Testimonials - the easy marketing strategy

Testimonials - the most powerful proof YOU can get

“You are fantastic!” That was the testimonial that not only made me feel the effort I put into the job was worthwhile but made me realise how much the client thought of my work. If I am feeling blue or stuck for words or just feeling a bit dull-headed, I remember that unrequested one line e-mail and the WOW factor blows my mind once again.

I had finished a piece of work for a London Bond Trader in what seemed to me my normal speed but what was clearly to him incredible. His e-mail made me feel he was pleased to be working with me and went out of his way to ensure that I knew this.

That one declaration made me comprehend that many who write their own testimonials and simply get the client to sign them, miss the point. Testimonials don't just do your career good, they do you good as well.

I coach individuals who want to open Virtual Assistant businesses as well as working with new and expert VAs. I tell them that they need to get permission to use any unexpected compliments or comments that they obtain by e-mail or letter.

'Off the cuff' remarks are often excellent testimonials and are not comparable to the pre-written and long thought over testimonial that you just get the client to sign. But let us be honest, ALL testimonials are worth their weight in gold.

For those of you who want to become Virtual Assistants, start assembling testimonials before you start your company.

You can get them from:

• Charity or vocational work you do
• Your current employer - perhaps in an annual review
• Your ex-employers
• People of status that you meet with on a regular basis

This means that when you put your Business Profile together you have a business history that you can include. This will give you kudos with prospective clients and you will not look like someone new to the profession at all.

Existing Virtual Assistants

It is just as important for you to ask your clients for testimonials. You can also ask for referrals at the same time if you are looking for more work.

Make sure your testimonials are obvious on your website and in your Portfolio. If they are formal recognition such as winning a business award or industry nomination etc, you can even use these after your name - I often use the strapline - "Di Chapman, The Award Winning Virtual Assistant".

Experienced Virtual Assistants

Get new testimonials - keep updating your website with new and inspiring comments from your current clients. Your web site is your brochure for the marketplace, keep it up to date.

Testimonials are one of the best free advertising mediums open to VAs and other SMEs.

Get as many testimonials as you can. Put them in your written portfolio but more importantly, ensure that they are placed on your web site so that other prospective clients can see them.

Find one, a short one, and memorise it. When times are busy, you feel distressed or you are slack and in need of work repeat this testimonial to yourself. You will realise that if one client feels that way about you, so will many others.

My mantra is 'You are Fantastic'. The writer of that testimonial has no idea how much help and support those three words have given me and my business.

This shows the dynamism of testimonials, one of the most powerful advertising tools you can have and they are free.

How do you get testimonials?

• Write a short list of say 6 clients
• Mail them with a request for a testimonial
• Do NOT write this yourself and ask them to just put their name on it. It will start to look questionable if you do as the style of writing will be the same
• Most clients will be only too pleased to do this
• Place the testimonial up on your web site and in your printed materials with the clients name, company and URL (with their permission)
• As you get new clients, e-mail them after say 6 months asking for a testimonial
• If you have a 'one off' large job, also ask for a testimonial

Testimonials, worth their weight in gold, but most importantly they are FREE.

Di Chapman October 2006

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We have had a very difficult summer here with awful weather since August and I always find that this brings me down. The long winters can be very difficult.

Surfing the net, I came across the web site of a well known children's heart surgeon, Dr Mani and started to read his story. He has become an Internet Guru to fund vital life and death operations
for poor children in India.

One of the books caught my attention and I would like to give you the 'blurb' I read.

'How To Be Happy When You Would Rather Be Sad'

Three powerful new revelations show you how to get what you want in life. Money. Relationships. Happiness. You can have it all -if you manage your emotions. Learn how in the Emotion Prism.

Well I have to admit that I bought the book and found it was a story in a story and very easy to read and put into practice. If you would like to know more visit here

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Well our Indian Summer is due to end this week but I remember last November when we were sitting having lunch outside saying how warm the weather was and within a week the temperatures went below freezing and stayed there. We are lucky to have seasons. Having lived in tropical countries that are either hot or hot and wet I have learnt to love the changes and am waiting for the trees in the valley to start their migration to gold and amber.

Stay healthy and be successful

Di Chapman - the Award Winning Virtual Assistant

How to Become a Virtual Assistant-Booking Terms

Virtual Assistant Booking Form and Sample Wording

Having had many requests for information regarding booking forms etc, I have put the following together. I hope that you find it useful but have to remind you that you need to 'fly' it past a 'Legal Eagle' before you use wording such as this in your business documentation.

I have a complete Booking Form which I use for each large project and each new client. I also ask for a deposit from new clients and for new large projects. I find the clients have no objection to this and if they are new clients and do have a problem, then perhaps it is better to know before the work starts than after the work has been completed. For urgent jobs, payment via PayPal can ensure that the money is transferred immediately.

When you become a Virtual Assistant you become a legal business and you must act and run your business with this in mind.

The wording in my Portfolio is as follows as I do not create a full booking form until the project is agreed.
A booking form or proposal will be produced for each order and must be agreed and signed by the client before work can begin. Each and every amendment will be agreed with the client and added to the booking form as an addendum.
The booking form will detail the terms and conditions of payment.

All work originating from the client will be returned to the client. All work produced by Iceni-it will be retained on our system for 60 days or as agreed.

Final proofreading is the responsibility of the client. Time scales for correcting work are detailed in the booking form.

Any extra work will be charged at the agreed hourly rate.

Any extra charges such as postage, telephone calls, non-standard materials etc will be charged at cost.

Three layers of incoming e-mail Virus protection are currently employed by our company but we will not open any attachments that we are not expecting. All out-going mails are virus checked and this is detailed within the e-mail. The scanning of all materials received from us is the responsibility of the client.
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I hope the above is helpful. I also hope that the weather in your part of the world is better than ours. It is cold and wet in this normally hot part of France - far worse than the UK - never mind, when the sun shines and the temperature rises up to the high 30's we will be moaning that it is too hot - are we ever happy :).

Di Chapman - the Award Winning Virtual Assistant

How to Become a Virtual Assistant-Finding Clients - Their Needs

"Testimonial for this process - just in case you were wondering if you really should be bothered...

I think the 'Clients - who needs them?' fact sheet is an excellent tool for focusing on and finding your target market. I have to confess this has been a particular thorn in my side whilst setting up partly because my skill base is so diverse that it worries me that I have looked more like a dabbler than a skilled professional.

After quite long and, at times, arduous trial and error sessions I believe I have finally found my niche(s) :) but if I had had a document like your fact sheet from the outset it would definitely have saved me time and money. As I am currently reviewing my business plans and marketing strategies I will use your fabulous document for a final assessment because it has raised questions that I have not taken into consideration.
Maggie Baldry" http://www.virtual-e-perfection.com

Using the "Clients - who needs them?" factsheet is a great start for finding that niche that will allow you to stand out from the rest of the 'crowd'. Once you know your niche it is much easier to find clients who can work with you. Your Virtual Assistant advertising budget can be spent specifically on attracting them and not in a generalised way.

Di Chapman - the Award Winning Virtual Assistant.

How to Become a Virtual Assistant-Finding Clients - Your Skills

* Who ARE my clients going to be?
* What do THEY do?
* Where can I find THEM?

Many people start a business and then run a business without ever finding out who their ideal clients are going to be. Saying - I will work for Small to Medium sized businesses, or my skills are best suited to the middle class individual, is casting your net far too wide. It is estimated that the response from a directed mail shot is 1 to 2%, and that is when it is ensured that each and every letter or mail goes to the target group who can best be served. Marketing yourself as a VA is almost impossible if you do not know who your ideal clients are.

It is far easier if you work in one specific field, such as Real Estate or if you specialise in Medical transcription, far more difficult if you are a ‘solutions provider’ – who actually needs that solution and what is it?

Finding your niche is the way to almost guarantee that your business will succeed - you may actually have more than one but you should concentrate on marketing the first and then you can repeat the procedure for your other specialist skills.

Di Chapman - the Award Winning Virtual Assistant"

Is my business YOUR business?

I am asking this question as I get a lot of queries I can answer but on occasion I get direct requests for personal business documentation that is confidential and has legal implications. Of course I am not prepared to give or even sell this – it is part of MY business that I have built up over the last 18 years.

I was amazed to find that ‘some’ Business Advisors tell prospective VAs that the best place to get information on how to set up their business is from other VAs. Your competition is NOT the best place and there are so many types of service on offer that you may go through a lot of Virtual Assistants before you find one who has the same skill set as you have. I have even been asked how much certain specialist equipment costs – not being on that side of the profession, I have no idea.

If you want information (apart from pricing) you will find that there are forums all over the world specifically for VAs. A search on Google will show up many of these and some directories also have a forum for their members. This is the place to ask and get answers to business questions.

Our site Become a Virtual Assistant gives as much information as we can on starting up, but due to country restrictions and local taxes etc it is impossible to cover all countries and their rules and regulations.

Items such as Booking Forms, Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies should be company specific and should also be checked over by a solicitor/lawyer/etc depending on your country. Your financial planning is of great importance and a visit to a local accountant is well worth it and will probably be free for a first visit. These professions are there to give you advice as are local business organisations.

Why should a newcomer to the VA industry not approach another VA for this information? Well the real reason I advise against it is because running a home or small business is more than just doing the work and collecting the cheque. It involves marketing, accounting and a myriad of other tasks just to keep the business running – they are not qualified and simply do not have time.

If you want further advice on starting up your practice, may I suggest Alexandra Amour’s site and book’s.

I hope that you are all enjoying summer. Work tends to slow down now for many but that just gives us time to plan our marketing campaign for the autumn. Summer to me means soft fruit and we were lucky enough to be invited to a cherry picking evening – the season is so short that it is a good excuse to eat as many as possible. Some went into bottles for the winter as a reminder on a dark day of what is to come again.

Di Chapman

8 Steps to Kick Start Your Virtual Assistant Practice

Well the site is really and truly up and running and our new complimentary e-book '8 Steps to Kick Start Your Virtual Assistant Practice' can be downloaded from here.

We have had a lot of really nice reviews and e-mails from both those wanting to be, new and experienced VAs. They all say the content is useful and very helpful.

Members of the AUKVA (Alliance of UK Virtual Assistants) have kindly sent in articles which I have put up as there is nothing as important as advice and help from your peers. There is also a page on digital transcription where I have two links to pages on the AUKVA site. This complex subject is described in detail both from the VA and Clients viewpoint and is written by AUKVA members.

I hope that the weather is kinder to you than it is to us. At the moment it is above 30C and we also have a gale blowing for a lot of the time. I don't mean a breeze - that would be great, I mean a howling hot gale. The garden is as put out as I am by it all.

Time for a tip?

I notice in all the mails I get that many of you are missing a trick - were are your signatures detailing what you do, where is your URL and where is your confidentiality statement?

With Outlook you can have as many signatures as you want. I have various signatures - for clients, VAs, friends, and forum posts.

My signature on VA posts is:

Best wishes

Di Chapman
The Award Winning Virtual Assistant

http://www.iceni-it.co.uk Resource site for new and aspiring Virtual Assistants.
Download your complimentary business e-book, '8 Steps to Kick Start Your Virtual Assistant Practice'

Winner, E-Business, (Small Company) Essex Countywide Business Awards
Winner, E-Business, (Small Company), Colchester and District Business Awards
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Iceni-it
Address and phone number goes here.

This message is private and confidential and may be legally privileged. No person other than the intended recipient may utilise the whole or any part of this message and/or its attachments. If any person other than the intended recipient views this message and/or attachment, please inform the sender immediately. All copyright and other intellectual property rights lie with the sender. All text, attachments and other parts of this message must be checked by every recipient (intended or otherwise) for viruses, trojans, worms and other matter, as to which the sender accepts no responsibility or liability.

When you send a mail - advertise your presence with every mail - get noticed, change the colour - stand out. You will be remembered eventually (they say it takes 6 to 8 times for your name to be seen for it to be remembered).

I hope you found the above tip useful. Used on forums you will find it creates a lot of interest - even if the forum has nothing but nothing to do with your business, everyone knows someone and I have got work from posting to forums on gardening topics :).

Enjoy June, summer is really here.

Best wishes,
Di Chapman, the Award Winning Virtual Assistant

Where is the summer?

Well it is certainly a very late spring and the snakes and lizards are taking every opportunity to get as much sun as possible - much to my OH's distress. We are progressing, we now have stairs, all doors and windows fitted and a railing along the mezzanine - and for a present today I got a small rotovator - ah the rural life...

The Become a Virtual Assistant site is now finished and apart from general updates should not change much. It is being used quite heavily by new and aspiring VAs and also some experienced ones and offers of articles etc are very welcome.

It is very comforting to know that all the hard work started so long ago has been well received. I have had quite a few testimonials and will get them up on the site during the next update.

There is a newsletter and also a resource area which is passworded. To get to this area you have to register for the newsletter - I am managing to get software and articles which will help VAs and those who work from home. As Google are starting to use Video adverts I am looking at sound and video software, video is currently outside of my budget but I have found some sound software which will take an external recording and turn it into an MP3. This could be very useful for those who want to turn sound files into MP3 for digital transcription or who want to put sound on their website - either Virtual Assistant or private (to go with holiday pictures perhaps).

I hope that your Virtual Assistance business is doing well or if you are thinking of starting one, I hope your plans are progressing well.

Tip for summer work

If you are short of work for the summer, now is the time to set up your Virtual Assistant services to help your clients during their holidays. Send out a mail to regular clients reminding them that you can monitor their mails, take their calls and generally 'mind the store' while they are away. I used to print flyers with a stork carrying a baby and head it up 'The Business Baby Sitting Service'. I would go to networking meetings and leave these on the display table, talk about the service to business people I met and generally get the idea across that they could go away on holiday or business and not worry.

They no longer had to check their mails every hour as I could text them if there was anything urgent. Quite often I would deal with clients work and not have to contact them at all. This side of the business grew and kept me busy during the summer which is often a slack time, I then got asked to cover if they went away for any length of time on business or pleasure at any other time. If you are looking for summer work, give this a try - you only need the client to give you their e-mail details and forward their phone.

Please send us any ideas you have for content - I am getting feedback and just need time to get everything done as well as keeping the business running. It is probably lucky that the weather is so bad otherwise I would have the sun on my mind.

Tomorrow is the 1st of June - summer is really here, we just have to wait for the sun to find this bit of France.

Di Chapman
The Virtual Experience of an Award Winning VA

Website is up and running

The Become a Virtual Assistant website is up and running. It is still in the beta stage for items such as the autoresponder which should be working tomorrow but a temporary one is working now to allow access to the downloadable resources area where we have put items that should help any new Internet business.

We are looking for articles and experiences from those who have been in the industry for a few years. This like any business takes hard work and time and effort but is really worth it. I must admit I forgot just how much work putting up a site like this takes but it has been worth it as I have had so many mails and kind words regarding the site.

Please let us have any comments you may have via our contact form and we will try to help in any way we can. I have already been asked for help with marketing and website optimisation. I have put a downloadable book on site optimisation in the members area and will add a marketing book shortly. The members area is, like the rest of the site totally free and is there to help you start or improve your Virtual Assistant business.

I hope that those of you in the USA had a wonderful Mothers Day and the rest of you a great weekend. It alternates between hot and cold and wet at the moment. That is the fun living 1,500 feet up on a remote wooded hill.

I will let you know when the new autoresponder is live - due to the anti-spam laws those of you already members will get a new opt-in form, please just click to enable me to keep sending you updates and other information.

Many thanks for all your support.

Di Chapman - http://www.iceni-it.co.uk

What goes around comes around

Referrals for Virtual Assistants

In the last two weeks I have helped one of my clients find another VA to undertake regular work - a direct referral from me with no payment in any direction. I have stopped worrying about this as I know that a good part of my business comes from other Virtual Assistants who refer me to their clients for enquiries they cannot handle - and this has just happened again. I am negotiating a large piece of on-going work with a company referred to me by another VA. I may not get the work, but then that is never a guarantee.

Your competitors are your greatest source for work after your existing clients. It is easier to sell on than find a new client - about 8 times easier. When you have other VAs who respect the work you do you have a whole new group of 'jobfinders' and you respond by doing the same for them. It is based on trust and in my case it is not subcontracting but completely handing over the work.

Subcontracting in France has no benefit to me as I cannot deduct the subcontractors cost from my turnover for tax purposes. In other countries it can put your turnover into the range of VAT and other local taxes which makes you more expensive. It also involves you in extra work which is often hard to charge back to the client unless you increase your rates - again making you less cost effective. All this involves trust - but then trust gets you more referrals...

Working on the new website

Hopefully the new website for aspiring and new Virtual Assistants will go up today. It is very much in the Beta state and the complimentary resource pages are not complete but I need to get it up as you can 'fiddle' with things and in the end it is better to get them up and see what others think, so I will post here again when the site is up.

Long weekend?

If you are lucky enough to get a May-day public holiday I hope you have a good extended weekend and the sun shines. It has warmed up here finally but I saw my first hornet today so I KNOW the warmer weather is on its way and I just want to stay inside with the shutters closed, me paranoid - YES...

Di Chapman

Bend it like Beckham

Before you start your Virtual Assistant business you need to have a good idea of what you want to achieve and to do that you have to set your goals. Have you written down just one?

If not - PLEASE - think hard about the most awful thing you can think of and then think of the opposite.

So if the most awful is being homeless, the most wonderful is being mortgage free and having a huge house.

Sometimes this method makes setting goals easier. If you still have no idea where to start, please read the previous blog entry and download the free e-book from the link supplied.

It is much easier to get going on your business plan if you know what you want. You need to aim high, the lower you set your sights the less you will achieve. I really got going when I started to enter Business competitions. I did not think for one moment a sole Virtual Assistant would win, but I would never know if I did not set my sights on the prize and enter - and win I did and more than once.

Short and sweet as this is the weekend, I hope you all have a good one, Di Chapman

It is all down to the planning

Well two days out of the office - but all in a good cause. My husband was 60 today and we had lunch out. Yesterday we picked up friends from the local airport which is near a large industrial area so also managed to get a lot of things we cannot get locally.

Now what has all this to do with being a Virtual Assistant - well planning.

I have planned cover for my business - organised and all the clients know.

Jobs that come in to be done when I am back at work get printed off with a to-do sheet, per client, stapled to the front and each new item gets written on it and the mail filed. That is just my way of planning.

My husband planned the last two days as he plans everything, in writing, as a list and ticks it off as he does it. He leaves early so make sure he arrives on time and as he is project managing our build keeps records of everything.

Goal setting and planning are so important - you MUST get into the habit of doing both. If you would like a free copy of Setting Goals 2006, please go to http://www.iceni-it.co.uk/free_downloads/SettingGoals2006.pdf

This is typical of the free resources we give away with our newsletter on a regular basis, so if you would like to go to http://www.iceni-it.co.uk and register for our newsletter, the next download will be a free months 'fun' and quizzes game to help you develop your business mind-set whilst enjoying yourself.

Di Chapman - who has her goals written on a white board where she can see them all day while she sits at her desk - yes I practice what I preach.

Become a Virtual Assistant

I get posts on an almost daily basis asking how to become a Virtual Assistant or VA. Having been in the business since 2000 it obviously cannot be condensed into one e-mail and there are so many types of VA - ie people who are self employed and work via the Internet that it is a huge subject. The aim of this blog is to give new and those thinking of becoming a VA what life is really like.

I have to own up and say that my office is in a partly converted barn high in the French hills so I am not even the average Virtual Assistant but then that is good because to succeed in this business you need to be far more than average - the average only normally last a year.

If you have any comments on this blog or anything you would like to see covered, please mail me at chapman.di@gmail.com and I will try to cover and answer your questions.

Di Chapman