Virtual Assistant Services

July 14, 2016 By Becky Gregory

Biz to Biz Bartering

Recently, I found myself in a situation with a potential client where we went from talking dollars and cents to discussing exchanging our services in a way that would ultimately be a win-win for both of us. He runs a business networking group and has a substantial membership list of business owners and professionals in the Washington, DC Metro area. He also had a substantial list of administrative work which he needed help with. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the budget for a V.A. On the other hand, I wanted access to his membership list. I believed it had the potential to be a great source for new business. We began to talk about how we could help each other.

This was not the first time I had bartered my V.A. services. In this case we determined that I would provide some of the admin support he needed and in exchange he would grant me access to his prominent list of members, invite me to do a business presentation at their next meeting and give me a free membership!

Bartering Virtual Assistant services is like bartering for anything else. According to SBDCNet (Small Business Development Center Network):

Small Businesses exchange almost every imaginable product or service like medical services,media services, landscaping, clothing, food, real estate, legal services, toys, cruises, cars, hotels, etc.

The advantages of bartering are:
- You receive goods or services you need without paying cash.
- You get new customers from the company you bartered with as they will continue to buy from you for cash, if they are pleased with your offering and service. This satisfaction generates the most effective form of advertising: word of mouth – which will get you new customers.

Consider bartering the next time you need something but don’t have the necessary cash on hand. See if the person who has the product or service you need is willing to make an exchange for yours. Here are a few tips to help you set up your barter arrangement.

Decide what you need and what you are willing to accept in return. Be very clear and detailed.
Identify a realistic trading partner. Take a fresh look at existing business clients and vendors and determine if there’s something worth exchanging.
Make sure you get everything in writing up front – and be specific. Develop a contract just as you would for a paying client and include time limitations.
Keep records for your accountant. Remember, bartering is considered income! While you may be able to write off expenses you incur during the barter, you must claim the fair market value of the services you provided as income.

Becky Gregory is an Executive Virtual Assistant and the owner of Virtual Administrative Services (VAS) www.virtualadminservices.com

June 13, 2016 By Becky Gregory

Made for Each Other

My experience with independent professionals (consultants, entrepreneurs, small business owners) is that you do what you do because you love it. You truly enjoy sharing your knowledge and expertise with those who need it. You enjoy the flexibility of being independent and not being tied to one company or organization. You really don’t mind the travel and quick changes of direction that often come with being a solo act, but let’s face it, you can also wear yourself out trying to do it all yourself. True, most independents don’t need traditional staff but they do need reliable administrative support. The kind of support that helps you always perform at your best.

Researching, marketing, scheduling, writing and creating presentations between gigs are big energy drainers. This is where a good Virtual Assistant can make all the difference. You’re not committed to an “employee” but you now have someone who can make those calls, build that presentation, do the research and help you grow your business.

From the beginning VA’s and independents have been a great match – practically made for each other. But many started to feel a pinch as VA rates began to increase. My advice – take a fresh look. Consider the real value of having a good V.A. who can take so much off your plate. It’s well worth it and still costs less than a traditional admin – full or part time.

Here’s a very short guide to help you determine whether a V.A. is right for you.

Determine what things your VA can do that would have an immediate impact on your time. for example:

Managing email – Checking, responding, screening and organizing into folders that will save you time.
Database/contact management– Keeping contact information up to date for use in marketing, mailings, etc.
Social Media Marketing – Consistently posting relevant content about your business on your Social Media sites to keep your name in front of clients and potential clients.
Developing documents, spreadsheets and presentations that you use regularly.

What type of personality would be compatible with yours?

Do you want someone to just take instructions and not ask a lot of questions?
Do you want someone who asks important questions and makes suggestions based on professional experience and knowledge?
Do you want someone with a lot of experience or someone who may be just starting out?
Do you want someone with an energetic personality and good customer service skills?
Do you want someone with good or excellent communication skills?

What kinds of questions should you ask during the interview process to determine whether a VA can handle your business needs?

How long have you been in business?
Do you have experience in handling (specific task)?
What services do you provide (and what services do you not provide)?
What are your fees? Do you bill hourly, by project or on retainer?
What are your hours (times & days) of operation? What about weekends?
Do you have a team to support you? If so, will I be working directly with you or members of your team?
Can I contact some of your current and past clients?

Contact me, Becky Gregory, anytime and let’s talk about how I can help you focus on your business while I focus on you.

Becky Gregory is an Executive Virtual Assistant and the owner of Virtual Administrative Services (VAS) www.virtualadminservices.com

May 24, 2016 By Becky Gregory

Creating Traveler Profiles: Booking From Afar

Guest Blogger Tae Lee is CEO and founder of TRAVO

TRAVO Blog

Creating traveler profiles helps you plan like a pro

As a virtual assistant, you are tasked with the extremely difficult task of creating a highly personalized itinerary for someone, who you likely have never met face to face. Creating a perfect itinerary is a highly elusive goal and can be extremely frustrating and time consuming. Creating personalized traveler profiles can simplify this process greatly and will save you a ton of back and forth time between you and your client. Using these five simple steps, you can create a traveler profile that can be applied to all future travel plans.

1. Flight Profile: Booking the right flight isn’t just about booking the cheapest flight. Each traveler has unique preferences that they need to stay comfortable in the air. When talking to a new client, be sure to ask for their preferences for each of the following:
a. Preferred Brand: What airline do they prefer and which brand do they like to collect miles for?
b. Preferred Seat Class: Economy, Economy Plus, Business, or First Class?
c. Do they prioritize duration or price? Is your traveler willing to pay extra for a direct flight? Or are they simply looking to book the cheapest flight available?

2. Lodging Profile: Hotels are going to be the biggest determining factor for a traveler’s happiness and satisfaction levels. You want to make sure they have everything they need in a hotel. Your goal should be to find them a home away from home. Hotel profiles should include:
a. Preferred Brand: Similar to airlines, which brand do they prefer and like to collect points for?
b. Amenities: What do they absolutely need in their hotels? From wifi to gyms, make sure you are able to provide as many of their required amenities as possible.
c. Proximity or quality? Do the prefer a mid-tier hotel close to their meeting or are they willing to drive a little further for a top-tier hotel?

3. Ground Transportation Profile: Ask your traveler how they prefer to travel when they’ve reached their destination. Ground transportation can be extremely stressful for the traveler and is the thing that you have the least amount of control over. Therefore, you should make sure that you do everything in your power to make sure the option provided is as close to what the traveler requested as possible.
a. Type of Ground Transportation: Travelers now have 5 major modes of transportation: rental car, taxi, ride sharing, car service, and public transportation. Find out which your traveler prefers so you can pick the right service.
b. Preferred Brand: Like the two above, make sure you find out the preferred brands for your traveler. Do this both for the car provider as well as the type of car.

4. Airport: Most frequent travelers have a preferred airport that has the better lounge, or wifi, or restaurants. Find out what these preferred airports are and make sure they are always flying into those airports when available.

5. Timing: Most frequent travelers hate feeling rushed. Traveling is already stressful enough without the added pressure of having to run in between meetings or flights. Find out what your traveler’s timing preferences are and build that into their flight schedule.
a. Domestic flights: How early do they like to arrive at the airport before domestic flights?
b. International flights: How early do they like to arrive at the airport before international flights?
c. Meetings/Events: How early do they like to arrive at their scheduled events? If they need at least an hour to prepare for an event, don’t book them a flight that will require them to go directly from the airport to an event.
d. Arrival and Departure Dates: Do they prefer cushion days at the beginning and end of trips? Or would they prefer to get in as late as possible and out as early as possible?

6. Confirmation: Once you’ve created a complete traveler profile, type it up and email it over to your traveler to make sure you have included everything they need. Also include a section where they can include additional sections.

How TRAVO can help…
TRAVO was designed to help administrative assistants and virtual assistants save time and keep the little details of trip planning organized. Traveler profiles are built into the product itself and each user can create as many profiles as they need to keep track of the preferences of each individual person. Once profiles are created, TRAVO will automatically take those preferences and instantly create itineraries for meetings and events. Rather than using many different websites to compare flights, lodging, and ground options, TRAVO can do all of this for you in an instant. Once you’re finished making the perfect itinerary, you can export it to the traveler’s calendar or as an editable word document to send to the user.

About the author:
Tae Lee is the CEO and founder of event based trip planning tool TRAVO. Prior to founding TRAVO, Tae served as executive vice president of Operations and Technology at the leading video advertising technology firm, ZEFR

April 10, 2016 By Becky Gregory

Customer Service – Remember My Name

“Good morning. Thank you for calling Virtual Admin Services. My name is Becky, how can I help you?” We all hear something like this from time to time. It’s called good customer service. Good customer service, if it’s done well, can be extremely beneficial to both sides of a phone call. A well trained and courteous front line support person can make the difference between the caller getting what he or she called for or getting just enough to leave them annoyed and dissatisfied.

As a professional Virtual Assistant I often make and receive calls for my business and for my clients as well, which means I’m often placed in the role of front line representation; and we all know about first impressions. I’m a firm believer in establishing good will right from the start. It makes the whole encounter much more pleasant and usually gets positive results. And it’s such a little thing. When the C.S. Rep tells you their name, jot it down and use it! Say that person’s name during the course of the conversation. For example – “I understand your company’s policy, Mary, but I’m still under warranty.” I know – I know, it’s a little thing but it really can make a big difference. customer-service-1641724_640

I have found that calling an individual by his or her name is not only courteous, but it personalizes the discussion and often, the level of service and effort goes up several notches. Mary or John might dig a little deeper or go a step further to find the answer or result you need. So say the name. Be friendly. Ask them what city they are in and how the weather is there. And don’t forget; when the conversation is wrapping up thank the person. Use their name and let them know that they have been helpful.

C.S. Rep: “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
Caller: “No Mary, you’ve answered all my questions and I really appreciate your help.”
C.S. Rep: “Thank you, Mr. Smith. It’s been my pleasure. And thank you for calling the XYZ Company.”

Becky Gregory is an Executive Virtual Assistant and the owner of Virtual Administrative Services (VAS) www.virtualadminservices.com

February 27, 2016 By Becky Gregory

How I’m Growing My Twitter Page, in Three Simple Steps

The numbers don’t lie- Twitter Stats for business are showing a significant drop in Twitter usage and are projected to drop even more in the near future. It’s true, collecting and analyzing data that’s directly related to your industry (like the changes and trends) is an important step towards strengthening business growth strategies. But relying too heavily on general stats can steer you in the wrong direction, too.

Small Business Owners and large corporations have different resources at their disposal so marketing strategies will be different, even if only slightly. I know that there’s talk that “Twitter is dead” but I say – don’t give up on Twitter. To the Small Business Owner, Twitter still has value, despite what the research says. And it’s not that the research isn’t relevant to SBO’s and Entrepreneurs, because it is. But knowing when to favor your own research and experiences is invaluable to the growth of your business. Know what works for your business.

For example, I use Twitter as one tool (among many in my entrepreneurial tool box) for boosting “internet marketing activities” as recommended by iMarketing Factory in their blog post entitled, “The Importance of Twitter for Small Business”. In this post, the writer points out the many ways Twitter is still beneficial to the small business. Here are a few of the reasons why you should continue using Twitter for business:

To build relationships with your customer
To create brand awareness
To provide information about your services
To survey and get feedback
To manage your online reputation
To promote your company’s blog

What Am I Doing to Grow My Twitter Page?

Step 1: Less Promoting

Ironically, in order to increase engagement on my Twitter page, I had to stop trying to sell my services. In business, promoting services (or products) can quickly become a primary objective when trying to generate more sales and increase exposure. And exposure is everything, right? Well, right and wrong. On Twitter (and other social media platforms) it’s easy to overwhelm our Twitter users with over exposure or what I like to call “buy this, try that -content”. Users tend to ignore pages like these because of their cold marketing attempts to sell and promote. Lesson Learned. Avoid falling into this trap. Cut back your promotional tweets to no more than 10% of your posting- so for example, if you post 10 times per week then only one tweet per week should focus on selling/promoting. Promoting is good but only if those we promote to haven’t tuned us out yet!

Step 2: Tracking Activity

Twitter has a feature that allows you to track and monitor “Twitter activity”. What’s being tracked and monitored?

Impressions – how many people saw your tweet on twitter
Likes
Re-tweets
Hashtag clicks
Link clicks

Browse this part of your Twitter page to see how you’re doing! Also keep an eye on how many users started following your Twitter page or added your page to one of their Twitter lists. (If you want, create a spreadsheet to track changes in your pages’ growth then convert it into a graph afterward, for a visual picture of the changes.)

I also did a little research and found that most Twitter experts recommend adding variety to social media posts. For example, attaching images on one post and inserting links on another helps to keep posts engaging. Paying attention to these helps me to understand what users want to see on my page: business tips, quotes and links to helpful articles/blogs.

Step 3: Posting What Followers Want

With what I learned, I revamped my social media page, to add more variety. Although it’s still in the early stages, the growth has been constant- I’ve added several more followers each week plus I’ve had an increase in likes and clicks! So far, I’m pleased. Here are a few examples from my recently revamped Twitter page:

Tips:

Tips