Write Associate : Please welcome tonight's guest, C.J. Hayden! C.J. Hayden is the best-selling author of three books: Get Clients Now!, Get Hired Now!, and The One-Person Marketing Plan Workbook. C.J.'s simple system for marketing and sales has helped thousands of independent professionals get more clients with less effort. C.J. has taught marketing for John F. Kennedy University, Mills College, SCORE, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Her articles on marketing and entrepreneurship appear in more publications than she can keep track of. Find out more about Get Clients Now! and C.J.'s new program Get Clients Forever at www.getclientsnow.com. Thanks for joining us, C.J.!

C.J. Hayden : Hi folks!

VirtualAssistant : Hi Cj

Tess : Hi C.J.!

VirtualAssistant :

beachlover : hi

D_Victoria_Virtual_Assistance : Hello C.J.

Write Associate : Hello, C.J.!

C.J. Hayden : Thanks, Tess, I'm happy to be here. Welcome everyone!

Desiree : Hello C.J.

Write Associate : Thank you! Welcome to you too!

C.J. Hayden : My topic today is "How Virtual Assistants Can ‘Get Clients Now!'"

C.J. Hayden : We're going to be talking about the three biggest obstacles that prevent virtual assistants from building a thriving business. I'm going to share those barriers with you and give you some suggestions for how you can overcome them. Your questions are welcome, and I'll stop a few times as we go along to see if anyone has something they'd like to ask, so you don't need to hold all your questions for the end. First, I'm pleased that so many VA Forums members have been reading the Get Clients Now! book and using the Get Clients Now! program. I know that many of you have been part of a GCN group right here on VA Forums, and we've got quite a few real-life success stories among your members about how GCN can help VA's succeed. So, thanks for your active participation! That's what really makes the GCN program work – your participation in creating your own success. I'm going to be talking in this chat about some of the key elements that help virtual assistants build a thriving business – strategies and tactics that really work... and some that don't.

C.J. Hayden : Here is some of what we're going to be talking about:

1. Networking and referral-building: why it works so well and how you can use it effectively

2. Choosing a niche: why you need one and how to go about choosing one

3. The critical importance of follow-up: how changing your follow-up approach can transform your business

4. Why advertising is usually not the best choice: why it doesn't work and how it can sabotage you

5. How consistent, persistent marketing can end your quest for the marketing "silver bullet"

Let's begin by talking about networking and referral-building.

The people already in your personal network are usually your first and best source of business, and tapping your network is one of the fastest ways for most VA's and other professionals to get clients, especially when your business is relatively new. You need to make sure that everyone you already know is aware of what you do as a VA, and that you keep in touch with them as your business grows.

C.J. Hayden : Don't wait until you're successful to let your friends, family, former co-workers, etc. know about your business. The way you GET successful is to start word of mouth spreading about your business instead of waiting for it.

C.J. Hayden : The easiest clients to get are those who come to you by way of referral. Referred prospects are less likely to question your rates, ask for references, or talk to your competitors.

C.J. Hayden : So you want to focus on building your referral base by deliberately making the acquaintance of people in a position to refer to you. For example, good referral sources for a VA (depending on your client niche) might be business coaches, accountants and bookkeepers, web designers, or marketing consultants.

C.J. Hayden : Think about what sort of people are naturally in touch with your ideal clients all the time, and then intentionally make the acquaintance of those people.

C.J. Hayden : Now... to be an effective networker, you need to have a few essential tools in your belt:

a. You need to know who your ideal client is. That's the only way you can figure out who to network with, where to network, who might be a good referral source to those people.

b. You need to have some idea of who might be in touch with your ideal clients on a regular basis. Those are the people who are most likely to refer to you.

c. You need to know where you can go to connect with ideal clients or the people who can refer you to them. Where do they "hang out?" either in person or online. Where are you most likely to encounter people that fit your target categories?

d. You need to be able to sum up the benefits of working with you in a sound bite. That's what will enable you to network effectively. You don't always have time for a long conversation, and online, you need people to be able to grasp what you do in one sentence. Believe it or not – don't gasp now – not everyone has heard of virtual assistants yet, and the concept isn't always easy for people to grasp. ;-}

e. You need to be prepared to follow up over time with the people you connect with. That's how the majority of sales and referrals eventually occur – from people who you have been in touch with multiple times, who are now ready to do business with you or refer someone.

C.J. Hayden : Whew! That's a lot to think about for effective networking and referral-building. Let's pause and see what questions and comments y'all have on that topic.

Write Associate : Do you prefer in-person or online networking? Or, I should ask, which do you recommend?

C.J. Hayden : Both in person and online networking are good. A lot depends on who you want to reach. And also your own personality and style of communicating.

C.J. Hayden : Some people love networking in person... and other people hate it.

C.J. Hayden : Same for online networking -- it's not for everyone.

KMartin : What do you think of BNI groups?

C.J. Hayden : I think BNI and other lead exchange groups can be good... But you have to take the time to get to know members outside meetings

VirtualAssistant : what are bni groups?

KMartin : Business Networking groups - they only allow one person of each type of business in their group

VirtualAssistant : oh...I was invited to participate in one...

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : BNI groups are very time consuming though

C.J. Hayden : If all you do is go to meetings, there often isn't enough time to build that know-like-trust factor that's so important Yes, meetings are time consuming and it's a big commitment

C.J. Hayden : I think that's an essential piece of deciding whether a BNI group... or any other type of networking group is a good fit.

C.J. Hayden : Let's turn to my next topic – choosing a niche: why you need one and how to go about choosing one.

C.J. Hayden : Choosing a niche is really a critical decision for effective marketing, because without a defined niche, you find yourself running all over the place.

C.J. Hayden : Without a niche, you don't know where you should be networking, who your best referral partners might be, how to craft an enrolling sound bite for your business, what should be on your website, where you might give a talk or write an article...

C.J. Hayden : You really can't make ANY important decisions about how to market yourself without having a niche.

ablackburn : My problem is that I don't know what my niche is.

C.J. Hayden : Being "nicheless" means that attracting clients is impossible. You must spend all your time pursuing clients; there's nothing that brings them to you. For VA's in particular, because your client base can be located anywhere, your marketing can also be located anywhere. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Your target market has no geographic limitations, which is great. But it's deceptively easy to start spreading yourself too thin by trying to market to the entire universe.

C.J. Hayden : I know sometimes VA's and other professionals fear that defining a specific niche will limit you in some way, but what it really does is FOCUS you. The best kind of focus is to choose a niche that consists of both a target market (who you are marketing to) and a specialty (capability that sets you apart).

C.J. Hayden : For example, your target market could be real estate agents and your specialty could be marketing campaigns, or your target market could be health care practitioners and your specialty could be medical office management. When you have a clearly defined niche, it enables you to seek out prospective clients – and for them to find you – in the vast sea of possibilities. Without a clear niche, there's no way for you to prioritize your marketing activities or craft any sort of targeted marketing message.

C.J. Hayden : Now... how do you choose a niche? I think what it really comes down to is where do you fit the best?

C.J. Hayden : Whose problems and goals do you really care about? What type of work do you most enjoy doing? Where do you already have a lot of established connections?

C.J. Hayden : In ecology, a niche denotes the position occupied by an organism within an ecosystem, the point where conditions best allow that organism to succeed and thrive. If we translate this idea to the business world, defining a niche where your preferences, talents and skills are uniquely appropriate can create ideal conditions for a sustainable business -- one that grows year after year with a minimum amount of effort.

C.J. Hayden : Let's see what questions and comments you might have about nicheing and niches.

Write Associate : How specific does a niche have to be? Can it be as broad as "small business owners" or does it need to be more specific than that?

C.J. Hayden : Small business owners can work... If you also have some sort of specialty

C.J. Hayden : So many VA's work with small biz owners What will set you apart?

VA Simple Services : How do you know if there is a market for your niche?

C.J. Hayden : VA Simple: I think sometimes you can just guess...

C.J. Hayden : Like small biz owners, for example.

C.J. Hayden : You know there are enough of them. But if your niche is a bit more esoteric, you may need to research it a bit.

VA Simple Services : I know there is a market for my niche but my potential clients don't know it yet!!

ablackburn : I enjoy making travel arrangements and planning events...where would that fall into?

C.J. Hayden : Travel arrangements and planning events, that can be a specialty...

C.J. Hayden : But who for, ablackburn, that's the other important part.

C.J. Hayden : You need both parts in the niche definition: target market and specialty. Then you have a really solid niche.

(Continued in next post, scroll down to continue reading...)

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VirtualAssistant : I can totally see how your business would grow by getting so focused like this and by getting so focused you could be so much more successful and love what you do even more. You are really making me think

VirtualAssistant : can general administrative be a niche in itself?

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : I want to work with sales executives and their sales teams where do you find those?

VirtualAssistant : I like focusing on the small stuff, email management, scheduling meetings and travel?

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : sales executives and their sales teams; travel coordination, sales reports, leads management, follow up

KMartin : I do bookkeeping mostly using Quickbooks so I guess I need to narrow it down even more than that?

VirtualAssistant : That can truly make a business owner more focused and organized

adavant : I want to work with entrepreneurs - biz coaches, authors, speakers, who market themselves online - I enjoy doing sales and squeeze pages, setting up aweber, creating newsletters, etc.

VirtualAssistant : wow...this really makes me think about the things that I LOVE to do and what it did for the business owner - very, very thought provoking.

D_Victoria_Virtual_Assistance : What happens if your niche is so narrow, that you know there is a need, but your market doesn't know they need your help.

C.J. Hayden : Now about that market that doesn't know they need you yet... I would only tackle that education project if you already have some sort of inroad... In other words, if you have connections into a market, you'll have a chance to educate them about what you can do If they don't know they need you AND you're going to have to build connections from scratch, that's tough

C.J. Hayden : OK, there's a lot here so let me pick up just one more thread

C.J. Hayden : My niche is helping independent professionals get clients My target market is independent professionals... My specialty is helping people get clients. The 2 together make a solid niche, and they also make a nice soundbite...

C.J. Hayden : Let's talk next about the critical importance of follow-up: how changing your follow-up approach can transform your business.

C.J. Hayden : Lack of consistent follow-up is why VA's can fail to get clients even when they know plenty of people interested in hiring a virtual assistant. C.J. Hayden : Consider this – the average American sees or hears 5,000 marketing messages per day.

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : wow!

Nancy's Virtual Office : WOW

C.J. Hayden : From the time we get up in the morning until when we go to sleep at night, there is marketing on our cereal box, marketing on our milk carton, marketing on the car radio, marketing on billboards along the road, marketing on our computer everywhere we turn...

C.J. Hayden : Wow! Where is your marketing message in that deluge of marketing communications?

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : lost in the clutter

C.J. Hayden : The thing you have to remember is that people WON'T remember you if you only contact them once. They won't "call you when they need you." C.J. Hayden : If you drop out of sight, you'll drop out of mind. People will forget about you.

C.J. Hayden : If you were the FIRST VA they ever heard of, but that was many months ago, now that they need a VA, they are not going to think of you if they've never heard from you again. They're going to contact the LAST VA they heard from. That's who will be top of mind. One simple change that can immediately make all your marketing more successful is this – follow up with every contact you make, do it consistently, and don't quit when you get busy. Follow up can take many, many different forms. You can call people, email them, send them postcards. You can subscribe them to an ezine or to receive notices about your blog posts (with their permission, please).

C.J. Hayden : You can invite them to attend an event where you are speaking (which may be a virtual event). You can send them a copy of an article you wrote.

C.J. Hayden : You can invite them to join your social networking community of choice, and stay current with them on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn.

C.J. Hayden : You can make regular posts to a message board where they are also members, or post regular comments to a blog that they also read.

C.J. Hayden : The point is that you need to STAY VISIBLE – your clients and referral sources need to hear from you and about you in order for you to be the first person they think of when they, or someone they know, needs a VA.

C.J. Hayden : What questions and comments do you have about follow-up?

msliz2xu : so passing out a flyer, business cards, word of mouth might be better than just a website?

C.J. Hayden : No, it's not about flyers or biz cards, really...

C.J. Hayden : But word of mouth, yes.

StaceyStahl : This all makes alot of sense. I've heard that someone has to hear/see your name 16 times before they remember you.

Nancy's Virtual Office : How often do you do this without bombarding them with info

C.J. Hayden : And it's also not about bombarding them with info.

C.J. Hayden : Think about how YOU like to be followed up with. For example, an opt-in ezine is great, because you can share useful info that they have asked for.

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : Do you follow up with everybody you meet or only those you think would be a good prospect, or referral? Not everybody will need a VA

MIM Enterprises : how soon should you follow up after networking events

C.J. Hayden : About following up after networking events...

beachlover : if it is not about flyers, biz cards, etc., what is it about?

C.J. Hayden : the next day is ideal.

Gems Virtual Office : not everyone will need a VA but they might know someone else that does

C.J. Hayden : Even if it is just to day nice to meet you.

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : ok...so follow up with everybody

C.J. Hayden : Monarch: you want to follow up with anyone who might be a client or who might refer you to a client. And you want to keep following up with people until they either say they're not interested or you have so many people to follow up with that you don't need to follow up

C.J. Hayden : Let's talk about our next topic – advertising. For VAs what this often means is advertising online.

C.J. Hayden : The Internet can be a useful tool for attracting clients when you put in the effort to make your site a destination, or publish online articles, or network online. But the Internet can be a terrible marketing tool when all you do with it is post marketing copy on the web, pay for ads to drive people to your site, and send purely promotional emails. Same thing goes if all you do with your personal contacts is hand them flyers or biz cards. The reality is that the Internet produces leads, but you still have to close the sale. Or in other words, if you want to get clients, you'll have to talk to them! I often see VAs running AdWords campaigns to draw people to their site, or sending out anonymous emails soliciting business. Those are both really poor uses of the Internet. These are pure advertising strategies, and rarely effective, because they don't build credibility or trust. I call this sort of marketing "hiding out" – hiding behind websites, ads, and email -- because it can become an excuse for not doing the type of marketing which is much more effective, but also much more confronting. That is, TALKING to people in person, whether that is a phone conversation with a prospect, networking meeting with a referral partner, or speaking engagement for your target market. But the reality is that these sometimes more scary activities work infinitely better than passively paying for ads or sending out emails. So don't fool yourself that you are working hard on your marketing because you're broadcasting a lot of promotional material. That's really the easy way out. What's hard is making personal connections – through one-on-one conversations, building relationships with online and offline networking, or giving talks and workshops. But that's what really works.

C.J. Hayden : What questions or thoughts do you have about this – making personal connections with people instead of hiding out behind promotional strategies?

KMartin : Wow - time to step out of the comfort zone I guess!

VirtualAssistant : how do you do online networking? what is that exactly?

C.J. Hayden : Online networking can be connecting on Facebook... or it can be posting to a message board where your client niche hangs out or it can be commenting frequently on a blog that your niche follows.

C.J. Hayden : It is harder to build relationships online. You really need to focus on some specific targets.

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : I agree with the making personal connections strategy; and I think it is hard to do that online. Building relationships takes time. Finding the same people to communicate with on the social media boards is hard too. There's so many people in the group discussions!

C.J. Hayden : I think it's very misleading to call interacting with people on FB or Twitter "networking" in most cases.

beachlover : It is tough getting out from behind promotional strategies, but networking online works. That is how I get most of my jobs.

C.J. Hayden : Too many people just use it as a broadcast medium.

Monarch Virtual Assistance LLC : Yes, I agree

C.J. Hayden : So I want to say just a couple more things.

VirtualAssistant : I see how it would be more productive...and I do feel once I have an in-person conversation I can seal the deal

C.J. Hayden : Let's talk about my last point for today – how consistent, persistent marketing can end your hunt for the marketing "silver bullet."

C.J. Hayden : It seems that far too many VA's and other entrepreneurs are on a never-ending quest for that one magic formula that will take all the effort out of marketing and attract an endless stream of customers forever. while they're busy searching for the marketing silver bullet, they rarely recognize that the most powerful marketing weapon in existence is already in their arsenal.

C.J. Hayden : There really is a secret to successful marketing and it's right under their noses. The magic formula for marketing your business is choosing a set of simple, effective things to do, and doing them consistently.

C.J. Hayden : I know many of you have already bought the Get Clients Now! book and some of you have participated in a GCN group here at VA Forums. So some of you smart people are ahead of the curve, and already know that this secret to successful marketing. This is the core of the Get Clients Now! system -- and also the central theme of my new program Get Clients Forever – and it's essential to building a thriving business. Instead of doing a little bit of each of a whole lot of different things... or doing one thing today and another thing tomorrow, and something else the day after that... Just choose a few simple, effective things to do about marketing that you can actually accomplish well, and do those things over and over. So, please, do yourself and your business a favor, and stop by http://www.getclientsnow.com to find out more about this simple approach.

C.J. Hayden : Any final questions or thoughts for tonight?

VirtualAssistant : So, do a newsletter and do it consistantly to folks you have had contact with and maybe do one other thing like blog

C.J. Hayden : VirtualAssistant, yes. Pick just a few things to do and do them over and over.

C.J. Hayden : Network, follow up.

C.J. Hayden : Follow up by just a few methods...

C.J. Hayden : Keep it persistent and consistent.

C.J. Hayden : Feel free to email me to pick up any threads we missed... info@getclientsnow.com

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