The Secret to Virtual Assistant Success is in the Numbers

So, if you have a couple of hours to spare during the break, why not spend it reviewing how you have done, and decide what changes you want to make in the coming 12 months?

Being a Virtual Assistant, just like any other business, is a numbers game. How many contacts you have made over the last year? Of these, how many have you turned in to prospects? And, how many clients you have secured as a result? You should also know the average value of your clients and their average lifetime value. These figures can tell you some really interesting things.

For example, if you know that over the previous 12 months you made:

• 300 contacts, of whom

• 100 became prospects (by showing a real interest in what you offer), which resulted in

• 15 new clients, each of whom spent an average

• £15,000 per year, and stayed with you for an average duration of two years

you will know that your clients have an average lifetime value of £30,000. And, to generate each client, you need to make 20 new contacts (15 clients from an original 300 contacts: 300/15). Suddenly, the prospect of attending a few networking events over the next couple of months to find 20 new contacts does not seem such a drag, as you know that, on average, you will make £30,000 for your efforts.

What you can also do is add up what you have spent on marketing, networking and other business-generating tools during the year. This will show the return on investment these have made. If you spent £2,000 on marketing your business and generated 15 new clients (with an average lifetime spend of £30,000), you know that that £2,000 has resulted in £450,000 worth of sales. That's a return of £225 for every pound spent... Excellent! You can break that down further if you have monitored where these contacts learned of you. You can then identify exactly which marketing, networking and advertising methods have given the greatest returns.

When it comes to planning for the next year, armed with this information, you can invest more in your most effective marketing methods, and less on the less effective. So, if you spent £1,000 on a networking group, which achieved one client, but only £50 advertising in an online Virtual Assistant directory, which resulted in three new clients, it does not take a genius to work out that spending more on advertising in the directory might be a better idea than renewing the membership of the networking group.

Also, take a long hard look at your 'sales funnel' - the process that people go through from being contacts to becoming clients. What are your conversion rates from contact to prospect and from prospect to client? Where are you losing people? If you find that you have lots of contacts but few prospects, are your contacts fully aware of what you do? Are you tailoring your offering to appeal directly to these people? If you have lots of prospects, but they are not turning into clients, are you following up properly? Do you need to set up a better relationship-building system to develop their confidence in you? As you identify these gaps and plug them, you will need to spend less on generating contacts, as more of your existing ones will become clients... Happy days!

Justine Curtis is the director of My Virtual Assistant Ltd (my-va.com) and is recruiting a team of licensees to establish their own virtual assistant businesses under the My Virtual Assistant brand. She is the founder of The UK Association of Virtual Assistants offering free resources and information to both new and established virtual assistants and is the author of Setting Yourself Up As A Virtual Assistant.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4572038

Online Business Start-Ups

Any business start-up can be difficult but the online business start-up is more so. Both business owners have the same problems of financing, product selection and marketing. However, the "brick and mortar" business owner has one major advantage over the online business start-up. The conventional business owner can see their potential customers. Their potential customers walk by the windows every day. They may even walk into the store and ask questions. With an online business, other than some hard to decipher website statistics, the only time you know you have a potential customer is when they contact you or order from you. This creates many sleepless nights.

At 2:00 a.m., an online business owner wakes up in a cold sweat. Where are the customers? Have I chosen the right online marketing strategy from the millions that are available? How do I know? Will a sale come in tomorrow or never? There are literally hundreds of concerns made more difficult by the invisibility of the potential customer. The agony of the online business start-up is in full swing. Will there be any ecstasy at the end of the road? What will it take?

Ecstasy will occur once the owner knows the business is successful. The elements of success are actually the same for the "brick and mortar" business as they are for the online business. The difference resides in the feedback mechanisms. The online business owner can't count on that face-to-face meeting with potential customers when they enter the store or that fleeting glimpse of a customer as they walk by the window. An online business owner must create feedback mechanisms on their website which encourage customers to interact and let him/her know they were there.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could get your potential customers to leave you their email addresses? Not only would this help you understand that people are actually visiting your site but it would also be helpful for future marketing efforts. As online business owners, how can we do this?

First, add a simple guest book to your site. Some people will voluntarily sign your guest book, but many will not. So, let's add a little incentive for the potential customer. How about associating their signature in your guest book with a free drawing for one of your products (like http://www.sweet-vibrations.com, a one-of-a-kind jewelry site) or a free newsletter on an interesting topic (like http://www.aaronzwebworkz.com)? In this way, you offer something of value in exchange for their email address. And, it doesn't have to cost you anything.

There are many free website guest books available online. We use a free guest book from http://www.htmlgear.com on our website http://www.obinstitute.com. Check it out!

Secondly, an online business owner can also add a refer-a-friend link on their website. Why not offer potential customers the ability to easily market for you? They may know a friend who would really be interested in your product. That friend might buy something from you, or sign your guest book. The website mentioned above, http://www.htmlgear.com also offers a free refer-a-friend link for your website. And, again, you can check out an example at http://www.obinstitute.com. Is there anything else we can add to a website to make our potential customer more visible before a sale? Yes, an online survey.

Thirdly, add an ongoing survey form regarding issues of importance to your potential customers? Most of us find it's interesting to cast a ballot on an issue and then see what position others are taking. Remember, you have two purposes in mind for this strategy. The first is to make the potential customer and their visits to your website more visible to you. This will help maintain your sanity until someone actually orders. But, secondly, you are developing a website that people will return to in the future. This will increase the potential for sales.

Each time the potential customer interacts with the website, using a guest book, a survey or a refer-a-friend link, the online business owner is building a relationship with that potential customer. The more they like using your site, the more likely they are to return. The more often they return to your site, or tell others, the better your chances of the sale.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6573

How to Escape the 9 to 5 "Rat Race"

Decided that you have had enough of the 9 to 5 "Rat Race", do you want to become your own boss and jump off the treadmill of life? If you are fed up of wishing your life away working for your weekends, counting down days to your next holiday, basically working to be retired the I am sure you will enjoy my 3 simple steps to becoming your own boss. I also recommend personal development to build your individual strength. ~

Step 1:

Make a commitment to yourself and confirm your personal "Whys" for wanting to escape the 9 to 5 world of working for someone else. Why do you feel this way? What gave you this desire? On a scale of 1-10 how important is this change to you?

Write it out, journalize your reasoning behind this decision. You will find by writing down how you feel your commitment to yourself will become stronger. This way you can also go back through your journal when ever you need some motivation. Once you are clear on your personal "Whys" start to investigate what business opportunities are available to you, what fits your criteria? As we approach 2010 personal development home based business opportunities are growing stronger in force and many people are seeing a huge amount of success in this area. From personal experience I feel the mix of personal development and owning your own business is also a great way to keep your motivation high and the positive vibes flowing.

Step 2:

Avoid procrastination. Start today! Don't delay! Go for it and trust your vibes, what is your heart telling you? Sometimes our head can take over when it comes to life changing decisions, from my own experience I know that mine did when I first started out on my new path in life with my personal development home business. I was grateful to have chose an opportunity which was so dear to my heart which also gave me personal strength, motivation and an amazing community of like minded people walking the journey together. I too had the added benefit of a very comprehensive training and support schedule to ensure I had everything I needed to become a success - this point is key!

Now I said go for it and trust your vibes but please do make sure that your chosen opportunity feels "right" for you. Consider my points above with regards to support and training but also be open to synchronicities which are now happening in your life, do you find yourself coming across the same opportunity again and again? Do things keep popping into your daily routine which take you back to the opportunity you are looking into? This can also be a sign that you are on the right track.

Step 3:

Start small, take baby steps forward - trust me you will feel better once you have a "light at the end of the tunnel". Your 9 to 5 job will seem much more manageable when you have your own venture on the side. You can then work towards covering your monthly earning's and outgoings needed through your part time home business prior to escaping the 9 to 5 job. This way you also have the faith in yourself and know that you can make your home business opportunity work for you. You may have to take a step outside your comfort zone but this will be worthwhile when you are able to make a huge leap forward in life.

Take a moment to imagine how happy you will feel once you have quit the 9 to 5 "Rat Race" once you are free of the world of working for someone else. When you can be your own boss! When this feeling kicks in you will be well on your way to total personal and financial freedom. When you are living YOUR dream and not someone else's, life gets a whole lot better. Trust me, its true!

Original Article: http://EzineArticles.com/3154282

Earn Using Social Networking - Friendships Can Make Money

Many businesses are learning that they can earn using social networking. They are learning that they can form profitable friendships and remain within the rules of the many social networking sites on the web. This has literally opened up a new revolution in internet marketing. No more do people have to rely on just buying ads, developing email lists, and embarking upon the many other internet marketing techniques. Social networking provides an entire network of leads in a short period of time.

Here is how you can make these online friendships profitable for your business:

· Make sure you talk to them. Don't just add them and then let them be. They are people and they need attention from your company. It takes an individual an average of 26 times to see something before it burns itself into their brains. Make sure you leave comments, thank them for being a friend, and make sure you interact with them in all ways possible. 

· Stay up on birthdays and other happenings. If someone is having a birthday, wish them a happy birthday. Those wishing to earn using social networking will find that this makes a difference. If someone announces in a bulletin that they're expecting, then a congratulations is in order.

· Let them interact with your blogs. You may even want to include some interactive elements on your page. Many social networking sites are now implementing apps in order to make pages a lot more fun and interesting. Add applications that they can interact with.

· Make sure you write blogs that are of interest of them. You can throw something in about your business, but make sure you hit on some special interest topics. Those who earn using social networking are notorious for this. So just make sure you remember that they're more than just dollar signs. You have to appeal to them on an emotional level in order for them to do business with you. 

They are exposed to a lot on social networking sites. If you really want to earn using social networking, then it is important that you do all of these things. You'll notice an incredible difference in the amount of traffic coming to your website and you'll even notice a difference in your profit. Even when you start bringing in more sales, keep up the good work. You'll just bring in more and more and even make more friends.

Original Article: http://EzineArticles.com/2092997

3 Key Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business

Looking for new business? Use these three key marketing strategies.

Each of these 3 marketing strategies creates permanent growth for your business -- and obstacles for your competition. You can use them repeatedly to add new layers of income to your business.

1. Set Up Joint Promotions 
Identify the characteristics and activities of your most profitable customers. Look for other non-competing businesses already reaching them. Then devise a way to set up some joint promotions. This proven strategy produces dramatic results -- for very little expense.

For example, I once saw a clever joint promotion by a health club and a gourmet restaurant. Both catered to young professionals and business executives in the same town.

The restaurant's menu included several special dishes recommended by the health club's nutritionist. It also distributed discount membership coupons for the club. Even their advertising mentioned the affiliation -- to attract health conscious customers who often avoid food prepared in gourmet restaurants.

The health club's monthly newsletters included a reprint of the restaurant's healthy new menu items recommended by the club's nutritionist. They also distributed the restaurant's discount coupons to their members.

2. Uncover New Niche Markets 
Continually look for new niche markets you can serve. Then develop customized versions of your advertising appealing to the special concerns of prospects in each niche. Offer specific solutions to their unique needs and you'll uncover new groups of customers eager to buy from you.

For example, I recently bought a new computer system for my business from a company because they catered to my specific needs. An ad in a business publication listed their special web site for small businesses customers. There I was able to order the exact configuration of hardware and software I wanted at the price I was ready to pay. They won the sale by catering to my niche.

Tip: One way to find a new niche market is to evaluate your existing customers. Look for groups of customers with similar characteristics you don't currently cater to in your advertising. Then create new versions of your advertising appealing to their specific needs. You'll attract a lot more customers just like them.

3. Exploit Emerging Trends 
Pay attention to changes you notice in your business and your markets. Try to spot trends you can turn into new sales opportunities -- before your competitors. The first company to identify an emerging trend and take action often becomes the market leader in their industry.

For example, many small businesses took advantage of the Internet early in its development. They used it to attract new customers they weren't reaching off-line and to capture customers from competitors who didn't yet recognize the business potential of a web site.

Tip: Don't make sudden major changes in your business to exploit a new emerging trend. Instead, add something to your business to accommodate it. You don't want to alienate customers who aren't ready to adapt to the new trend.

Start using these 3 marketing strategies to create permanent growth for your business. Use them repeatedly to continue adding new layers of permanent income without inviting competition.

 Original Article: http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/3keymark.htm