Find, hire and network with a Virtual Assistant

Educating Business Owners about the Virtual Assistant Industry

Rating: No Rating

I'd like to get a discussion going here about ways we can better educate business owners and the public about the VA industry. I find that many people have still never heard of a virtual assistant and wonder what it is we do and how we can help them.

Let's discuss some ideas and ways we can educate and promote this industry without spamming each other with what it is we do. To get us started:

1. Explain in simple terms that any business owner can understand what a virtual assistant means. For example, most business persons are familiar with the terms secretary, administrative assistant, office manager. These are terms we can use to explain what we do in a way they understand.

2. Your idea

Tags: administrative, assistant, business, educate, educating, industry, owners, va, virtual

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Carlene Tibbott-Butts on January 29, 2010 at 4:21pm: Hi Sue you are right on. I have an idea that I've been toying with for a while now, but prefer to discuss with you in private, because I'll need a partner to get it going.

I agree, we still need a lot more education and information being distributed to small business owners and companies downsizing to save costs.
What's your email and / or phone number?

Thanks.
Carlene; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sue L Canfield on January 29, 2010 at 4:36pm: Great Carlene. I sent you a message with my phone and email. Sue; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alba Henderson on January 30, 2010 at 10:45pm: Online Business Management is another term I use. We

Maintain Calendars
Tasks
Travel
Manage Projects
Accounting
Market and Advertise

We all provide a niche that supports the management of businesses.

.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sue L Canfield on January 31, 2010 at 5:20pm: Thank you Alba. Clients appreciate it when a VA can be a value added resource - not just by performing tasks. Also by adding value by helping them manage their time or even by suggesting new ideas.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Diana Ennen on February 3, 2010 at 8:40am: Hi

I think it's awesome how much more today everyone is used to the term virtual assistant, but still it funny how many still say "A WHAT???" Once they hear what all we can do though, they want to hear more.

I think the biggest way is to have our clients start talking more. I'm seeing this more on teleseminars of some speakers, online marketers, etc. They will say, you can't do this without a virtual assistant. So we just need to get our clients talking. Also, whenever we hear one of the online marketers discuss a VA, I'll often email them, telling them I enjoyed their seminar and how I loved how they talk about VA. I keep it more on the thanks for mentioning VAs as opposed to selling them my VA services.

Love to hear more on this.

Thanks!

Diana Ennen; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sue L Canfield on February 3, 2010 at 10:36am: Absolutely Diana! I too try to find where other business people mention VAs and commend them without pushing any services.

Your comments about getting clients to talk more is excellent. Adding their testimonials to our websites and in our newsletters helps. We've also discussed having our clients do short video testimonials. Any ideas, comments or suggestions on that?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Diana Ennen on February 5, 2010 at 8:44am: Hi

I think that's a great idea to get short video testimonals. One good thing with that is that it also benefits your clients too as they get the exposure with a website link. What I'm also working on for my site (and it's a work in progress), but on our meet the clients page, I'm trying to add a link to a testimonal from them. That way they read about our clients, and then right then can see what they have to say of our services. I'm almost ready to go live with that on my site. I think it will help. We'll see!

Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sue L Canfield on February 5, 2010 at 12:30pm: Hi Diana. Even with written testimonials posted on the website, we always include a link to the client's website. You can see how we set ours up here: http://chiefvirtualofficer.com/chief_virtual_officer_testimonials.php; ▶ Reply to This