It doesn’t matter what type of business you have, you will need to learn how to sell yourself and promote your business if you want to experience business growth. Many VAs rely on referrals and word of mouth to do the promoting for them, but this will only get you so far. At some point, you will need to market your business and ask for the sale. This is something many VAs shy away from, but it doesn’t have to be scary! If you want to achieve better selling results, here are 5 steps that will help increase your chances of a successful outcome.

Step #1: Sell what your ideal clients need 

Are you selling what your clients need? The current lockdown situation has forced a lot of business owners to pivot and change their main offers. Offline businesses are having to navigate the online world, and online business owners are changing the way they market themselves so they can be more authentic and sympathetic to their client’s current needs. 

Are you doing the same? If you want to achieve better selling results, you need to adapt your packages to include what your clients need, at this moment in time. [Check out ‘Are you selling what your clients want to buy?‘]

Step #2: Create a compelling offer 

Once you know what your ideal clients need, your next step is to create a compelling offer. So what constitutes a compelling offer? It’s an offer that is so irresistible to your clients. they cannot refuse. A compelling offer showcases how you can help someone, is clear on how that looks and provides them with great value. Your offer also needs to have a clear call to action and is set up in a way that makes it really easy for them to buy it. 

What would constitute a compelling offer for your clients? Do you already provide it or is it something you need to create, to address their greatest need at the moment?

Step #3: If you want better selling results, have affordable pricing structures 

Talking of buying, have you made the buying process as easy as possible for your clients and do you have affordable pricing structures in place? Now affordable pricing doesn’t mean lowering your prices, but it does mean making your products and packages financially accessible to them. This includes offering payment plans on your larger ticket packages, offering 2-pay options on some of your lower packages, giving clients different payment options (such as direct debit facilities, credit card, PayPal and Stripe etc), and creating packages that cater for different price points.

Take a look at your pricing and see it from your client’s perspective. If you want to achieve better selling results, do you make it easy and affordable for them to buy from you? And do you have your pricing (or pricing range) visible on your website – or is potentially creating a barrier for clients to buy from you and leading them to assume they can’t afford you?

Step #4: Stay coherent with your message 

This step is all about being clear with your messaging.  Not just in terms of illustrating what’s included in your packages and products, but also in terms of your values and authenticity. Are you being consistent in what you say and do? If for example, you say clients only pay for what they use – do you sell by the minute or are you being inconsistent and rounding up to the nearest hour? And are you communicating what you do, clearly, logically and consistently – in a way that can be easily understood by anyone who visits your website, emails you a question or speaks with you on the phone? 

If you’re clear on who you serve and how you are of service to them, staying coherent in your messaging should be something that’s relatively easy for you to achieve and better selling results will be inevitable.

Step #5: Deliver on your promise

You know what your ideal client needs, you’ve created a compelling offer and you’ve made it easy for them to purchase. You’ve been clear on your message – now it’s time to deliver on your promise. One of the worse things you can do is say one thing and sell something else. Look to fulfil your promise and if possible, overdeliver on it. Create that wow experience for them and show your ideal clients how awesome a VA you are. Not only will this initially give you better selling results, but it will also increase the likelihood of recurring clients and longer contracts.

It doesn’t matter what type of business you have, you will need to learn how to sell yourself and promote your business if you want to experience business growth. The 5 steps above will help increase your chances of success, but they’ll only work if you consistently put yourself out there and actively promote the services and packages you have. If you’d like help growing your business, why not check out the VA Membership? It will give you the support, training and help you need, to increase your chances of VA business success.