Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
This episode is the third in a series of four episodes that I want to share with you as a lead up to my 50K VA Group Coaching program that is launching next month. Missed the rest of the series? Catch up here with episode 1!
Today I want to talk about clients – your clients that will allow you to build the business of your dreams! The high-value clients that you need, that you want, and that need and want you.
Today’s Quote: Your network is your net worth. – Porter Gale
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
High-Value Clients – we are talking about high-value clients today because it’s your missing link.
It’s the thing you don’t have right now, that you want. That you need.
It’s the whole basis for my 50K VA program that is launching soon.
You are struggling right now because you are not in contact with the right people.
It’s really as simple as that.
If you were networking or in a community with a whole bunch on entrepreneurs who had money, who were doing the stuff to grow their business, who were successful, but who didn’t have any VAs, would you be able to help them?
Yes you could! You can. And you will.
Instead you are eking through on social media with people who are starting their business, who are feeling the challenge of doing their admin while serving their clients too – and not doing it well.
So they hire you because they can’t afford an in house admin, and then they nickel and dime and micromanage everything you do because they are struggling to afford your services anyway.
Sound familiar?
Well maybe it’s not all that bad, but it goes down that path really quickly if you’re not paying attention.
If your clients are choosing your lowest package, or asking you what you charge to do this or that (okay then we’ll just do this), then you are going to struggle to build the business YOU want. That will help you live the lifestyle that YOU want.
And your business …. Quite frankly, it’s about you. It’s for you.
If you just wanted a paycheque, you could go and get a job.
You started your business because you want freedom, flexibility, and all that good stuff that goes with being a business owner.
So it’s time for you to find the clients that really need you – the ones that value you.
High-value clients will help you build a high-value VA business. That’s what we are going to talk about on today’s episode.
What is a High-Value Virtual Assistant Client?
To kick us off, how about we talk about just exactly what a high value client is…
You probably think I’m going to say that it’s someone who pays you $2000 or more every month. Nope.
It’s not about how much they pay you (entirely), it’s about how much they need you.
A high-value client is, as I’ve described a little bit already – someone who needs you to help them run or grow their business.
They need help with ongoing work – consistent tasks that you start doing and that you continue to do every single week. Then maybe you even add on more and more tasks.
A high-value VA client also communicates well with you. They don’t ghost you. They might be busy, but they never avoid you completely, or don’t send you work, or leave everything to the last minute.
They prioritize what they need help with, and they rely on you to help them get it done. Communication is not always perfect with VA clients but when you find someone who remains in contact with you, that makes things much easier for you to work together.
A high-value client also is willing to pay your rates – whatever they are. That doesn’t mean they say take my credit card, I don’t care how much it costs – but they don’t default to your lowest package price, and they don’t nickel and dime you.
Part of clients paying you well is how you handle them too – you can’t act like an employee and charge someone $40/hour. You have to be proactive. You have to be confident. You have to keep all of their balls in the air, with their help if necessary, but certainly you have to be organized and manage your time well.
A VA client can pay you $500 a month and still be a high value client.
You will work together well, create a long-term relationship, and also work with minimal back and forth, because you will put systems in place that help you work efficiently.
Of course if you want to earn $50K or more a year, you will need more high value $500 clients than you would if they paid you more, but some of my favourite clients billed less than $1000 per month when working with me and they were definitely high value.
You may have heard of the Pareto Principle – that states that 80% of a business’s revenue often comes from 20% of its clients.
The best way to build your 50K VA business is to get a few high paying clients. But often high value wins out, in my experience. Try to fill your VA business with a mix – understanding that the more expectations you have to manage, the more challenging it can get.
Boundaries and policies and communication are your best friends when you work with a lot of clients.
Focus first on the high-value clients, then worry about finding the high-paying ones.
Once you work with some high-value ones you will wonder why you ever struggled with people who couldn’t afford your services!
Why do high-value clients matter, other than the obvious?
When you work with clients who need ongoing work – who really NEED you – you get stability in your work schedule, in your bank account.
You can create work and life balance by setting expectations, and again by maintaining excellent communication.
With all of my clients, you have heard me talk about this before, I held a weekly production call.
That meant that we met at the same time every Monday for a short period of time – usually 15 minutes, sometimes up to 30. But never more than 30. I’ll tell you why in a minute!
We followed an agenda which I held and monitored. Most of my agendas were 1. Here’s what happened last week. 2. What’s happening this week? 3. Any issues to resolve? 4. What new business is coming down the pipe? Four agenda items. That’s it! (One of my clients wanted 1. Money. 2. Clients. 3. Current Business. 4. New Business.) Whatever they need is what you do, every single week.
I ran the production meetings. The client did not. They knew the agenda items because they were the same every week. It was efficient, and everything we did together fit into one of those categories.
We would jump on our Zoom or the phone, quick greetings, how did the weekend go, and then get right into it. It was a meeting. Everyone’s time, especially on Mondays, is valuable.
And because we met each week, it went smoothly. The odd time we had more to discuss but not often. It was business.
So we would go through each agenda item. And everyone got their action items to follow up on. Then the call was done.
Remember when I said it would take 15 minutes? Most of them did. Immediately following the call, I would update our project management system with the follow up from the call.
That’s why the calls didn’t go past 30 minutes. I billed the client 30 minutes each for those calls, but I wanted them to stop at 20 so I could factor in the time to update our systems.
If you aren’t doing that with your meetings right now, I highly recommend it. It’s very efficient.
Identifying Your Ideal Client
Okay so now that we know who these clients are, let’s talk about identifying them for your VA business.
You have to start by choosing a target market. A niche. A specific group of people that you can best help with your services.
Yes, you can help lots of people.
But marketing doesn’t work that way. Neither does networking.
Marketing and networking rely on you knowing who your people are.
Your messaging relies on it – when you know who you are talking to, you can talk very specifically about the stuff they need done.
For example, instead of saying ‘I can help you with your inbox and scheduling’, you can instead say things like ‘I can manage your speaking inquiries, your communications for speaking engagements, and I can help you manage your energy by scheduling your coaching calls efficiently.’
Maybe not exactly those things but you can see how a speaker or coach would resonate more with the latter statements than the first one.
It’s so important, especially for high-value clients, to know that you understand them and their business.
Choosing a niche makes that so easy.
The other thing that niches help you do is to FIND your people. If you are looking all over the place for your clients, you might find a great one occasionally. But if you are looking in a place where many of them gather all the time, then you will just naturally find more in that one place.
Clients hang out with their colleagues. Coaches hang out with other coaches. Speakers hang out with other speakers. Health professionals hang out with other health professionals.
Where are you people? Well I don’t know exactly – but I know that they ARE somewhere. Especially the ones that are growing their businesses, or operating busy ones. Those people have support systems – they attend events, they network, they are on social media – and they are busy connecting with people who can be their clients, and people who can support their business.
You also have to know what sets you apart from other VAs. Anyone can manage a client’s Calendly account. Why should someone hire you over Jane?
What kinds of results have you achieved with your other clients?
How much time can you save by implementing systems, processes, or automating things for a client?
What kind of training or experience do you have?
These are the things that can set you apart. You need to figure these things out for your VA business, and talk about them in your marketing and your networking conversations.
Strategies for Attracting High-Value VA Clients
Networking is key to growing a great VA business.
Like I say, when you find your community, it’s not even that challenging, because you know those people need you. Lots of them. And all you have to do is help them.
Networking online and offline makes sense. I love the speed of offline or in person networking. Trust is built with people so much faster when you are face to face.
But the ease of online networking makes it a lot easier. It does, however, take a lot longer to develop relationships where people trust you.
With in person networking, everyone in the room has made the investment of their time, and sometimes, their money, to be there. So they are more serious about connecting.
With online networking, many of us have a bunch of places that we go to network. So we spend less time there – and there is a lot more noise. Not to mention there is often no monetary investment.
Unless you find people who are in a business association or network, Chamber of Commerce, or coaching program, or business platform that they pay for.
These can also be great places to find your people.
Once you find them, you need to be able to successfully connect with them so that your conversations lead to sales conversations. Polished conversations and proposals are key to signing those high value clients.
You need to showcase your services and abilities confidently. Testimonials and social proof is also important to collect and use in your proposals and marketing.
Retaining High-Value Clients
And finally, once you get the clients you need to keep them!
A lot of people will tell you to underpromise and overdeliver. That’s good advice, but what you really want to go for is delivering consistent value to your clients. Do what you say you will do when you say you will do it.
Communication, adaptability and reliability are keys to retaining your clients.
I can’t overstate good communication. It helps everything, so much. You can teach your client to communicate well in your relationship. Starting with your weekly production calls – I forgot to mention that the rest of the week my clients and I communicated via email or project management system. Because we were so clear on the Monday production calls, things were easy to maintain the rest of the week.
Adaptability is about being flexible or being able to adjust when needed. Often when you are working with a client who is growing their business, things can change – being able to be open to new ideas, new people, or the unexpected, can be a real bonus to your value.
And naturally, being reliable is essential. When you are valuable to your clients, it’s because they trust you and they know that they can rely on you to do the things they need done. When your clients know that you will be there when they need you, your role becomes even more important to them.
Appreciate your clients and take care of them, and they will take care of you.
Let’s revisit today’s quote: Your network is your net worth. It really is who you know – and if you don’t have the right network now. that should be the next step you take to fix your VA business..
In order to build a VA business that can support the lifestyle you want, you need to connect with people who need your particular services. So your network really does become your net worth.
You can’t spend time with a bunch of struggling entrepreneurs and expect to build a successful business. Find the busy ones, the awesome ones, the ones who are kicking butt – they need your help, and they will pay for it!
Think about your clients right now, or ones you have worked with before.
Are or were any of them high value clients?
What do you need your clients to do, to think, to be, in order for them to be high value clients?
Do they need to increase their budget?
Do they need to stop micromanaging you?
Do they need to be more organized, less last minute stuff?
What steps do you need to take to make your clientele more high value?
Where can you start to connect with more of the right kind of client?
We’ll be learning how to do this and more in my 50K VA program.
I’m going to leave it here for today.
Don’t forget to tune in next week for the four and final episode of this series: Creating Systems for a Scalable VA Business. We will talk about the essential systems you need to set up and use to manage workflows and clients, team members, finances and your time.
If you want more information about the program, drop me a PM. I’ll share more info in the coming weeks across all of my social channels, but I’m available to answer any questions you have right now too.
Thank you again for trusting me to teach you and to guide you. I truly love to be here for you every week.
If I could ask you a favour – to subscribe to the podcast or leave me a review if you haven’t already. That’s something I should say every week and I never really do. But it matters and it will make sure that I know you are finding value in what I create just for you every week.
Do You Need Help?
If you are looking to build the kind of business I’m talking about – a 50K and beyond VA business, that’s where I can help. I am here to help you become a ridiculously good VA.
I have helped hundreds of VAs who are stuck get moving through private coaching, group coaching, and live and self study trainings. If you want to talk about how we can work together, let’s connect on a Cut to the Chase call. You can book yours at YourVAMentor.com/chase
Thanks for tuning in this week! I’ll see you next time!
What You Need to Do Next:
PRIVATE COACHING: Let’s work together privately to get you to your really big goal. It’s the fastest way to get results and we can start right away. Learn more about private coaching here.
GROUP COACHING MASTERMIND: The Virtual Circle is a group coaching mastermind option that costs less than private coaching, and can help you achieve the goals you set for yourself. . Check it out here: The Virtual Circle Group Coaching Mastermind for Virtual Assistants . We’d love to have you join us!
50K VA GROUP COACHING PROGRAM: If you have been struggling to build your VA business, get in on this live coaching program where we will help you create the framework for a business that can earn you 50K a year and beyond. LAUNCHING FALL 2024, stay tuned!
MONTHLY EMAIL MEMBERSHIP: I also have a brand new low-cost monthly membership program that will help you build your VA business – and it doesn’t require you to be on social media! It’s an email membership that I call The Virtual Toolkit! Every Monday morning you’ll receive a lesson and a downloadable resource in your inbox, that you can use to take a step further in your VA business. Get more details and sign up here now!
SELF STUDY PROGRAM: My self study program Getting Started as a VA can help you get your VA business started easily and quickly too. You can sign up right away and be on your way to getting clients by the end of the program, with all the right foundations in place. Check out the program here.
COMPLIMENTARY CONSULT: Reach out to me if you need to talk about where you are stuck and what the right option might be to get you moving. It’s literally all I’m here to do is help you get to where you want to go. Book a complimentary Cut to the Chase call with me here.