The Client Communication Clinic we hosted in Vancouver last Friday was great! We finally met Renee Shupe, The Redhead VA, in person. We also met an aspiring virtual assistant and are meeting again this coming week while we’re still in the Vancouver area.

Joel and I will be in the Vancouver area until August 23rd at least. We’d love to meet other local virtual assistants in person and chat with you about your business. If you were unable to attend the Client Communication Clinic and would like to receive the instructional materials, we’d love to meet with you and provide you all the materials for the same cost as the Clinic.

We will meet with you in person anywhere within the Vancouver area at a time convenient to you for up to 3 hours and provide:

1. Client Communication Clinic CD package ($100.00 Value) – over 5 hours audio and 7 Special Reports on the following topics:

• Identifying Your Ideal Client and Target Market
• Networking Creates Word of Mouth Referrals
• Converting Prospects to Clients
• Effectively Marketing With Your Newsletter
• Bonus Tips: Grow Your Business as a Chief Virtual Officer
• 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success by John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

2. Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer, a 72-page action guide. ($19.95 Value) We use this action guide during the Clinic. You will also receive an Implementation Checklist to help you implement what you learn from the CD and Action Guide  in your business right away!

3. Personalized business advice and answers to your questions about your Virtual Assistant business.

All this for $100.

If you’d like to take advantage of this special offer, use our contact form and let us know where and when you’d like to meet and we’ll work out all the details.

Everyone wants more business. We want more prospects to become clients and buy from us. We attend networking events hoping to find good leads. As we meet new people, we tend to come right out and ask, ‘do you want to buy from me?’ Do you like it when someone approaches you at a networking meeting and tells you all about how they can help you but never asks you about your business? Of course not! This is a great way to turn off prospects.

Instead of approaching people at networking events with the idea of pushing your business, attend with the thought of getting to know other people and their business. You start to develop relationships that build to a point where you can know what the other person actually needs and if they need your services.

We’ll talk about this in greater detail in our group coaching calls in May. Learn more at the Chief Virtual Officer website.

A business broker I know suggested I write about the danger of a virtual assistant having only one client. Many virtual assistants would agree that they want more than one client. However I do know of VAs that only have one client because they get 20-40 hours work each week from that one client. That’s wonderful!

The one drawback to having just one client is – what happens if you lose that client? You’ve just lost your entire business. So even if you are working 20-40 hours per week for one client, consider adding a couple of smaller clients to your client base.

You may think you can’t take on additional work when you’re already working 20-40 hours per week for your one client. This would be a good time to get to know another virtual assistant that would be willing to sub-contract for you. There are other advantages to building a relationship with another virtual assistant also and we’ll discuss that in a future post.

Now that you have set up shop as a virtual assistant, you need to put it in writing. There are several documents you need to write if you want to have a successful VA practice. Here are some:

1. Business Plan
2. Marketing Plan and Calendar
3. Vision and Mission Statements
4. Client Contract detailing policies and procedures
5. Contract for Sub-Contractors, if you use them

You and your clients should have a clear understanding of what is expected from each party and what deadlines are required. Put it in writing and include your availability by phone and email.

What else do you think you need to have in writing as a virtual assistant?

Recently someone searched here for information about whether or not to post their support hours on their website.  So I wanted to provide some information about that.

Often, especially when a virtual assistant first starts their business, they may feel the need to work at all hours – late into the night and on weekends. Of course that’s the beauty of working for yourself – you can work those hours if you choose and take the more traditional hours to spend with your family.

However, do you want your clients thinking they can call you at 2 pm on a Saturday or email you at midnight and get a response at 6 am? Though you want your clients to feel that you are available, you need to set some guidelines as to when you are available and make sure all your clients are aware of this.

So I suggest you determine set hours that you are available for phone calls and make it clear when you will return emails. By clearly setting specific hours you work on client projects, your clients will know when you are available and appreciate that. And you won’t feel pressured to be up till midnight finishing a project since your clients know your work day ends at 5 pm.

One note of caution: as virtual assistants we may have clients in more than one time zone. Make it clear what hours you work in your time zone and be sure clients in different time zones are aware of the time difference.

Yes, let your clients know your available hours. Post your hours on your website and include it in your contract. Both you and your clients will appreciate it.