Let’s cut to the chase on this topic. Most of us know that responding to RFPs (Request for Proposals) via various industry networks can be a great way to connect with clients. But it can be a bit intimidating… common concerns include:

• how much information should I include?
• how long should my response be?
• should I tell them my rate?
• should I include my resume?
• do I tell them about my experience before I became a VA?

Think about this way… your response to a RFP is your first (and potentially only) opportunity to leave a lasting impression. So what do you want the business owner to remember about you? What do you want them to think as they read your response? What can you say that will make them want to talk with you … versus deleting your email?

We’ve been on the ‘client side’ of an RFP several times. As business owners ourselves and on behalf of clients we’ve sent RPFs that include specific expertise needed, questions we would like answered and general details about the opportunity.

Some of the responses are great, but sad to say that most responses aren’t very good.
This leaves us shaking our heads because (1) we know the VA is capable of much more than what they provided in their response and (2) the response did not represent the expertise of the Virtual Assistant industry as a whole.

We have also spoken with other business owners about the kind of response they have received from their RFP. In almost every situation, there are just a few responses that stand out… the others shouldn’t have bothered to responded.

We’re working on a full guide for responding to RFPs but in the meantime … here’s a quick list of the top 10
essentials you need to remember when responding to a RFP.

>>> Download the “Top 10 Essentials to Remember When Responding to a RFP”

“How Do I Find Clients” is the #1 question we receive from virtual assistants.
In fact, it’s the whole reason why Cindy wrote her book “Virtually Successful: 8 Simple Ways to Find (and Keep) Clients.”

Are you talking to potential new clients but still not getting hired? There is nothing more frustrating than connecting with a client that you KNOW needs help… and yet they still don’t take the step to actually hire you.

There are numerous reasons why you may or may not be getting hired by these business owners. Some reasons are directly related to the client’s readiness and some reasons are related to the way a VA has (or has not) demonstrated to the client that they really are the perfect person to work with.

It’s so critical that we do everything we can to fully educate ourselves about our potential client and also demonstrate our professionalism to our
potential clients. It’s about Business Mindset …. you must prove to them that you are a professional business owner who understands their business, their needs and how you can help them reach their goals.

We’ve put together a checklist for you, adapted from Cindy’s book … use it to make sure you’re doing everything in your power to eliminate obstacles that may stand in the way of you working with great clients.

>>> Download the “Top 10 Reasons You’re Not Getting Hired”

Communication …. the KEY To a Successful Virtual Relationship

We all know it - even subconsciously. Communication is the key to any relationship - virtual or not.

Ironically … although we know the importance of communication, it’s one of the main reasons behind a VA/Client break-up.

Why?

Because we often avoid discussing topics that we believe to be unimportant or slightly uncomfortable to discuss. Instead we literally wave our hand and say "it will all work out."

When it comes to a Client/VA relationship - it’s really up to us Virtual Assistants to ensure great communication with our clients.

This goes beyond a phone discussion every once in a while or emails back and forth throughout the week or instant messages throughout the day. These forms of communication are great and convenient but when it comes to creating, building and solidifying relationships with our clients, we need more than the casual connection.

Perhaps you can relate to these scenarios:

• you receive an email from your client asking you to complete a task immediately ….. you were out of the office for a few hours and it’s now ‘too’ late
• your client has expectations that are well beyond what was originally discussed….. you sense and feel frustration from the exchange of emails and feel irrate, annoyed and uneasy about the issue. How do you deal with it now?
• your client is busy and possibly difficult to connect with… in an attempt to ‘not bother them’ you don’t connect at all or perhaps send the odd email to check in yet they seems annoyed or frustrated with you

Any of these ring a bell?

One of the practices that we all (Andrea, Tina and Cindy) firmly believe in is connecting with clients every week - even for just 20 minutes at a time. The voice-to-voice connection has proved to be invaluable. By coming prepared to the meeting, ready to discuss upcoming deadlines, priorities and goals, the time is well-spent and more efficient than sending countless emails (which may be intrepreted differently) on the same topics.

After seeing the struggles that VAs and clients have faced due to ‘bad’ communication, we came up with a checklist on "How to Communicate With Your Client". This was first written a couple of years ago and recently updated to include even more information. Let us know if you have anything we can add!

Use this tool to help you effectively communicate with your prospective and current clients. Will you make any changes on how connect? Enjoy! Click here for PDF.

Think back to growing your own business … ever wish there was a tool or resource created to help you? Let us know … we’ll be happy to create something to help all Virtual Assistants. Just hit reply to put in your request.

© 2009 Virtually Successful.com. Reproduction permitted with full attribution.

The number one question we receive from Virtual Assistants is "How do I find clients?" and we’re actually tackling that challenge head on in our "3 Clients in 30 Days" Program right now! Finding clients is one part of the puzzle when it comes to building your VA business…. yet it is just as important to make sure that potential clients fit the description of your Ideal Client.

How would you describe your ideal client? Can you tell within the first 10-15 minutes of meeting with a potential client (either by phone or in person) whether they fit the description of your ideal client?

After talking to literally hundreds of business owners looking for a VA, we’ve come up with a set of criteria that allows us to know - within a quick 10-15 minute chat - whether a business owner fits the description of our ideal target market.

So to help you out - we’ve created - tada! The Ideal Client Comparison Chart for you. With the number of potential new clients out there you really should not be working with anyone other than those that you really want to work with!

The point of this chart is to help you quickly identify who is ready to work with you, who is a great match for you and those who aren’t (you know, the ones that give you that ‘pit in your stomach’ feeling.)

Use this tool to help build relationships with the RIGHT kind of clients for you. Enjoy! Click here for PDF.

Got a burning need or desire for a tool you’d like to see created, for the benefit of the Virtual Assistant industry and yourself? Just hit reply to put in your request.

© 2009 Virtually Successful.com. Adapted from the book "Virtually Successful: 8 Simple Ways to Find (and Keep) Clients" by Cindy Greenway. Reproduction permitted with full attribution.

According to the American Small Business Administration there are 22 million small businesses in the United States alone, 9 million of which are women-owned.

This is a vibrant market that - especially in today’s climate (see the Future of Virtual Assistance call recording, below) - continues to grow and has only started to be tapped into by virtual professionals.

The below checklist is designed to help potential small business clients see the benefit of working with you as part of their virtual team. The point is to make you look great, s’ave you time, and more effortlessly attract the right clients to you. Precisely the kind of tool we love to create for YOU in this newsletter. Enjoy, use it well and stay tuned for more like this.

Got idea for something you’d like us to make? Just send us an email to put in your request.

What’s going on with you and your business?

Take this quiz to find out.

Instructions: Circle the number of the statements that are true. If more than 5 statements are true, working with a virtual assistant specializing in small business may be the perfect solution.

1. I am working long hours each day and still can’t get caught up.
2. I’m working mostly in my business instead of on my business.
3. If I wasn’t here, the place would fall apart within a month.
4. I want to delegate more so I have time to pursue new revenue streams.
5. I’m doing tasks that I do not like or am not very good at.
6. Sometimes I wonder if I’m spending too much money doing everything myself. 
7. Our customers aren’t getting quality service and we’re losing money as a re’sult.
8. I have family members helping in my business and they are unhappy about it.
9. I want to take more time off with family without guilt or str’ess.
10. Unnecessary chaos in the company makes it hard to build a team.
11. I have ideas for growing the business but I just don’t have time to pursue them.
12. Paperwork and organization often fall behind and costs money in penalties or fees.
13. The joy of owning a business is eclipsed by the str’ess of running it.
14. I can’t turn my business brain off and my sleep and health are suffering as a re’sult. 
15. Profitability isn’t where it could be.
16. I miss or drop opport’unities to partner with others to expand the business.
17. The technology that could streamline my business overwhelms me so I tend to ignore it.
18. The business lags behind in online marketing which I’m sure means lost business.
19. I’m uncertain where my expenses are and if they can be streamlined to s’ave money.
20. I find myself missing or being late for appointments more than once a week.

For a copy of this checklist that you can print out and use cleanly with your clients, use the pdf format: Small Business Owner’s Sanity Checklist | click for pdf

© 2009 Virtually Successful.com inspired by and based on the Entrepreneurs RealityCheck by the School of Small Business Coaching at CoachVille.com. Reproduction permitted with full attribution.

It’s an occupational hazard for all of us in the virtual support biz, and getting OVER it is a big part of becoming truly virtually successful. What is it?

The feeling, some days more than most, that all you do is give give give and ‘wouldn’t it be nice to be taken care of once in awhile?!’

Well, we at the V-Scoop understand this feeling completely, and today we have a very unique way of giving YOU something. After all, you give every day as part of your life and profession - isn’t it important to be on the receiving end of that?? Today brings with it a VERY distinctive giveaway, so let’s cue the drumroll please ..

	+		=
Virtually Successful by Cindy Greenway	+	Becoming an Online Business Manager by Tina Forsyth	=	GIFTS FOR YOU!

In case it isn’t completely obvious, that’s right, for a limited time only, until FRIDAY, May 15, 2009, we are making it OPEN SEAS’ON on the above two ‘bibles’ for the virtual professional. That’s the entire book both titles, available for no-fee download for as many people who can get their dirty mitts on them in the next 5 days.

Click here to get the downloads now!

Why should you care about these downloads? Well, there are lots of reasons. But how about just one?

Both titles represent what is happening in-the-trenches, right now, in the virtual professional world. Fresh content based on thousands of conversations with real-life, well-paying clients which, unless we miss our guess, can have a truly long-lasting positive impact on your business.

That’s it. More, better, rewarding business for you, plus a wallop of hugely motivating energy is yours when you download and make time to read these books.

We offer them from our hearts as our THANK YOU for what you do every day to facilitate success for your clients and hope you’ll accept this acknowledgement of your talents and commitment. Without you, so much would not happen, and sometimes things like that just need to be said out loud.

Ready to accept your big thank you gift now? Click here or on either cover above, and grab it, sa’ve it to your desktop and be sure to book time to at least skim. Send feedback here if you’d like and yep, before you ask, you are welcome to post this unique thank you giveaway in all virtual professional forums, discussion lists, your own blog, anything like that because this gift goes out to all of us all over the world.

We are so excited at what we hope will be a massive lifting of spirit and energy for what we do virtually!

Kind words for Becoming an Online Business Manager:

“…the secr’et wea’pon of everyone I know!” — Andy Wibbels, Author of Blogwild!

Kind words for Virtually Successful: 8 Simple Ways for Virtual Assistants to Find (and Keep) Clients:

“… a powerful, must-read tool that will make a significant impact on the profession.” — Larina Kase, Author of The Confident Speaker

Post any of this f’ree graphic art on your website to encourage visitors to become clients

We thought it would be fun to offer you — as one of the first 1,500 subscribers to the Virtually Successful Scoop — 2 f’ree, animated graphic banners just for our industry. Just right click on either banner and choose ’save as’ to download a copy to your computer. You can post these to your website, blog, facebook page, wherever - free! All as part of the beta launch of the Virtually Successful Scoop.

Bonus for the first 50 only: view the animated files, then pick #1 (green) or #2 (pink) and email your name and title to graphics@virtuallysuccessful.com by Tuesday, May 5, 2009, and we’ll reply by May 15, 2009, with a free, personalized graphic file with your name at the end. [Update: This offer has now ended, congrats to the 50 VAs who are enjoying their new customized graphics.]

No need to give us credit, or link back either - it’s a no-strings-attached gift. (Note: We can customize just the end by adding your name and title, but not the colors, wording or anything else right now, due to the nature of the gift. This offer is good for current subscribers only and you must reply by May 5, 2009.