Selling Services

Hey Jon- You are referring essentially to being a Virtual Assistant (VA). There is lots of info on the web for VAs including forums and associations. VAs also normally include marketing as part of the mix.

Do a Google search on virtual assistants- that should give you a good start (including fee structures etc).

Hope that helps.

Q: I would like to begin charging people for my data entry/clerical type services, but am not sure if for one thing anyone would actually pay me to do these things.


A: You're still in a good place because you haven't yet spent any resources on this yet, so what you MUST do is gather undeniable proof that anyone would indeed pay for you this.

While the results of your research may not be what you want, evidence from research doesn't lie and allows you to re-think and possibly re-position your services.

Also important is that you need to be sure the target market and IDEAL CLIENT you have in mind is aware of the problems you'll be helping them solve (how would you describe it?)

... AND that they're actively seeking solutions to the problem, because it's one thing for a problem to exist, and a totally different thing for people to be looking for solutions to the problem (we can live with certain problems because they're just 'inconvenient')

Q: I'm also not sure what to charge and/or whether to receive payment upfront, upon completion or whether to receive a partial payment upfront with the rest upon completion.

A: Again, research will give you an idea about this, but here's a suggestion for you based on what I do and teach.

DIFFERENTIATE - By all means offer similar services comparable (hopefully better) than what's currently being offered but focus on making what YOU offer different and here's why...

One of the top reasons why service providers struggle to get clients or get more clients is because they setup shop doing exactly what the hundreds of thousands of other people in the same business as them do...

• Offerings - The same
• Packages - The same
• Branding - The same
• Delivery schedules - The same
• Website look and feel - The same
• How they market themselves - The same
• Service fee expectation #1 - The same (because everyone else charges $x, I need to charge $x)
• Service fee expectation #2 - I'll be different (because everyone else charges $x, I'll charge $x+ and make more money)
• Service fee expectation #3 - I'll be different (because everyone else charges $x, I'll charge $x -$x and attract more clients based on a lower price and sell on volume and make more money)

All of these are flawed approaches that simply don't work but people either don't know how to be different and better or are too scared because they think they'll be limiting themselves if they go do things differently.

Nothing could be further from the truth than that.

Summary

1. Do you research to decide on the market and market need
2. Identify your niche so you avoid being pegged as a 'commodity' provider
3. Figure out the best way to become visible to your target market
4. Figure out how to be irresistible to your ideal clients
5. Let them sample your offerings so they get to know your uniqueness
6. Sort out your marketing and selling because the 'doing' part, i.e. the delivery is where many people that fail, focus the most of their energies. Doing doesn't make you money - Marketing and selling does.

This should help you get started and started in ways that will help you eliminate frustration and costly mistakes.

Bayo