Administrative Assistant's Update

MAY 2018 4 we take to make sure the tools that we use do what we want them to do and achieve the goals that we want?" While Haddad had honed her ad- min skills over the years working for someone else, she hadn't learned how to run a business. "Running a business is hard," she says. "There is nobody to tell me to get my work done or to stay motivated. I can surround myself with supportive people like a business coach or other entrepreneurs but if I don't do busi- ness development or client deliver- ables then I won't grow." To make her own schedule more predictable, she now uses Calen- dly, an appointment and meetings scheduler that clients use to schedule time with her. With Calendly she also blocks off time she needs for her own priorities. "This year is my first year that I have decided that I control my sched- ule, not my clients," she says. With client calls largely completed Monday and Tuesday, Haddad gener- ally uses Wednesday for her own training, new-business development, prospect meetings and other priorities. Whereas she operated solo early on, Haddad now has developed a team of specialists (independent contractors like herself) in areas such as Wordpress, copywriting, logo and marketing material design, social media marketing and management, and others. And she has moved on from her initial L-shaped workstation (with one monitor and a designated telephone) in the basement to two monitors and two desks, taking up an entire wall in her living room. Her business software has gradu - ated from Microsoft Word and Outlook and Google Calendar to Google GSuite; Active Campaign (email newsletter platform), Wave (for invoicing and on- line payments); LessAnnoying (a con- tact management system); Dropbox; Adobe (Acrobat for converting PDFs to Word documents, PhotoShop and other applications); Canva (graphic design); Outlook and Microsoft Office. For billing clients Haddad uses a free version of MyHours, an online tool that also enables her to track non- billable hours "to help me understand Melissa Haddad's coachable moment By Staff When you're developing your own VA business, says virtual assistant Melissa Haddad, you're bound to encounter times when, even though your business is going pretty well, something is missing. One of those times for her was when she had had what she felt was a positive interview with a pro - spective client, referred by a coach in Haddad's net- work, but was not successful in landing the client. Why not? The Toronto-based executive coach, Carolyn Dickinson, who had knowledge of the inter- view, had an answer. Personal chitchat is no-no in sales call During the interview Haddad had talked about her children. In a sales call, Dickinson told her, bringing up one's personal life is inappropriate. Further, Haddad had "flip-flopped" when quoting a rate for her services. (This was during a time Haddad had gone up to $50 for a retainer "but I would drop down to $40 because I felt I could not justify $50 across the board," Haddad explained.) Dickinson recommended Haddad establish her value, and, to support that value, present a prospec - tive client with a questionnaire designed to identify the prospect's needs. Once Haddad had this informa- tion in hand she could assess the potential relation- ship, design a program and put a price tag on it. Questionnaire puts VA in driver's seat Thus, said Dickinson, Haddad would know exactly what to tell the prospect in the next step, an ap- pointment scheduled by the prospect on Haddad's Calendly app. After that conversation, Dickinson emphasized, the next move is entirely up to the prospect, even if it could feel like "forever," Haddad says. "It was an amazing feeling when I actually imple - mented [Dickinson's recommendation] my first call, because I nailed it," Haddad says. "People have a negative feeling around sales, like selling vacuum cleaners," Haddad says. "That's not how it is. It's about what do you know and what are you passionate about? Where do you see this per - son, knowing very well that they have the need and that they're going to see the value in your services." Update: VA startup Continued from page 1 Continued on page 5

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