Building a business takes strategy. You know that from building your own business. You want to build a business that is successful and thriving.
What is the easiest way to do that?
Work with clients whose businesses are also successful and thriving.
It seems like a simple concept, but most VAs I know want to work with clients on a long term basis – and they have no idea what to do in order to find them. The key is to find clients who are currently (or planning to) growing their businesses, because that will mean that your business will grow as well. There is one important thing you need to do for them that will help both of you.
You need to learn all about their business. The more you know about your client’s business, the more you can act as a strategic partner for them. The more you can be proactive for them – to bring fresh and current ideas to the table, to keep them in the loop about new things that may help them in their success, and basically just to be a partner in their business as opposed to an off-site employee.
Here are a few things you should learn about your clients:
1. How they make money. What do your clients sell? Do they sell products? Services? Both? It’s important for you to know how many different streams of revenue they have out there. If they have a lot of streams of revenue (information products, programs, private clients, and so on) then they have a lot of ways that they can bring in money to sustain their business. If they have only a few streams (just services, for instance), you should find out how they intend to build their business … and how you can help!
2. Who are their clients? Who are they working with? Are they long term clients, or just one-time or project based? Do they have a large base of potential clients to do business with … or are they tapping a cold market? It’s important to know where your clients plan to get their clients … because if they don’t have a full client load, that will affect your business too.
3. How are they reaching their clients? Are they largely attending live events? or do they use social media? Are they consistently building their list, or are they just marketing to their own people regularly? How does any of this affect how you work with them? or does it? Can you help them expand their network in one or more ways? Tell them how!
These are all really important questions to ask yourself when you are deciding which type of clients you can best serve. Because when you are thinking about this type of thing, you are doing strategic planning not only for your clients, but for your own business.
Of course this is where working with your ideal client also comes into play. By working within a target market (ie female business coaches), your clients will have similar businesses and support needs. It makes it easier for you to gain knowledge about how to support them. By proactively supporting clients (versus being a ‘task completer’), they can be more successful and that makes you busier. It’s a win-win situation.
So what do you know about your clients?
I’d love to hear your comments on this article!