As any online business owner will tell you, the game is changing daily. I started my virtual assistant business in 2007. Back then, social media was still in its infancy. There was no Pinterest. There were no Facebook Pages.
Just in the past 10 years we've seen so many online platforms and marketing techniques come and go. But even the short-lived opportunities can have a huge impact on a business' bottom line. And as a virtual assistant, you can make a big name for yourself and find yourself with a never-ending list of client leads if you stay ahead of the curve.
If you are wondering what's hot in virtual assistant services right now, I have a few choice picks for you.
Sales Funnels
You may have been told as a new virtual assistant that clients are willing to pay to get back their time. Even more so than time, clients are willing to pay to have their bottom lines increased. And there’s no bigger persuasion than a service package that will give them more time and more money.
There is a good chance every six and seven figure online business owner has put a good deal of thought and effort into their sales funnel. (Or is ready to now as so many awesome new tools have become available over the past few years.) A sales funnel in the simplest terms is a gradual process that walks a newcomer from introduction to a company to becoming a satisfied customer. At its simplest, it’s a four-step process:
- Attracting a new visitor
- Convincing them to hand over their contact information, most often an email address in exchange for a free offer
- Converting them on a small offer that knocks their socks off
- Selling them on the big-ticket purchase
Sales funnels are very much a results-driven service offering. But those virtual assistants who can master them can ask for the big bucks.
Automation
Much of the sales funnel process today is driven by automation triggers within an email sent by the business to the lead. For example, the business may send a broadcast talking about their three new products. If the email recipient clicks on a link to any (or all) of those three products they are then “tagged” within the marketing platform with an identifier – interested in product A, product B, product C or all. Now the business can send follow up emails that are very specific to those interests. These convert at a much higher rate than general messages trying to appeal to everyone.
This type of automation is now available in everything from fancy CRMs like Infusionsoft right down to Mailchimp. But many small business owners don’t have the time to learn how to implement this automation. It’s possible they don’t have the time to mind map out the potential at all. That’s where you can come in and save the day. Identify the possibilities and make it happen.
Authentic Community Building
All the service opportunities mentioned above lead to the main objective of most small business owners in it for the long run: creating a thriving community. It's common knowledge that it costs approximately 7 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to keep an existing one. And the industry is irrelevant here. Keeping an email newsletter subscriber happy and regularly converting is worth so much more to even a blogger than a random one-time post reader. We all want and need those long-term relationships in order to survive.
Being able to cultivate these relationships for your clients can make you worth your weight in gold. This could mean making sure emails and social media direct messages are responded to promptly and politely. It could mean making important introductions within their industry that can help grow their brand. Oftentimes it's just making sure the ball isn't dropped on a potential opportunity to make a difference.
Do these service offerings have a learning curve? Of course. But learning advanced skills is well worth the investment if it means you can provide your clients with results. And the more value you can offer, the higher rates for which you can ask. That means more money and less hours for you, too!
Visit Angie's site for a great list of places to find virtual assistant jobs and learn how you can make your first $100 as a service provider fast!
- Top Tips For Working Remotely In 2019 - February 7, 2019
- Hot Virtual Assistant Service Ideas for 2017 and Beyond - August 8, 2017
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