Yesterday, I attended a meetup of Northern California VA's. It was great meeting all these new people, I am very impressed to say the least. They had a guy in who is sales consultant and he had some very simple rules to follow that will help you sell your VA skills;

1) Ask yourself, why you are in business? (money, freedom, etc)
2) Stay focused (keep a short list and stick to it)
3) Get passionate (you really need to love what your doing)
4) Choose optimism (you CAN choose)
5) Keep moving (dont give up)

One of the main pointers I walked away with, sales is not evil or bad. We all hate hard sales pitches, we dont have to do that. If we stay optimistic and remember that we arent trying to hard sell, we are searching for people who genuinely need our services, we can keep moving.

For every XX amount of NO's, there is a YES.. keep working on the NO's... figure out how many No's you have to get before getting that word YES.. Keep telling yourself, "I am not trying to force anyone into using my services, I am searching for people who need me."

I walked away with a whole new outlook.. I am going to implement this info immediately.

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www.sageva.com
Shelley Halpain,

Great information Shelley, thanks for sharing this.

These questions can be used when you are trying to form your elevator pitch since it gives a different perspective to the process of selling yourself.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Sure, they can be used for everything we do to sell ourselves. The guy who did the seminar has a website if your interested www.jerrykennedy.com he has some good info.

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www.sageva.com
Shelley Halpain,

Shelley - Wonderful info. Like the list, especially "Choose optimism (you CAN choose)." While every item is crucial, this is surely most crucial!

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

I have a list, I am going to make 25 cold calls this week (eeek) 5 per day. Have to weed through all the NO's so I can find that person who needs me and says YES.

Working on my schpeel.....

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www.sageva.com
Shelley Halpain,

Great advice, Shelley. I think you just answered one of my questions with your last post. I was wondering what kind of short list are you talking about. I guess you mean that you should focus on a short "sales" list and then, once done with that, create a new list and then focus on that. Correct? (i.e. rather than creating a HUGE list of 50 contacts, create smaller contact goals such as create a list of 10 leads and then schedule a couple of hours to go through that list.)

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

That too, but what I meant was dont overload yourself with too many things on your 'to do' list (rule 2), you will just be setting yourself up for failure and that doesnt help you get further along. Instead of making a giant list, make a short list, like 5 items (or even 1 ) and work on each item until its complete, move to the next. What ever is still on the list at the end of the day can go to the 'to do' list for tomorrow. This helps me stay organized, which can be a challenge, I am so easily distracted by shiney objects and dandelions.

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www.sageva.com
Shelley Halpain,

When you say "Sales is not evil or bad", you really hit a nerve. I have been trying to work up the courage to get out there and GO and TALK to my local business owners. I can do this, I really can, I just freak out at the thought of seeming pushy.

You are right about I am not trying to make someone buy my service, I am looking for who it could help. That makes it all seem less scary - I wanted to be a VA to help others - ironic that it took this post to make me see that I have to have the same mindset in my self-selling - Thanks tons

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~ Norma Guerin
DSA Virtual Assistant Services

Originally Posted by ShelleyH

This helps me stay organized, which can be a challenge, I am so easily distracted by shiney objects and dandelions.

You too, huh?

Thanks for the clarification. It definitely helps to make really small chunks out of a larger project (or even a daily dreaded chore).

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Shelley,

I too am distracted by shinny objects, but the point about moving forward really makes sense, not just for business but in many aspects of our lives. When the passion and drive is at a high it is easy to move forward, but not all days are like that. I love persistence.

Cheers!

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Bernice
Energy Virtual Assistant