Introductions are very important in business and professional settings. As a virtual assistant, you will encounter situations where an introduction is required.
For example, your client may need to introduce you to a meeting or event due to them working with other people or companies. You will need to be prepared for these situations so that you do not look incompetent.
You should be ready to introduce yourself as a virtual assistant professionally. The way you do this will depend on whether you are physically present or tele-present.
Physical presence refers to the fact that you are at the place where the introduction is being made. Telepresence means you are remote and make the introduction to someone or something else.
Both instances require a certain level of professionalism and confidence so that you do not look silly or cannot deliver your message.
Include your experience
Your profile is the face of your business. It is how potential clients, clients, and task-givers learn about you and your services.
A strong profile includes your name, the virtual assistant services you offer, a professional photo or images of your work, a brief description of who you serve and what you offer, and your social media links.
Your name is the most important feature to include. It lets people know who you are and that you are a virtual assistant. The other features add to your reputation and expertise.
Your image can be hard to create if you do not have any professional photos taken. Some websites like Fiverr offer cheap photo shoots that turn out nice and are appropriate for a VA profile. Or, try asking a friend or family member to take some pictures of you for your profile picture.
Include your personality
You should also include your personality in your introductory emails. Try to be light and funny, if you are comfortable doing so.
Some VAs say that they include some of their personal life in their bios, like what they do outside of work or their interests. This is up to you if you want to add those details.
Putting these things in your bio will make people more interested in you as a person, which will make them want to work with you. Your clients will feel like they know you better, and that trust may help bring in more business.
As a virtual assistant, you will work with clients across the country (or even across the ocean) which can make it hard to form a personal connection. Including your personality in your bio can help bridge that gap a little.
Provide helpful links
As a virtual assistant, they will expect you to have some basic knowledge about a wide range of topics. Some people may even expect you to have expertise in some of these areas.
However, it is your responsibility to continue learning as much as you can about business and marketing. The more you know, the more helpful you will be to your client.
To build your confidence and prove your value, provide links to helpful resources and guides on business and marketing practices.
Give them a starting point to learn more about these things, and let them know they can come to you with questions or concerns they may have.
This will help boost your confidence and legitimize your role as a virtual assistant.
Make it easy for clients to find you
The first step to getting clients is creating a well-designed, easy-to-find online presence. You should have a website, social media accounts, and job listing accounts.
A website that showcases your work, explains who you are and what you do, and provides a method of contact is essential. Besides this, you should have at least one social media account that allows you to promote your work and provide contact information.
While it may seem early in your VA career to invest in your own website, it is not expensive and can pay off big time later. A nice way to start is using a free platform like WordPress or Squarespace to create one.
Creating accounts on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter also allows you to include your contact information.
Share your website or email address
Now that you have shared your portfolio, it’s time to introduce yourself. As a virtual assistant, you will manage a lot of different tasks and projects for various clients.
It is important to let people know how they can contact you. Give them your website address so they can see your work or email address so they can send you a task.
Give people plenty of opportunities to connect with you. Make it easy for them to connect with you by providing multiple ways to contact you.
Some ways to do this are via phone calls, text messages, social media, and email. These easily get transferred into an app, so if someone has an issue with one type of communication, then you can still reach them on another.
Let people know you are eager to help them with their needs and give them some ways to reach you.
Answer questions clients have about being a client
Clients have lots of questions about being a client. Questions range from how they can learn more about you and your services to how they can learn more about themselves.
As a virtual assistant, you will give them some control over their own business operations. This is an important transition to make for both of you!
How can you help clients feel comfortable with this change in control?
Education is a powerful tool that you have at your disposal. There are several ways to educate clients on things, so we’ll go through all of these so you can choose which ones are most applicable to your clients.
Tips for being a great VA include being professional, having good communication skills, and being a good writer
Being professional means being polite, respectful, and competent in your work. You should understand the importance of doing quality work in a timely manner to ensure a good reputation.
You should also be willing to take direction from your clients and their other staff members and their clients.
Clients come to you for your expertise, so you should be able to handle any task given to you with confidence.
Being a great writer means you can put together coherent sentences with grammar and spelling. You should also be able to write concisely saying what needs to be said and no more.
Being a great virtual assistant means being able to manage your time well so that you can ensure high-quality work is done on time. You must also be able to handle changing priorities smoothly without losing focus on other tasks.
