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Are You a Proficient Business Owner?

By Danielle Keister |
2 Comments

I’m not talking about being masterfully skilled at the thing you are in business to do.

I’m talking about being ALSO masterfully skilled at running a business.

Because you can be as masterfully skilled in administrative support as all get out and still not serve your clients well if you don’t know how to manage and run your business well.

More business, trust and credibility has been lost not because someone couldn’t do the work or didn’t have the skills, but because they failed in other areas of business: customer service, workload management and communication.

Having policies and systems that help you manage and put order to things in your business is smart. Letting clients run your business and dictate certain fundamental management policies is not.

You have to run your business and institute protocols in a way that works for you first so that you can in turn take fabulous care of your clients.

Dear Danielle: What If I’m New and Don’t Have Any Testimonials Yet?

By Danielle Keister |
7 Comments

Dear Danielle:

What if you are brand new and only have one testimonial for your site? Should I wait until I have more and add that component later? –EB

Heck no! Get ‘er up on your site today. :)

You’ve heard the expression “you gotta use what you’ve got.” Well, if you only have one testimonial so far, work it, girl!

So how do you do that? By making it a feature on your site instead of an afterthought. That means using the client’s full name and link to their site. Bonus points if you can add a headshot (people like to see faces with names). Give it a dedicated page, perhaps, and even list the client’s contact information.

(Caveat: Make sure you ask and that the client gives you permission to do this first. Inbound links are always great for SEO so it doesn’t hurt to point that out as well.)

People are skeptical about anonymous testimonials so you never want to use initials or only first names. Prospective clients put more stock in testimonials they can see are from actual, real people.

You also don’t need millions of testimonials, just a handful of quality ones. So the other thing I recommend you do immediately is institute a feedback process in your business. For example, in my business, I solicit feedback from my monthly retained clients every 3 or 6 months and immediately upon project completion from any project clients I work with.

The very best way to get your feedback process going is with my Client Feedback Form which you can get from the Success Store. My Client Feedback Form is designed especially to help you elicit meaningful testimonials and start building great before/after case studies.

Now, what if you don’t have any testimonials yet? There are a couple things you can do.

  1. Use comments/reviews of past employers.
  2. Use comments/reviews from volunteer work you’ve done.

Again, get permission or ask them if they’d be willing to write something fresh for you.

Anyone who can speak to the quality of your skills and professional qualities and how great it is to work with you can provide you with a testimonial. It doesn’t necessarily need to be clients. It’s just better coming from paying clients so work toward replacing those employer/volunteer testimonials as you get established.

Here’s another great little trick you can do that has lots of credibility and “social proof” (which, again, is ultimately what clients are seeking in testimonials)…

If you are using social media like Twitter and Facebook, you can use those positive comments you get as testimonials. Post them on your website. Compile them in a PDF. You can even use widgets to your advantage such as the Twitter Faves widget (really simple: whenever someone says something nice about you, favorite it and it will show up in the widget, which you can place on your website).

Let me know if that helps you, and if anyone else has tips, please do share in the comments!

Dear Danielle: Do Clients Need to Know If I Am PT or FT?

By Danielle Keister |
1 Comment

Dear Danielle:

I am launching soon, but still have to work 9-5 to support myself so I don’t have to take a paycheck from the biz right away. I will cut back to part-time and give more time to the biz ASAP on my way to full-time with it. In the meantime, I don’t want to be thought of as someone unreliable, distracted, or who can’t get back to people in a timely fashion. Any ideas about minimizing how obvious it is that I am just starting out part-time? –JN

Ah, this is the beauty of making sure you don’t think of nor market yourself as an assistant, something I’m always preaching here.

I want to talk about that some more, but first here are some practical tips for being timely and professional in your business, whether it’s full-time or part-time (and really, anyone could tell you these):

  1. Only take on retained clients you can support or projects you can complete timely and professionally.
  2. Establish a communication turn-around policy and display that policy on your website (e.g., “I will return your call or email within 24-48 hours.”)
  3. Do what you say you will. This is a form of being consistent, and consistency is about reliability and dependability. So, if you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you say you’re going to do something by a certain date/time, do it by that date/time. Things come up and exceptions happen, but make sure they are RARE. Yes, life happens and by all means you are allowed and you should immediately communicate when you aren’t able to honor a commitment you made. BUT you WILL still be viewed as an unreliable flake if you constantly use that as an excuse or crutch. The solution–only make commitments that you are 99.999% sure you can keep.
  4. Along those lines, give yourself PLENTY of space to honor your commitments. Where people go wrong with making promises and commitments is that they allow clients to have wrong or unrealistic expectations and simply don’t give themselves enough room and time. Don’t box yourself into a corner. Manage expectations in clients by setting conscious, specific policies in your business when it comes to communication, work requests/management and turn-around times.

Now, let’s talk about some conceptual things that will really change the entire ballgame for you and how you approach your business.

Let’s first clarify the terms “part-time” and “full-time.” When I refer to part-time and full-time, it has nothing to do with the number of hours you put in or are available in a day or week. When I refer to part-time and full-time, it has to do with whether your business is your sole livelihood (“full-time”) or whether you are still working a job to support yourself (which makes your business a “part-time” effort/livelihood).

When you call yourself assistant, clients come to the table with the mindset that you should be doing assistant-like things for them and be at their on-demand beck-and-call.

That just doesn’t work in business (that is, if you are trying to create the kind of business where you can both earn AND live well without having what amounts to a J-O-B and having to take on hundreds of clients just to break even).

If you create a business like that and allow those kind of expectations, your daily PT or FT availability will be an issue. You don’t want your value to be dependant upon that.

So how do you change expectations around that and how you are able to operate your business in a manner more like a professional and not an assistant? It starts with not calling yourself an assistant. ;)

If you don’t want part-time or full-time status to matter, then you want to instead frame yourself as an administrative expert, not an assistant. As an adminstrative expert, you focus clients on the fact that your expertise and skills are all about administrative work, not in being an assistant. These are two completely separate concepts.

When you frame yourself in this manner, you begin to see your role in your business very differently. You begin to understand that like any other kind of professional who is hired for a specific expertise and talent, the fact that you “assist” clients doesn’t make you an assistant.

When you decide to be an administrative expert and not an assistant, you then realize that you do not need to operate and work with clients nor be available to them in the same manner as an assistant. Since you aren’t an assistant, you aren’t working with them for specified hours in a day or week.

And because you aren’t trying to be an “assistant,” clients don’t need to know whether you have a full-time or part-time business. The point becomes moot because you aren’t selling your availability of hours, you are providing a partnership of administrative expertise.

The other thing here that will change the game entirely is to sell your value and expertise, not your hours. Your value is about how your work and expertise ultimately helps clients grow and move forward in their businesses to accomplish their goals and overcome obstacles. If you keep trying to sell your time (hourly billing) or packages of hours, you will keep yourself enslaved to the clock, which will automatically put a lid on your earning potential.

When you make these shifts in your thinking about who you are and what you do in your business, you are freed from all kinds of burdens that those who are trying to be assistants find themselves saddled with. When you are not an assistant, you do not need to accept on-demand kinds of work and roles that others are enslaved by. (I always say, if a client needs an assistant, then they need to employ one. ;) )

As an administrative specialist, you can instead choose to take on only work that can be scheduled and where you can give yourself plenty of space to complete. This is the kind of business model I teach folks how to build. When you operate this kind of business, whether you are full-time or part-time in your business becomes irrelevent because you aren’t marketing yourself like someone who is going to be available to clients like an assistant and you aren’t selling hours.

 

 

 

Dear Danielle: How Do I Get Over Blogging Writer’s Block

By Danielle Keister |
2 Comments

Dear Danielle:

There are so many things to consider in starting or re-starting a business, as I’m sure you know. At this point, there are so many different marketing avenues to promote our business and the industry as a whole.  Let me tell you, I am so excited about this up and coming ‘virtual’ profession.

One of the areas I was going to start off with again is a blog. And you are correct – sometimes it’s difficult to come up with ideas or topics to talk about. Frankly, sometimes I even think before I start to write ‘What could I possibly have to say that may make a difference in someone’s life?’ or ‘Do I really have anything to offer to benefit the VA industry – individually and as a whole?’

Do you have any suggestions on how to overcome this writer’s block or how to research what topics would be interesting to my peers and potential customers?

Oh, you know I do. ;)

My first bit of clarity for you is to stop thinking you need to write for your peers and the industry. You are wasting your business building time and energy.

I can’t tell you how many people I see and mentor who complain about not having clients and needing to get more clients–and then waste all their time and energy talking to and blogging for each other instead of their would-be clients!

You may have heard the phrase “wasted real estate” when experts talk about how business owners waste valuable website space with content that has nothing to do with anything when it comes to attracting clients and being of interest to them.

In the same way, you don’t need to be writing for your peers or for the industry. They are not your clients. If that’s what you’re doing, you’re wasting one of your most valuable pieces of marketing and networking “real estate.” If you are starting your business or trying to grow it and attract more clients and be of service to them, write your blog for them.

And my second bit of advice for getting over writer’s block is to get a target market.

(For those who don’t know, a target market is a specific field, industry or profession you focus your business support on.)

Of course you will be at a loss as to what to write about when you don’t know who you are talking to. When you try to write for anyone and everyone, you end up being interesting to no one.

This is yet another way having a target market helps you:  it gives you clarity, focus and direction. When you know who you are talking to, it’s easier to know or figure out what is going to be of value, use and interest to them. And this is what will help make your content far more interesting, useful and compelling.

A few other little blogging tips:

  • Make sure you have several ways for your target market to subscribe to your blog. First and foremost, use a service like Aweber which will help you build your list and automate the distribution of new post notifications to these subscribers. Make the subscription form your most prominent feature in your upper right sidebar (“above the fold”).
  • There will be people who prefer to subscribe by RSS or with things like Networked Blogs. Give them those options as well. However, if you are interested in building your list, you may want to feature those options less prominently.
  • Give your blog a title and/or tag line so that your target market knows instantly that your blog is especially for them.
  • Survey your subscribers periodically. Pick their brains. Ask them questions. Your blog isn’t just a way to connect with clients. It can also be an excellent research tool for getting to know them better and find out more about what their challenges and common goals and interests are in business–which is going to help you in your business and offerings to them as well as knowing what to write about for them.

Dear Danielle: Will Certification Make Me Look More Professional?

By Danielle Keister |
4 Comments

This question comes up frequently. And I often see  newcomers to the industry being preyed upon due to their mistaken belief that “certification will make me look more professional.”

The fact is, no one’s little piece of paper is going to make you look more professional. The only thing that will make you look more professional is by DEMONSTRATING your expertise and competence and skills in everything you do. That includes how your website looks, how you speak, your message, your business operations and processes. These are the things that make you look more professional.

In over 14 years of business, I have never once been asked by a client if I am certified. They simply do not care. Sadly, many people will waste their precious time and money on certifications that will have absolutely nothing to do with getting clients and whether they succeed or fail.

I’ve written about this topic extensively on my old blog and have just moved all these posts over to the new blog here under their own category called “Certification Is a Joke.”

If you are thinking about paying for certification in our industry, read the posts I’ve written on this subject first.

Dear Danielle: Client Wants to Do a Background Check on Me

By Danielle Keister |
5 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I have recently purchased a few of your items and love them. They have helped me tremendously! Thanks. :)

I have a question: I have done a couple of consultations and the client has asked if they could run a background check because they will be disclosing some bank and financial information to me. I have no problem with them doing this and can’t blame them for asking; however, I was wondering if you had heard of a service where I could get the background check for myself and just be able to send it to the clients when they ask for it? The main reason for this is that in the same way that they don’t want to hand over their banking info to me, I do not want to hand over my SS#, birth date, home address, etc.

Great question and thanks so much for asking. I don’t have any recommendations for you when it comes to background checks. Obviously, it’s everyone’s personal choice, but I highly discourage allowing clients to do personal background checks. Even if they themselves have honest intentions and are not some kind of shady character, if their computer or systems or office security are compromised somehow, that information can get leaked out in all kind of ways through no fault of their own. Having been a private investigator in a former life, this is a really bad idea for all kinds of reasons.

Plus, it’s just the wrong mindset to cater to. If you were an employee they were considering hiring, it might be appropriate, but this is a business relationship, not an employment one. A background check also doesn’t guarantee that someone can be trusted. There simply has to be a certain level of trust extended to each other or there isn’t room to do business together.

You didn’t say what kind of work you will be doing for them, but generally, trust in business is something that grows and is earned in stages. With some exceptions, of course, it’s very often not necessary to need that kind of sensitive client data right off the bat. You can let the relationship grow naturally as you continue working together over those first months and getting to know each other. As they see things progress and they get more comfortable, they will know the right time to share that information if and when it’s needed.

I do want you to think about this from a different perspective. Have a conversation with the client. What might really be going on behind their request? Do they simply have trust issues beyond what is reasonable? Is there something they aren’t seeing or feeling from you that they need to in order to feel more trusting?

There are all kinds of ways you can help instill trust and credibility without submitting to background checks:

  • Put your name and face on your website. People connect with people, not anonymous, nameless, faceless entities. This is one of the most potent, instant trust and rapport builders you can employ!
  • Put an address on your website. Not your home address, but some kind of mailing address as well as an email and contact number. This satisfies an emotional (not logical) need people have to see that you can be contacted in the “real” world if need be. It just gives them added assurance. When you don’t provide that info, they feel there is something to distrust.
  • If you are in the U.S., get an EIN number from the IRS (this is so that you don’t have to provide your SSN when you are an unincorporated sole proprietor), and then provide new clients with a completed IRS Form W-9.
  • Put a copy of your business license/registration in PDF format so you can provide that to clients as well. This shows that you are credible, legitimately registered business.
  • Have errors and omissions (E & O) insurance and provide a PDF copy of your certificate to new clients.
  • Provide a values/promise statement on your website. Tell clients that you have a feedback process instituted in your business and will solicit their input at regular intervals throughout the relationship. Let them know if they are ever unhappy, you encourage and welcome their feedback and will do everything in your power to rectify any unsatisfactory performance.
  • If you belong to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and have a spotless record, place your membership seal on your website (their code will link to your BBB profile where they can read your record for themselves).
  • Provide clients with testimonials on your website. Have a PDF list of clients who are happy to talk with your prospective clients about you and your work.

As you can see, there are all kinds of things you can and should be doing that will help new clients feel comfortable and safe with you. But do politely decline the background checks. It’s far too intrusive and just not the right place to start the relationship off.

Do you have others to add to the list? Please post in the comments!

Dear Danielle: Is Virtual Assistant Certification Necessary?

By Danielle Keister |
4 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I have wanted to start my own Virtual Assistant business for a while now. I’ve been with the same large corporation for 12 years, some of that time spent in the Medical Law department, as a human resources assistant and about six years as an executive assistant juggling multiple managers. Prior to that, I worked from a woman’s home as her assistant as she ran her own company bringing in over $400,000 gross per year. I have the experience, I have the drive and motivation; I learn quickly; I’m resourceful; I am able to work independently and have a record of excellent customer service and problem solving skills. I am concerned that not having a Virtual Assistant certificate from a college may hinder client selection. From your experience, are degree-less Virtual Assistants making a living out there? Do you know of a legitimate online Virtual Assistant certification?

Fabulous! You have listed just about everything you need to start an administrative support business:  experience, drive, resourcefulness, ability to learn quickly and excellent customer service and problem-solving skills. The only other requirement is going to be excellent business sense. Because running a business and doing the work and taking care of clients are two completely different things.

I’ve written extensively on the subject of certification. You do not need anyone’s piece of paper to “certify” that you have the administrative expertise to offer your services. I say this as someone who has been in this business for over 14 years and never once been asked by a single client–ever–whether I was “certified” or not.

Most of the certification programs in our industry are a joke. I’ve even had colleagues go through some of these programs where the administrators themselves can’t spell, litter their correspondence with typos, and get their own exams wrong. There’s a proliferation of opportunists and exploiters out there who are just using these programs as personal sales vehicles and will certify anyone willing to pay. These “certifications” will have absolutely no influence or affect on your success or client attraction whatsoever.

Pay for skills training. Pay for business knowledge and education. Pay for products and services that have actual, practical value and use in your business. But when it comes to “certification,” save your money.

There is only one thing you need to prove to clients and that is done by simply demonstrating your qualifications, competence and service in all that you do. Your site, your messages, your writing and articles, your networking and interactions… every bit of it is an example and sampling for clients of your skills, expertise and professionalism.

When you demonstrate a professional level of expertise and competence, no one is going to ask you about certification. Those questions only come when prospective clients don’t see those things exampled on your website, your business image, your content and your communications. But when you do demonstrate those things in all those places, you instill credibility. You instill trust. They don’t need to ask because they already get that sense of your competence through all your displays of marketing, presentation and interaction.

No piece of paper will prove those things. And any certification you get becomes meaningless if you can’t demonstrate on a daily basis, in everything you do, the qualities that the certification is supposed to “prove.”

Here are some other posts I’ve written on the topic of certification that may be of interest to you:

http://www.administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/blog/2008/05/11/are-you-trying-too-hard/

http://www.administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/blog/2008/01/08/demonstrate-your-competence/

http://www.administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/blog/2007/10/10/dear-danielle-what-can-you-tell-me-about-credentialing/

It sounds like you’ve got all the qualifications and experience you need to open a business as an Administrative Consultant and offer professional level administrative support and expertise. Learning to be a good businessperson may take some additional skills and education, if you don’t have those already.

Don’t bother with certification, though. Just become a good student of business. Read business books. Find business mentors (formal or informal). Ask lots of questions. If you do take some kind of course, I highly recommend training and guides related to business management and marketing, not a certification course.

And don’t confuse skills training with certification. They are not the same thing.

Good luck to you and thanks for the great question! We need more highly skilled and competent people like you in our field!

Why Your Location IS Important

By Danielle Keister |
1 Comment

Your location IS important, but not for the reasons you might think.

This topic came up through some correspondence I was having with someone who had submitted her listing to the ACA Administrative Consultant Directory.

This person was concerned that being listed in one location would limit her to clients from that one geographic area. She felt that “the whole reason for being a “virtual assistant” is to allow you to work from home for anyone, anywhere in the world,” and that “listing by location restricts the Virtual Assistant’s ability to expand her boundaries of business to other places.”

She’s failed to understand her ownership role and control over the content of her own website and how that content should be properly educating clients.

Here’s what you need to understand…

Location doesn’t have anything to do with how folks get clients or where they are from. It has more to do with instilling trust and credibility in prospective clients. Knowing the city, state and country where someone actually lives and operates makes clients feel safer and more comfortable with that business.

And in some cases, geographic location actually is important, either to the Administrative Consultant or to the client.

For example, I work with attorneys, but I work strictly with attorneys in my own state because I know the ropes better here. With the exception of the IP attorney I work with (which is federal), I have no interest in trying to learn all the ins and outs of court structures, rules, filing methods and all those other idiosyncrasies in other states.

For the same reason, I have no interest in international clients either. It’s often too much work trying to navigate between the language and cultural differences.

My business and work are MUCH simpler and easier that way–which also gives me more time for life outside my business.

Sometimes, whether we like it or not, clients just like to have someone in their own state. It’s just a human, emotional thing. That doesn’t mean we stop working virtually. Just because someone is local to you, whether that’s the same city, state or whatever, doesn’t mean you work or consult with them any differently than you would with any other client anywhere else in the world.

Also, because administrative support is a relationship between people, as well as a niche and specialty all its own, it is a category of business/profession unto itself. Using geographic locations helps break things up for clients in the directory, making it visually and mentally easier for them to peruse listings.

It certainly isn’t going to preclude anyone from finding clients in other areas or from clients in other geographic locations from being drawn to you and the solution you offer–at least if you know how to market yourself and create your own pipelines.

Because you aren’t marketing a location. You are marketing a solution to your market’s administrative problems. Your location is simply about being upfront, honest and transparent about your business–and thereby helping instill trust and comfort in clients–which is even more important for online, “virtual” businesses.

Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better

By Danielle Keister |
10 Comments

Why do some folks think bigger is necessarily better when it comes to business?

Some of the absolute worst quality and service comes from big companies.

Bigger can mean less service, less personal attention, less devotion to detail, less care and love for the work, and clients being treated like numbers instead of human beings where each is viewed as a transaction instead of an opportunity to serve and deliver with craftsmanship and pride.

Bigger also very often means more difficulty and complexity in managing, with less effectiveness and control over the quality of the end result or work product, and the need for greater profit margins just to break even.

So why do so many solopreneurs (including those in our own industry) try to sound bigger than they are? Why do many put on airs and try to pretend they have a “team” when all they’re doing is referring clients or subcontracting work out to colleagues? What do they hope sounding “bigger” will achieve for them?

After pondering this, I’ve concluded that they think it will make them come across as more capable, more legitimate. That somehow “sounding bigger” will imbue them with credibility.

But listen, you aren’t going to fool anyone. What happens when you do get a client on the phone and they realize that you truly are a solopreneur or small business? Big or small is irrelevant when it comes to expertise. But you’ve just started a new relationship being less than truthful. And now the client knows you are willing to “fudge” things. You think that’s a good thing? How do you think that might affect their trust and confidence in you? And what if your absolute best, most ideal clients are completely passing you by because they’re looking for personal service, not big and impersonal?

Stop trying to manipulate and seduce and trick people. It doesn’t work (and the world is a less trustful place because of those behaviors).

You don’t have to be dishonest in order to convey credibility. Credibility comes from expertise, authenticity and truthfulness, regardless of how many people are in the business. Projecting credibility comes from demonstration and accomplishment.

If you’re not educated, educate yourself. If you want to be a business person, study business by any means you have available to you (even if that’s simply checking business books out from the library). Become well-read. Speak like an educated, knowledgeable person. Focus on and emphasize your expertise without any false modesty.

Have a professional looking website. Have professionally crafted marketing collateral. Run your business like a business, not a hobby.

Don’t hide who or where you are (like your photo or your address/location). Putting your face on the business is the very best way to establish rapport and give prospective clients someone to relate to as people.

Dispense truth and education. Write your content in way that shows prospects that you know what you’re talking about, understand their problems and obstacles, and have the chops to help them.

Put people and your craft first; the money will come. And when it comes to money, charge like a professional who honors and values their craft and represents truly helpful and solution-full expertise and service.

Every one of those things and more, in whole or in part, will project the credibility you’re looking for. And none of them is dependent upon lying.

Are You Trying Too Hard?

By Danielle Keister |
0 Comments

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who goes into so much explanatation or effort to provide “evidence” that in trying to convince you, they actually have the opposite effect? In trying to make you think they know what they’re talking about, you clearly see they don’t know what they’re talking about at all. It’s like the criminal who offers up such advance intricate detail of his alibi and reasons for his every minute action that he actually ends up looking more guilty. They’re trying too hard.

Many Virtual Assistants think getting clients is all about jumping through hoops and junking up their websites with every credential and work sample they can think of. They want to put up examples of PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, brochures, yada yada yada…

This indicates the erroneous thinking that a website or work sample is going to be the thing that clinches the deal. In fact, any work samples you provide will make very little difference. They will be of only passing importance, after the fact, after the prospect has already made up their mind about you one way or the other.

You know what? It’s not necessary… especially if you truly are what you say you are.

First of all, you need to know, really know, what business you are in. Are you in the business of writing or design or bookkeeping or secretarial services? Or are you in the business of administrative support. What is your first and primary focus?

If you are in the administrative support business, what you are “selling” (so to speak) is an administrative relationship, not line-item services. And think about it… how do you provide a “work sample” of a relationship?

The absolute, most important credential you need to have in this business is competence. That qualification isn’t “sold” or evidenced through work samples. It is an intangible characteristic that is demonstrated throughout all your interactions with your prospects and site visitors.

It’s in how you’ve set your business, policies and processes up. It’s in the conversations you have with would-be clients. It’s in your ability to lead your own business. It’s in your writing on your blog and your content on your website. It’s the confidence you project when you meet with new clients (whether that’s in person or on the phone). It’s the professional image you present visually, verbally, in writing, even in the operation of your business.

All of these things combined become a living, dynamic demonstration–work sample, if you like–of your competence and expertise. While they are intangible, these are the things that clients will directly and powerfully correlate with your administrative ability and skill level. That might not sound right to you. It might not be logical. It is, nonetheless, absolutely true.

Consumers make purchasing decisions for emotional reasons. It’s a researched, proven and verifiable fact. They are also hugely influenced by instant, unconscious judgments they make within minutes of meeting you or visiting your site, as well as other subliminal messages they receive along the way. They will only look to rational “evidence” to back up their emotional decision. Nothing, and especially not any work sample, will have more effect on your ability to be perceived as worth every penny you charge than the things I’ve outlined above.

So the questions you should be asking yourself don’t have to do with what work samples to provide. Instead, the questions to really be pondering are:

What message is the visual presentation of your website communicating to your site visitors? Is it one of high-calibre competence and ability? Is it one of an established, truthworthy, credible and committed business? Will your audience have an affinity with it?

What about your written message? Does it portray a confident, qualified and skilled professional? Does it demonstrate an absolute understanding of the difficulties or problems your target market wants to solve? Does it expertly inform them about the solution you provide for those difficulties and problems? Does it convey warmth, trust, perhaps even the feeling that they are having a close and personal conversation with you? Does it portray, without any doubt, that you know exactly what you’re doing, are highly skilled and have a plan to help take away their burdens?

What about practical correlations? Is it flawless in its execution of spelling, punctuation and grammar or is it littered with typos and misspellings? Are the ideas coherently presented?

Keep this in mind as well… No one is going to come to your website and decide to work with you based on a brochure or desktop publishing sample. “Selling” professional services is a far more personal, intricate and involved dance. Most of the time, clients come to us through our networking efforts and word-of-mouth. And why is that? Because through our writing and interactions with them (or those who refer them), we have demonstrated our competence and instilled the know, like and trust factor. Your most well-placed efforts, with a great return on results, will be along those lines.

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