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August, 2009
Dear Brain,
Admin is the bane of every business person’s life. If you can outsource that work to those who know best how to handle it (Virtual Assistants), with your head clear of admin work you will find your income earning potential will increase with the extra time available to you. As usual this month we bring you a range of useful articles and tools to help with marketing and business development.
7 tips for consultants just starting out
Freelancing and consulting can often seem like an impossible juggling act, but if you keep these seven practical tips in mind, your business will go from strength to strength.
- Work out what you’re best at and express it clearly on all marketing material.
- Invoice promptly and chase for payment as soon as its due.
- Keep careful records of expenses etc for tax purposes.
- Talk to current and former clients to understand if they want the services you offer.
- Keep marketing even when you’re snowed under with work.
- Always use a contract or send clients yout terms and conditions, however small the job.
- Put at least 30% of what you earn aside to cover tax and unexpected gaps in income.
Read the full article for more tips and advice. If you are going to attend just one networking event - make it BNI. Read the interview
with BNI founder, Dr. Ivan Misner, - "I refuse to participate in the recession!" - to find out why BNI is a great way to bring new referrals into your business.
Why do you need a VA?
- You should be doing what you do best, and delegate the rest.
- Why do work you don’t have the skills and abilities for when you’re earning what you earn in your regular work? If you’re earning good money, you really are throwing your earning potential away by doing what a VA could do for you in the way of admin work.
- If you don’t have to concern yourself about the admin and everything that goes with it, you’ll free yourself up from stress and worry.
- You’ll find yourself far more productive if you don’t have to concentrate on things others can do for you.
- Give yourself more time to earn more income.
Niche marketing ideas
One of the most efficient marketing strategies for small businesses is niche marketing - marketing to specific customer groups of your target market. Instead of marketing your services to anybody and everybody, you then focus on a specific industry that has the most need for your product or service. Although niche marketing narrows your market , it can open up doors you never knew existed.
- Your product or service becomes more desirable as you start to create a set of tailored products that work very well, specifically for your niche.
- Your name and brand will spread rapidly. People in groups talk. If you're good and you provide products or services for a specific niche, your name will travel fast.
- It becomes easier and less expensive to prospect. Most good niches have a list of people who are either members of a group in your niche (for example, a trade association) or who have bought things associated with that niche. Instead of spending your money on marketing to anyone and everyone, you can now spend your money on getting your message to just the right people in your niche who want to hear it.
- You face less competition in a niche. Because you've narrowed your focus to a smaller subset of people, there'll be fewer competitors for your customers' attention. In fact, if you hurry and become the dominant player in your niche, it can deter competitors from entering it and competing with you directly.
(based on Better Business e-zine, July 09)
Guide to Social Media by DELL
Computing firm Dell has produced a series of online guides to help small and medium-sized businesses learn the basics of social media. The guides cover blogs, Twitter, Facebook and video sharing sites. Click here for more information.
Improving your customer service
- Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your website. After every sale, follow-up with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.
- Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your website. You can even get them to fill out a survey to find out how to make your website more user-friendly.
- Resolve any complaints quickly and successfully. Answer all e-mails and calls on the same day, this will show your customers you really care about them.
- Make it easy for customers to contact you by offering as many contact methods as possible.
- Give customers more than they expect: send thank you gifts or notes, e-mail online greeting cards, award bonuses for big purchases.
- Always be polite even if the customers are not happy with you. And don't forget to apologise if you make a mistake!
Sincerely yours,
Tamara and James
TJConsulting - Your Virtual Assistant
http://www.tjconsulting.co.uk/ |
