If you don't drive your business, you will be driven out of business.
~B. C. Forbes

You are steering the business wheel; speeding at Mach one. Your windshield view is a blur. You cannot spare the time to pull over to the rest stop. You cannot plan time to spend with your current customers or establish relationships with new customers. Creating new products and services is stuck in the slow lane.

Your business is driving YOU!

Solution: Partner with a Virtual Assistant who can relieve you of those tasks which fuel your business.

You can start by asking your colleagues for a virtual assistant referral. And that may very well be the solution.

Or you can expedite the process by submitting a Request for Proposal (RFP) describing all the skill specifications required to drive your business in the right direction.

I recommend two VA-centered sites; Virtual Assistantville and Virtual Assistant Forums.

A potential client may only have a few seconds to capture a virtual assistant’s attention as they browse through RFP listings. So your RFP has to be sharp.

How can you write a strong RFP that will attract the very best candidates for the opportunity?

Here are two additional Client-driven RFP Tips in this 5-part series*:

1) Begin first and foremost by taking the time to create a good clear title.

RFP titles such as, “Dream Virtual Assistant Wanted” or “Virtual Assistant Wanted” or “Savvy VAs Only Apply” are vague.

Well-written RFP postings with titles such as, “Graphics Designer Virtual Assistant Needed”, “Social Media VA,” “Infusion Soft Customer Service Virtual Assistant Needed” or “QuickBooks Bookkeeping VA” capture the interest of VAs who can offer these skills. Potential clients can be even more specific by posting titles for project work, such as, “Looking for Someone to Move YouTube Channel,” and “Seeking a VA to Create PDF Document from Blog Posts” target precise areas of expertise.

From a virtual assistant’s perspective a well-crafted RFP posting title could be a strong sign that a potential client knows exactly what category of VA he/she desires. Clients who know what they want are often perceived as being organized and professional and therefore considered ‘ideal clients’.

The robust desire to work with ideal clients prompts VAs to respond quickly to the best written RFPs.

Expect greater responses to an RFP from virtual assistants whose skills match more closely with those requested by the potential clients that begins with a clear, concise title.

2) Not really knowing what services are desired of a virtual assistant is a common complaint stated by website administrators who review RFPs for their sites.

Business owners seeking the services of virtual assistants should have a clear understanding of the tasks to be accomplished. These tasks should be presented in the RFP along with goals to be achieved.

Listing detailed wants and needs and then categorizing these into specific groups of services can also assist in creating the aforementioned necessary clear RFP title.

For example, a business owner may want to increase opt-ins for an email list on his/her website to with a goal of selling X number of coaching services. This task can be accomplished through social media interaction, blogging, or newsletter creation. Therefore, the RFP title could be, “Social Media Virtual Assistant with Business Writing Skills Wanted” and the opportunity written clearly spelling out what skills are needed and those goals desired.

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My name is Janine Gregor and I am the author of an eBook entitled, “The RFP Transformation - Take Your Virtual Assistant Proposal From Blah to Bling.” I am an expert Request for Proposal (RFP specialist who assists VAs with composing winning proposals for small business owners like you.

In my eBook, I offer a list of RFP RED FLAGS and Tips for virtual assistants seeking new clients. During my research of the RFP process, my study extended into the process of writing the actual RFP from the viewpoint of business owners seeking VAs.

This post is the 2nd RFP RED FLAG and Tips for Clients in a 5-Part weekly series for those who want to attract top VAs using Request for Proposals.

*See Post #1 for more tips at this link