Sometimes you just have to say no.. or give a referral!
When you first start your Virtual Assistance business you are constantly looking build your client base. You perfect your website, you learn your 30 second elevator speech to market your services, you find your niche for your services.
Now that I'm in my sixth year of business things have changed a bit. I have perfected my marketing and have found my niche. My website brings new prospects to me regularly.
The Good news is.....After six years my client base has filled up and I have regular recurring client work each month. I have wonderful clients. They are easy to work with and we have developed routines over the years.
The Bad news is.....my client base is full but I still get regular requests from prospective clients who need my help. I hate to say no. It has been one of the hardest things to learn. But I learned over the last year or so that I must do so or jeopardize my ability to deliver on-time for my clients.
The Solution is....Referrals! When a prospective new client contacts me I listen to their needs and decide if they will make a 'good' client for a VA. ( Not everyone that calls is good client material ) I then do one of two things....
1. Refer to one of my sub-contractors if the services requested are a good match.
2. Refer to the http://www.ivaa.org/ RFP system. This is where a client posts their project description to be sent out to all IVAA members who are a good skill match.
Subcontractors.....are Virtual Assistants that I have working agreements with to handle work that I don't have time to do or that I don't have the skills to do well.
I either refer a client to them completely for a one time referral fee or I just send them projects to do for me on behalf of my clients and I handle the client interaction and billing.
By using referrals I am able to:
Now that I'm in my sixth year of business things have changed a bit. I have perfected my marketing and have found my niche. My website brings new prospects to me regularly.
The Good news is.....After six years my client base has filled up and I have regular recurring client work each month. I have wonderful clients. They are easy to work with and we have developed routines over the years.
The Bad news is.....my client base is full but I still get regular requests from prospective clients who need my help. I hate to say no. It has been one of the hardest things to learn. But I learned over the last year or so that I must do so or jeopardize my ability to deliver on-time for my clients.
The Solution is....Referrals! When a prospective new client contacts me I listen to their needs and decide if they will make a 'good' client for a VA. ( Not everyone that calls is good client material ) I then do one of two things....
1. Refer to one of my sub-contractors if the services requested are a good match.
2. Refer to the http://www.ivaa.org/ RFP system. This is where a client posts their project description to be sent out to all IVAA members who are a good skill match.
Subcontractors.....are Virtual Assistants that I have working agreements with to handle work that I don't have time to do or that I don't have the skills to do well.
I either refer a client to them completely for a one time referral fee or I just send them projects to do for me on behalf of my clients and I handle the client interaction and billing.
By using referrals I am able to:
- continue assisting business owners that request my services
- help other VAs build their business
- maintain my client load at a manageable level
posted by Rhonda Behnken at 1:08 PM
2 Comments:
As a relatively new VA, this is grat advice! I am so interested in everything, every prospective client has something to offer. But I have to keep in mind that the reason I started being a VA was so I could spend time with my kids, not substitute a full time office job for a full time home job.
I am developing a site called VirtualOutsourcing.org It is 100% free volunteer community where people can find and share groups, resources, tools, get questions answered by real VAs, and submit suggestions. There is even a searchable database of resources! This would be a great place for VAs to network and find others to share or refer clients to We plan to have it launched within a week, so everyone check in to check it out!
Well, nice to hear that you are a VA since 2001.
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