get some work done or to attend a meeting, think about using a professional call diversion service.

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!

Are newsletters a waste of time? Yes and no!

But if they take too much time to write and too much time to read then they do just waste everyone’s time.

The pace of life is such these days that it’s difficult to find the time to read a full newsletter – even if most of it is interesting. (Let’s face it the ‘filler’ articles that make up the bulk rarely are).

How much more difficult to find the time to write the stuff – especially if hardly anyone’s going to read it!

Yet they do fulfil a purpose – they keep you in-touch with your clients/customers on a regular basis (so long as you put the effort in regularly enough). Remind them you exist and are still there when they need you.

How about ‘a little often’?

I’ve noticed that of the slew of stuff that hits my email account the stuff I do read is generally a) interesting and b) bite sized. A punchy subject line goes a long way – especially if it’s backed up with an interesting story. And short. Almost the shorter the better.

There are some real masters of this craft out there who get me almost every time. (Sorry guys – no one is 100% interesting all the time!)

They hit my inbox at least once or twice a week – sometimes more. But I don’t mind. Because they’re short, to the point and interesting.

MicroNewsletters?

THE cardinal rule of Twitter is ‘a little, often’. Perhaps the same applies here – just on a different scale?

So no need to labour over ‘War & Peace’ – and take an afternoon out to write a whole slew of stuff. Take ten minutes to write about something interesting and keep it short.

And to the point.

I did. This took less than 10 minutes.

How was it for you?

Barry James is the creator and founder of Receipt Angel, Followup Angel and Angel Rooms – all parts of Angel Revolutions. He can be found on Twitter as @ReceiptAngel or online at FollowupAngel.net/events