Our conversation centered around business networking tips; including tips on entering a networking meeting, selecting a meeting that is right for you, making connections as opposed to just making contacts and more. . Feel free to leave your thoughts, comments or questions regarding this episode by commenting on this post. Thank you for listening!

Show Links:

BNI International: http://bni.com/
Networking Entrepreneur Blog: http://networking.entrepreneur.com/
The Referral Institute: http://www.referralinstitute.com/

A Virtual Perception podcast is sponsored by:

Virtual Assistant Forums: http://www.virtualassistantforums.com

Virtual Assistantville: http://www.virtualassistantville.com

A Virtual Perception podcast is produced and hosted by:
Darlene of True Harmony Media, LLC: http://www.yourtrueharmony.com

Lee Drozak of My Office Assistant is a Virtual Events Specialist; offering virtual event services to her clients. During our conversation Lee shared tips for presenters – including ways to add some interest to content, what to do when everything seems to go wrong and more. She also shared some greats tips for moderators, as well as, tips for virtual event attendees.  This is one full hour of great information for virtual event presenters, moderators and attendees alike and is 110% worth the listen!

Show Links:

Lee Drozak’s website: http://www.myofficeassist.org
GotoMeeting: http://www.gotomeeting.com/fec/
FreeConferenceCall: http://www.freeconferencecall.com/

A Virtual Perception podcast is sponsored by:

Virtual Assistant Forums: http://www.virtualassistantforums.com

Virtual Assistantville: http://www.virtualassistantville.com

A Virtual Perception podcast is produced and hosted by:
Darlene of True Harmony Media, LLC: http://www.yourtrueharmony.com

Show Links:

Jeannine’s websites:  http://www.accbizsvcs.com, http://www.vabizcoach.com
Entrepreneurial Freedom – http://www.entrepreneurialfreedom.com
International Virtual Assistant Association: http://www.ivaa.org
Copyscape: http://www.copyscape.com

Books Mentioned in the Podcast

The Book of Questions, by Gregory Stock, Ph. D.
The Principles of Information Ethics, by Richard James Severson
Business Ethics, by Thomas M. Garrett
Power of Ethical Management, by Norman V. Peale
Managing Corporate Ethics, by Francis Joseph Aguilar

A Virtual Perception podcast is sponsored by:

Virtual Assistant Forums: http://www.virtualassistantforums.com

Virtual Assistantville: http://www.virtualassistantville.com

A Virtual Perception podcast is produced and hosted by:
Darlene of True Harmony Media, LLC: http://www.yourtrueharmony.com

Thank you again to all of the business professionals that participated in the series. You rock!

Summer of Success Contest Winners:

Top 5 Tip Contest Winners are:
Janine Gregor
Lisa Olinda
Kimberly LeRiche
Tahneesha Smith
Lily Chambers

Beach Bag O’ Fun Contest Winner is: Deb Frawley

Congratulations everyone!

A Virtual Perception podcast is sponsored by:

Virtual Assistant Forums: http://www.virtualassistantforums.com

Virtual Assistantville: http://www.virtualassistantville.com

A Virtual Perception podcast is produced and hosted by:
Darlene of True Harmony Media, LLC: http://www.yourtrueharmony.com

It is very important to have great communication between you and your client. You should always listen to what they are saying, even if they are not asking you to do something. This way you may see an opportunity to support them that they never knew existed.

For example, I was working on a project and we were talking about web sites. My client had mentioned that she had an out-of-date web site. I mentioned I had Dreamweaver, and now I am working on revamping her web site. She is very excited about having it updated.

So I guess what I am saying is listen to your clients and be prepared to act on what you hear. You never know what work it might turn up.

Nancy Lynch

About the Author:
Nancy Lynch is a Virtual Assistant and owner of Nancy’s Virtual Office. She provides bookkeeping, database management, desktop publishing services and more.
Visit Nancy’s website: http://www.virtualnancy.ca

Lifelong learning is lifelong love.

Stay connected by continually challenging your intellect and sharpening your skills.

Remember the story about the taxi driver who had a regular customer: a gent whom the taxi ferried to and from the airport often. The man always seemed peaceful, kind, happy. Finally, the taxi driver asked him how he managed to maintain such a positive, enlightened demeanor. The gentleman replied that he had long been in the habit of studying and learning something new every year. This practice kept his mind and outlook in the best condition.

About the Author:
Mary H. Ruth is the owner of Virtual Writing, a Virtual Assistant business providing writing services, social networking services, blog assistance and more to small businesses.
Visit Mary’s website: http://writingva.com/
Follow Mary on Twitter: @maryhruth

In  Kathie’s blog post: “How to Use a Virtual Assistant in Your Business”, Kathie  discusses what a VA is, what one can do for your business and also provides information bout Virtual Assistant rates. Also included in her post is excellent advice for determining  if you are ready to work with a VA. Here is an excerpt from her post:

“If you find you’re spending far too much time in your business (admin, paperwork, etc) rather than working on your business (marketing, promotions, sales), then you definitely need to get some help.  Why not try a VA with one thing at a time?  Don’t expect massive changes straight away but start with a VA and get them to do just one or two of the regular activities you are spending time on.”

Read the blog post in its entirety, “How to Use a Virtual Assistant in Your Business” by Kathie Thomas.

Kathie has written many great blog posts with the client in mind and I urge you to check them all out. Included in her blog posts are also Client Case Studies; which are interviews with clients who utilize Virtual Assistants in their business. You can find the case studies and more at: http://vadirectory.net/blog/category/client-case-studies/

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Hello, this is Janine Gregor of Your Virtual Wizard. I’m so pleased to be a contributor to AVP’s Summer of Success program. Thank you for asking me to participate!

My topic for today is, “8 Client Tips to Submit the Best RFP Ever!”

There are several ways to find a compatible virtual assistant. One such method is the use of an RFP.

Well, what is an RFP?

This is the virtual assistant and freelance industry’s acronym for the words, Request for Proposal. Simply, an RFP is an online request featuring details of the work that a client is seeking to fulfill from the services of a virtual assistant.

Several virtual assistant-centered websites offer an online form however; some sites offer a ‘freestyle-type’ format leaving it up to the client or business owner to input whatever information may be needed.

I highly recommend the use of a pre-labeled RFP form as it is much easier to fill in the blanks as opposed to writing a request for services in freestyle.

Completing any RFP with good, descriptive information is important for 3 reasons. If the RFP is missing important information, the client may miss out on finding the best possible VA match for his or her business. Conversely, if the RFP is written in vague terms, the client may receive replies from virtual assistants who may not only be incompatible but reading the replies could be a time waster. Also, if the RFP is poorly composed, a virtual assistant applicant could waste her own time customizing a reply trying to match her skills with those listed in the RFP.

So, submitting a well-thought out, detailed RFP will help you, the business owner; receive the most compatible virtual assistant responses to meet your service needs.

Here are 8 tips which will help to receive the best applicants for your job.

Tip #1 – Know what you want your virtual assistant to do before you submit your request for proposal.

Make a list of those items which keep you from doing the work you want to do. It is not enough to say, ‘I need help with my website.” That could mean many things. Do you need your website completely redone? In which case you would want virtual assistants who have web design experience. Or, this could mean you just want to add photos to your site and would not need the services of a web designer. Or, this could mean you want the copy reworked in which case you may desire the services of a web copyrighter.

So be specific in your RFP. List exactly what you need. Say, “I need a web copyrighter to rewrite my web copy.” You will save yourself a lot of headache having to read replies from virtual assistants who do not specialize in this service.

Tip #2 – Know where to post your request for proposal.

Go where the virtual assistants are! Posting an RFP on LinkedIn or Craigslist may get you emails from virtual assistants but you may also receive responses from people who are not necessarily VAs. Save yourself the time and post where the VAs ‘hang out’.

Use Virtual Assistant Forums and Virtual Assistantville. There is no fee for posting an RFP on these sites.

Another reason to post ‘where the VAs are’ is that virtual assistants are heavily networked with each other. Many VAs build networks, particularly on the two sites mentioned. If an RFP comes in asking for specific services, it very likely that a virtual assistant will notify another VA about a pending RFP. So your chances of getting a truly compatible virtual assistant increases if you use the sites where ‘the VAs hang’.

Tip #3 – Include your company name, your company URL, the contact name and two email addresses in your RFP contact information. If you do not have a company URL, include your social networking websites.

A virtual assistant who may be interested in partnering with you will want to research your company before replying. This serves the potential client as well…many VAs can easily determine if they feel they are the right person for the job just by researching your company information. So the company URL and online background information helps to weed out incompatibility from the start.

Leaving two email addresses ensures that a virtual assistant’s reply to the RFP will be received. Occasionally, a potential client may type in an email address incorrectly which leaves the applicants scrambling for a means to send a reply.

Tip #4 – Be clear about the services you want a virtual assistant to do for you; not just in the description you write of the services you desire but in the format in which the RFP is written. So if you desire several services, break up the subject points into bullets or separate paragraphs. This type of format allows the potential applicants to quickly scan the desired services for compatibility as well as use an organized format to reply to the potential client in an orderly fashion.

It is important to understand that a VA is a business owner; not an employee. So Tip #5 is…Avoid using words in the RFP such as ‘resume’, ‘references’, ‘generalist’, ‘probation or trial period’ and ‘interview’.

A virtual assistant does not use a resume. Most virtual assistant have websites which include writing samples and portfolio work. If you are interested in viewing a VA’s work, ask for links to the website. Do not ask for a resume in the RFP.

A virtual assistant can set-up a consultation and discuss what your needs may be. There is no interview. The VA determines if you are the right client for her business during a consultation. The VA is evaluating the potential client much the same as the client is evaluating the virtual assistant so the consultation becomes a two-way conversation. A
interview is more about an employer choosing an employee.

A virtual assistant is an administrative and support specialist and not a generalist. A virtual assistant focuses on supporting small businesses and is as much a specialist in this area as someone whose focus is geared toward web design or accounting.

Every company needs administration and could never operate without administrative support. This is a service specialty and should be regarded as such. There is no such service as ‘generalist’.

There is no ‘probation period’ or ‘trial period’ with a virtual assistant. Please do not ask for either in a request for proposal. A virtual assistant has built her reputation upon offering value to her clients. She can explain the benefits of the skills she offers and what the results may be if you partner with a virtual assistant. There is enough information available online through testimonials, quality of posts and articles, social networking sites and VA marketing to determine if that virtual assistant will be compatible with a potential client.

Use of ‘probation period’, ‘interview’, ‘resume’ and ‘generalist’ within a potential client’s request for proposal sends a message to virtual assistants that the true definition of a virtual assistant is not understood.

You may not get the virtual assistant replies you want if you use employee-oriented terminology.

Tip #6 – Extend the courtesy of a reply to the virtual assistants who do respond to your RFP. I can personally vouch that 99 percent of the RFPs I have responded so carefully to never extend the courtesy of a reply.

It is just good business etiquette to thank someone in a quick email for taking the time to respond to an RFP. You never know if you may need to contact that virtual assistant in the future. So it pays to extend a hand of thanks even when the response is ‘no, thanks but I have found another virtual assistant’.

I personally follow up with every RFP I have ever sent to a potential client. Those who respond to me with some type of acknowledgement are the potential clients I want to consult with!

Some time ago, I submitted a response to a coach whose RFP was very well written. I knew that between the quality of her virtual assistant request, the professional nature of her website and the articulate articles she had written, I would not be the only VA to reply to this coach. So I spent several hours customizing a response which would help my name to stand out from all others. As it turned out, my name was one of the final virtual assistants to be selected but she chose another. This coach took a few minutes to call me on the telephone to thank me for my time. She appreciated the work that I put into my reply and wanted me to know this. Since then, whenever anyone needs a coach, I always recommend her name and forward her company URL on. I never forgot the professional nature of this coach and we have stayed in touch for some time.

Potential clients who take the time to acknowledge the effort which goes into carefully crafting a good response to a proposal is the first indication of a professional business person. These are the clients virtual assistants want to work with!

Tip #7 – Your RFP is an extension of your own business. Sometimes RFPs are indexed by the search engines and ‘passed around’ and forwarded on social networking sites. Take ownership of your RFP and show the world that you are a professional through a well-crafted RFP.

Check your RFPs for spelling and grammar. A virtual assistant will look at an RFP and evaluate the potential client on the overall composition. Is the RFP written well? Does the potential client know what he/she wants to achieve? So make that RFP as important as putting out a blog or a marketing article. You never know where the RFP will end up. Show your professionalism in all that you send out on the internet so make the RFP count.

Tip #8 – Know how much you can spend per month for a virtual assistant’s services and indicate that budget on the RFP. Leaving the budget or the rate area blank can eliminate virtual assistants who will not reply to your RFP due the uncertainty of the rate you are willing to pay. If you are not sure of the budget, then submit a rate range. This will give the virtual assistants an idea of where you stand with rate.

Do not get ‘hung up’ on rate either. When selecting a virtual assistant look for value, reputation, experience and the benefits that the virtual assistant can bring to your business. Virtual assistants are not a ‘cheap alternative’ to hiring an employee. Look at partnering with a virtual assistant as an investment in your business and not simply as an expense.

Make that RFP work for you!

About the Author:
Janine Gregor is the owner of Your Virtual Wizard, a Virtual Assistant business that offers professional administrative services, social networking services, article marketing and more.
Visit Janine’s website: http://www.yourvirtualwizard.com/
Follow Janine on Twitter: @urvirtualwizard

The relationship between a client and a virtual assistant develops over time and communication becomes seamless. That is an ideal place to reach, but how do you get there? Here are some concepts that come to mind to reach this coveted plateau.

1. Have a clear goal to reach – Focus on that end goal! If you want a brochure developed you need to clearly detail what you want the end product to look like. You can give this project to your VA, but what if she develops a trifold and you wanted a 2-page brochure? Do you want it to be in black & white or color? What is the end purpose –  for web or printing? All of these seem small, but can eat up a lot of your assistant’s time and energy to redesign and revamp. With a little bit of pre-planning; time and money can be saved.
2. Have processes in place – Educate your assistant! If you like your document typed 1.5 line space with 11 pt. Calibri font – make sure your assistant knows this. Have a process manual in place with templates of how you want your documentation to look. Having standards relieves a lot of pressure from your assistant. He or she will know how you express yourself in your documentation.
3. Have a schedule – Know how and when to reach each other! Have set hours when you are on call. You and your assistant may work more hours than are listed, but have defined hours. I tell my clients that I can be reached Monday – Friday from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. They can email me or leave me a voice message at other times, but I am not obligated to answer. The client and the assistant need to have work boundaries. This prevents unrealistic expectations of work being done during personal time.

Be open and honest with each other. If I have a client that I feel is being too demanding of my time; I gently remind them of my hours. I sometimes have to sigh as I am redesigning a PowerPoint that was designed using the wrong template because I did not ask the right questions before starting a project.

With some time, effort and clear communication many “mistakes” can be avoided; making for a happy client. I remain true to my motto “Keeping you on the path to success”.

About the Author: Lisa Olinda is the owner of Olinda Services, a virtual assistance practice with services ranging from executive assistance to social media management to desktop publishing and more.
Visit Lisa’s website: www.olindaservices.com
Follow Lisa on Twitter: @olindaservices

Listen to Episode 23: Passion+Hard Work=One Happy VA to hear Darlene’s interview with Lisa.

1. Find someone who is nice – my VA, Darlene Victoria, is a nice person so it’s easy to work with her.

2. Be clear on what you want done – any confusion is usually on the part of the contractor.

3. Think long term, it takes a bit of time for someone to learn your ways – the way to get consistently good work is to think long term so everyone can learn how to best work together.

About the Author: Shawna Schuh is Certified Public Speaker and an extraordinary storyteller, who works with corporations and associations to develop environments that help people bring their best selves to the work they do.
Visit her website: http://www.shawnaschuh.com
Follow Shawna on Twitter: @shawnaschuh