OK here's my first draft (well, not first, I've edited it several times) of a letter I plan to send to prospects in my chosen niche, which is sort of twofold: Environmental Conservation/Reclamation groups and small natural product manufacturers such as makers of soy candles, natural soap/lotion, lip balm, etc. I also thought I might donate to the one's that offer membership before I send the letter, with the thought that if I'm a member of their organization, it might cause them to look more favorably upon my unsolicited sales pitch.

I'd appreciate any feedback you folks can give, especially if some of you have tried something like this before and what your success rate was.

A few notes on the letter: Everything in <> will be filled from a mail merge field, thus customizing the letter to the specific prospect. The items in () after the Brochure are some of the items I intend to include within the brochure. I will also include 2 business cards.

And now on to the letter. Sorry for the length of this post.


<June 9, 2008>


<Prospective Client>
<Title>
<Company>
<Address>
<City>, <State> <Zip>


Dear <Prospect>,


After reviewing your <mission/vision/about us> and <current activities/projects/goals> on your website, I was moved to contact you directly to offer my support for your organization.

I am a Virtual Assistant with a passion for the environment and environmental conservation and reclamation projects. I would like to offer my assistance by relieving you of the burden of time-consuming administrative tasks so that you may focus your attention and time on furthering your organizations <mission/goals> to <mission statement>.

Some of the ways I can support you include:

• Email handling - Responding to requests for information via email, screening out junk mail, organizing mail into folders for later review by you
• Acknowledging generous donations with personalized Thank You cards
• Business correspondence – provide an outline of the message and a sample of your writing style and I will do my best to duplicate your wording, sentence structure and tone.
• Calendar management – set appointments and have reminders sent to your mobile device
• Travel Arrangements
• Expense reporting

I am an experienced Executive Administrative Assistant with over 18 years experience; if you require assistance with a task not listed above, please feel free to contact me so that we may discuss your most important administrative needs and how I can fulfill those tasks for you. My goal and my passion is to help you become a stronger advocate for our environment by relieving you of the administrative tasks inherent in all business endeavors.

If you already have an onsite assistant, I can work with him or her to accomplish tasks that you feel comfortable delegating and that can be accomplished remotely. Or, if you are simply not able to avail yourself of my services at this time, I would be most grateful if you would let others in your industry know about me. If one of your associates enlists my services at any point in the future, and notifies me that you referred them, I will repay the favor with one (1) hour of service to you absolutely free. You will not be required to purchase additional time. I will notify you if I receive a referral from an associate of yours and your free hour of service will remain available to you until you choose to use it. My services are billed in 6-minute increments and I only charge for the time actually spent working on your projects.

If you choose to utilize my service, you will receive a detailed invoice with timestamps showing start and stop times as well as memos regarding what was being accomplished during that time period.

Thank you for taking time to consider my offer of support. I would be very proud to assist you and I hope you will allow me the chance to contribute to your organization in this way.


Sincerely,



Samantha Mayfield
Owner, My Admin Genie

Encl: Brochure: Advantages of using a VA (Fee Schedule, Qualifications, Tools and Resources)

For the most part, I like your letter. I've quoted a few items that stuck out to me that you might look at changing a bit. Just my thoughts.

Originally Posted by AmberStar

if you are simply not able to avail yourself of my services at this time, I would be most grateful if you would let others in your industry know about me. If one of your associates enlists my services at any point in the future, and notifies me that you referred them, I will repay the favor with one (1) hour of service to you absolutely free. You will not be required to purchase additional time. I will notify you if I receive a referral from an associate of yours and your free hour of service will remain available to you until you choose to use it.

The tone here to me is begging. What's going through my head when I read this is "please, please, please pass my name on to someone". I know that's not your intent but it's what I get from it. Try something along the lines of: "I love referrals. If you know of anyone who might benefit from my services I'd love to be able to talk with them." I would leave out the part if you can't use me. Just ask them to pass your name around.

Also, personally I'd leave out the part about what they'll get from their referral. It sounds MLM to me...sorry. Plus, I try to stay away from publishing things like my referral program. Let's say you get a 60 hour/month retainer from a referral...you might want to do more than 1 hour free. But, if you get a 1/2 hour project a 1 hour free referral kind of stinks for you. (Just an example)

Originally Posted by AmberStar

My services are billed in 6-minute increments and I only charge for the time actually spent working on your projects. If you choose to utilize my service, you will receive a detailed invoice with timestamps showing start and stop times as well as memos regarding what was being accomplished during that time period.

To me, this entire section sounds like you're defending your work/billing. I don't think it's necessary to go into so much detail explaining your billing procedures. I think the information on how you bill is better discussed when you are having a verbal conversation the potential client after they bring it up. I would leave this out completely.

Originally Posted by AmberStar

Thank you for taking time to consider my offer of support. I would be very proud to assist you and I hope you will allow me the chance to contribute to your organization in this way.

I don't like how that sounds....to me it that last sentence sounds kind of "begging" to me. I would put something more confident sounding like: I look forward to working with you and helping to contribute to your organization's success.

Originally Posted by AmberStar

Encl: Brochure: Advantages of using a VA (Fee Schedule, Qualifications, Tools and Resources)

I don't know that I would include a fee schedule in this mailing. I don't like publishing my fees anywhere because there are sometimes other factors that effect fees that you can't always explain in a fee schedule. When something is in writing it's hard to change it. Plus, it's very likely that the person will file this away as something they will need. If they come back to it in a year or so your rates may be completely different. That's not a fun conversation. I'd include everything else, though.

Be sure to include a minimum of two business cards (one for them and one for them to pass on to someone else).

I think the letter starts out very strong and confident. Towards the end I start getting a desperate feeling. Again, these are just my thoughts so take them for what they are.

Good luck!!!!

__________________
Lanel Taylor, CVA ~ Virtual Bookkeeper
Taylored Office Solutions
Custom fit solutions for all your office needs.

My thoughts are that the letter doesn't mention the value you can bring the client's business. I know you are including Advantages of using a VA but I think the cover letter should include some of those points.

You only have a few brief moments to capture the reader's attention before something else comes up and he forgets about you.

__________________
Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

Thank you both for your thoughtful and enlightening observations. I am so passionate about environmental issues that I sometimes get a little emotional about it.

I'm still struggling with trying to figure out what value I bring to them, but I'm sure I'll get it eventually. I think part of whats holding me back is my lack of experience as a VA - I don't know what their needs are and what I can do to fulfill those needs.

Thanks again for your great feedback!

Sam

I won't really talk about the letter here since you've already been given some great advice other than emphasizing that you want to portray yourself as if you already have the contract. Like what was said before, say something like, "I look forward to working with you...", rather than using words and phrases like, "I would be..." or "I hope..."

Also, my ears perked up when you mentioned environmental/reclamation work and natural/organic products like soy candels and such. The area where I live is all about that type of thing. I don't want to start throwing unsolicited names and such around, but you may want to do some research into my area if that's what you're interested in. I see that you're located in Tulsa, but it still may be worth a look since you are virtual. So, anyhow, you may want to check out some really good organizations located in and around Tucker County, WV that you may be able to help.

__________________
Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Originally Posted by AmberStar

I'm still struggling with trying to figure out what value I bring to them, but I'm sure I'll get it eventually. I think part of whats holding me back is my lack of experience as a VA - I don't know what their needs are and what I can do to fulfill those needs. Sam

If you don't know what their needs are and how you can help them then your marketing efforts will lack direction and you will be wasting your time and money. Before you begin marketing you really need to find out more about your target market and who they are, what they do, and how you can find a way to help them. You may not be providing the kind of services they need and if that's the case, you either find a different target market or you change the services you offer to fit the market who needs them.

Does this make sense? If I'm not explaining it correctly please let me know and I'll try again.

__________________
Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

Thank you. Yes, I do understand that I need to know what my target market's needs are, I'm just feeling overwhelmed. The Natural/Organic market is so much bigger than I imagined, I'm just reeling from the amount of information out there. I'm coming to realize that I need to narrow my focus a bit more, so back to the drawing board... LOL

OK here's the second edition. Any thoughts/feedback/experiences you've had with your own direct mailings would be appreciated. I plan to email it, minus brochure, to everyone who has an email (first 2 paragraphs to those who only have a response form on the website) and mail it to those that I don't receive a response from after 2 weeks, including the brochure & 2 business cards at that point. The target niche for this letter is natural/organic personal care product manufacturers/retailers.


Dear <Prospect>,

After reviewing the array of exquisite earth-friendly products on your website, I was moved to contact you directly to offer my support because we share a common passion: preserving our natural environment and helping others live a more earth-friendly life. I want to help <Company> succeed in putting its natural and organic products in the homes of consumers worldwide.

I am Samantha Mayfield, a Virtual Assistant and owner of Evergreen Administrative Services, LLC. I invite you to visit my website at www.EvergreenAdmin.com to learn more about me and how I can help you find more time to follow your passion. You will be better able to focus on growing your business, knowing that you have a highly skilled, professional business owner managing your administrative tasks; one who is just as passionate about <Company> as you are.

As an example, here are some of the services Evergreen Administrative Services, LLC provides:

• Dependable, high quality administrative services on an as-needed basis
• Research suppliers to ensure you are getting the lowest cost, highest quality materials
• Create and maintain a database that allows you to create informative reports on such things as customer data, product sales, suppliers, distributors - whatever is most useful to you.
• Respond to requests for information via email, organize email, locate and format testimonials
• Manage association memberships, ensuring that they are kept current
• Bookkeeping tasks such as invoicing and accounts payable

The list above merely highlights some of what I can do for you. If you already have an assistant, I can work with him or her to accomplish the tasks that you feel comfortable delegating. If you know someone else in your industry who could utilize my services, I would be delighted to hear from them as well.

Thank you for taking time to consider how I may contribute to your success. I look forward to discussing with you how we can work together to help create a greener future for us all.

Sincerely,



Samantha Mayfield
Owner, Evergreen Administrative Services, LLC

Encl: Brochure: Advantages of using a VA (Qualifications, Tools and Resources)

And Thank You, Stephanie, for the tip about your area. I've found so many wonderful companies and such great products, I wish I could afford to buy something from all of them!

Hi Samantha,

I think it still sounds like you're applying for a job. I think if you use the word "outsource" somewhere in your letter it will give the client a clear idea that you are an outsourcer and not someone who wants to be an employee. Also, provide a brief snippet of the benefits of outsourcing to them. Don't forget that most people offline have no idea what a virtual assistant does let alone how they can be of benefit to a business.

Otherwise, I like the content of your letter. However, I will caution you about sending unsolicited emails to your prospective clients as this is considered SPAM and not a good way to get off on the right foot with someone. (Not to mention the fines associated with it)

__________________
Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)