Avoid this costly mistake…
I recently spoke online with 2 highly skilled virtual assistants based in the UK. I was looking for a suitable virtual assistant for one of my clients who owns a small online internet business. The client was looking to work with a virtual assistant long-term, so it was a great opportunity for the right person. I set up some meetings to talk with suitable virtual assistants online over Skype.
Two of the ladies I spoke to were actively looking for new clients for their virtual assistant business. I was amazed by their VERY STRONG online presence. They both featured prominently on Twitter and Facebook. Both virtual assistants were well featured in small business virtual assistant forums and both seemed, at first look, to be perfect for the role I was looking to fill for one of my clients.
In actual fact, after speaking to both these ladies, neither of them were found suitable for the virtual assistant client contract. Why was that? Why on this occasion did they fail to win the new long-term client for their virtual assistant business?
Here’s the number one reason why, and 6 tips you can use so you don’t make the same mistake…While both these ladies presented beautifully online, and in the written form they failed to communicate effectively during the live discussion. They didn’t display the right attitude.
Instead of finding out what the client wanted, they spoke more about what they did. When I went into detail about the client expectations I was surprised to find both ladies questioning what the client wanted. Doubting the client’s request. (BTW…the request was for a certain webpage layout used by online entrepreneurs. The layout is tried and tested as successful. Yet both these assistants insisted on suggesting this was NOT the correct way to lay the page out).
I was even more surprised in the manner it was done. Certainly not the attitude of good service my client would expect from a virtual assistant.
Now, if you’re a virtual assistant or just starting out trying to get new clients, you too might be amazed at their response. The thing is, 2 out of the 4 virtual assistants I spoke to did the exact same thing. They showed lack of understanding and a bad attitude towards the client’s expectations. Hard to believe…but true.
If you’re looking for new clients for your virtual assistant business, take a moment to think about how you’re communicating with your potential prospects. It’s great to show initiative, it’s great to bring up new ideas BUT caution is needed. At the introductory stage, it’s not the time to start correcting your potential new client, telling them how they should be doing things.
What you should be doing, is finding out what your new potential client really wants…
- Do a little research before you speak with your potential client.
- Prepare some questions you can ask. Questions that will draw out your client’s thoughts, needs and wants.
- Find out what problems your potential client has, and how can you help solve them?
- Listen to what your client is telling you. Listen to how they answer your questions. What do they want you, as their virtual assistant to do?
- Pre-empt your client’s objections and come up with some solutions to overcome their possible objections.
- Showcase your solution to their problems and concerns.
These are some of the things you can do to ensure you secure that new client for your virtual assistant business. Take a lesson from the two UK virtual assistants I speak of here. Don’t do what they did. In the majority of cases attitude is more important than ability. Both these virtual assistants indicated to me that they were looking for more clients in the UK. And while they had many of the skills we were looking for they didn’t have the right attitude. We ended up hiring another virtual assistant based in the UK. She didn’t have the same skills or online presence the others did. In fact this girl had only just started out. She was looking for her very first client. But what she did have was a brilliant serving attitude. She got her first new client because of the way she communicated and handled herself!
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