As much as any of us may dislike the very notion of selling, or the actual selling itself, as business owners we need to face the reality that we are SALESPEOPLE. You don't land a new client or new project with an existing client out of sheer luck (OK, it happens every once in a while) you land that new contract because you've successfully SOLD yourself, your services, your results....

It's important to continue to market to new industries and groups of potential business contacts but don't forget that your existing clientele is your biggest, closest possible market for increasing your current income (YES, even if it's just one part time client!).

Chances are, your client isn't even aware of 50% of what you COULD do for them to increase their productivity, their revenue, their abundance. They're focused on what you're doing now, what you have been doing, etc. and have hardly had a chance to explore what else is available. There's also a good chance they don't even know how to ask about what else is on the menu - not because they're not aware of what their business needs, but because they simply can't see all the ways in which you can solve those problems for them.

If you don't offer it to them, they don't know they want it.

When was the last time you sent a note to your clients announcing a great new service offering you have on menu or looked deeper into their website or general business operations to see where else you might make a big difference?

Find ways within you existing clientele to branch out the services they're already taking advantage of and you WILL increase your bottom line.

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How true! Thanks for the advice, Tess!

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Tammi Metzler ~ The Write Associate
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Thanks for the reminder Tess. I am one of those that just goes along with what the client has requested. I need to learn to think outside of that and offer other things to help my client out. I mean, what I offer is a valuable service, why wouldn't they want it??

Tess, this is very true. We advertise ourselves as being a "partner" with our clients' businesses, but it is so easy to get caught up in the tasks we were asked to do that we become complacent in investigating to see what else we can help our clients with. Great reminder!

i almost got a client last Monday but "she" never call me again.. i think i "spoiled" a bit..

i don't want that to happen again.. and by joining this forum, i know that i'm going to be educated from your experiences, and the next time a would-be-client would ring my phone, i'll make sure i'm going to get the job..

Originally Posted by jovelle

i almost got a client last Monday but "she" never call me again.. i think i "spoiled" a bit.. i don't want that to happen again.. and by joining this forum, i know that i'm going to be educated from your experiences, and the next time a would-be-client would ring my phone, i'll make sure i'm going to get the job..

Did you follow up with her either by phone or email? Often times potential clients are dealing with overwhelm in their small businesses and it can take a bit of effort on the part of the VA to steer them toward actually starting the working relationship. If you didn't follow up - do it now!

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Tess - thank you for sharing an important reminder. I agree with what you said and it's something I always do. Another thing I plan on doing this is in blog as well.

Jovelle - I agree with Tess it's a great idea to follow up. You never know!

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Brenda A. Jones
www.brevos.com

Tess and Brenda,

I followed your advice but sadly they already hired another VA...

Well, anyway thats okay.. I have a hunched that I'm going to have my first real client soon...remember the "written system for preparing and consuming breakfast" task? well, he replied to me and he said he likes what I submitted..

But I'm still keeping my fingers cross..

Good job on the "breakfast" task, Jovelle.

Just out of curiousity, and I hope I'm not being too nosy here, what do you think may have happened to make the client go in another direction and how do you plan to "fix" it?

I think my biggest weakness in selling myself and what I can do for my potential client is to sound like I really know what I'm talking about in the initial consultation (1st impressions mean everything, you know). I tend to get stage fright when put on the spot and come off sounding really flaky or stupid when I really do have some great ideas and know what I'm talking about. So, for me, I'm going to have to try really hard to know exactly what it is that I'm offering and how I can apply that to the personal situation of any potential client. I also think that I may try to have a more detailed "can do" list in my back pocket, so that if a potential client requests something different than what I've advertised, I may already have some generalized ideas ready to go and make sure that, whenever possible, I do my background research before I ever talk to the potential client. Basically: prepare, prepare, prepare

Another thing I plan on doing is keeping a client diary and note everything about the meeting, including how I felt going in, how I felt coming out, what I think my chances are, what I think I did well, how could I have improved it and, of course, the final outcome (did I get the client and was I surprised or not). Does anyone else do this type of thing to help them hone their presentation/selling skills?

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase

jovelle..Can you say if you followed-up with the client?