Re: Help! What am I doing wrong??
Malaika,
When someone contacts me with the first question being 'about my rates', I already know that this individual may become a problem. That's not to say that paying for my services shouldn't be a priority but what I want to see in a client when they contact me is someone who is interested first, in what in what I can do to provide solutions and second, I want a client who sees the value in working with a virtual assistant. If they ask about money/rates upfront, my experience is that they more than likely cannot afford a VA and they might have problems with payment later.
The idea is to attract clients who can afford your services so you may want to market to those who have a strong presence on the internet; those who might be in business for more than a year or two; and those who might have worked with a VA previously. These are some of the attributes of my 'ideal client' but they vary and are not finite. Your ideal client attributes may be different. (I will occasionally work with someone who has not worked with a VA, for example, but that hasn't been the case in my circumstance for some time now.)
So my advice is to continue to market to your ideal client while you are responding to inquiries that may or may not come to fruition.
Also, there are many people who contact me who will simply 'drop off' after I send them my welcome packet. (This is a packet I put together which is in pdf format that explains my rates, my business policies, etc.) I have learned to expect that the 'tire kickers' will always be a part of the process. In fact, I would say that of 10 people who contact me, maybe 2 will become clients. So I just consider the 'drop off the face of the earth' scenario as just part of doing business. The 'tire kickers' waste my time and after learning the hard way that my time was valuable, I put the packet together and send that out with a 10-question survey they complete. I follow up twice; if I hear back, great, if not, then I move on and continue to market to those who are more likely to be my ideal client.
I wouldn't fret about those who don't respond to you. In fact, if they don't have the courtesy to respond to you, then you probably don't want to work with them anyway. They may be come a problem client later.
People won't respond for a number of reasons...it may be the rates...it may be that they changed their mind...or they may have found a referral. You may never know. Stick by your rates and don't think that people may not respond back because of your rates.
But always, you want to continue your marketing...write your blog pieces...network on LinkedIn and respond to discussion questions...attend any networking meetings...write a newsletter...start a campaign and market it on Facebook...start your own networking group on the social sites...before you know it people who see the value in your services will check out your website and email you asking you what you can do for them. Then spend some time researching their social sites, their websites, and Google their name and business name and familiarize yourself with their businesses so you can respond best knowing how you can help them.
Janine
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