“I will be taking calls, scheduling meetings, gathering information, creating reports, and all of the things that a normal administrative secretary does.

 

Many companies are laying clerical off yet they need us.  These businesses will benefit by getting the help they need yet not having any overhead, no benefits or insurance costs to pay and they won’t pay for accumulated sick days or holidays.”

Business Stats

Industry – Business Services

Market – Small businesses and home based professionals

Competitors – Wide variety of individuals (on eLance) and companies (GetFriday.com)

Need – Necessary administrative tasks that small business owners don’t have time for

Trends – Bad economy may send businesses looking to cut costs by contracting rather than hiring full time.

Client Base
Dee is familiar with the role of office assistant and all the services that potential customers might need.

“I’m good at what I do and I’ve worked at home before. I have 10 Sales Executives and one Sales Manager who worked closely with me who will back me up on that.”

There are certainly many businesses, big and small, that are looking to cut costs but if I was Dee I might try and focus on a certain industry.  Every industry has its own vocabulary, deadlines, and regulations that can make communicating through a third party more challenging.  On the other hand, being intimately familiar with those industry details can give a virtual assistant a competitive advantage over general purpose assistants.

Of course starting off, Dee will probably just have to take any customers she can find, but I think it would be wise to target a certain industry.

I would also think it would be wise to target small companies since they may be easier to break into since they don’t have to go through big human resources departments to budgets and legal issues approved.

Unique Selling Proposition

I’ve never hired a virtual assistant but I can imagine the task would make any small business owner nervous.  It’s a customer facing position so communication skills and professionalism are vitally important.  I’d want to make sure that I found someone who represented my business well and portrayed a professional image.

That being said, small business owners always have to consider costs and globalization has made virtual assitants available from different parts of the world for a pretty low price.  I would imagine anyone looking to hire a virtual assistant would be trying to find the right balance between cost and competency of the service provider.

One suggestion for Dee is to compete on quality, not cost.  I’d guess that there are many other virtual assistants out there that could work for the fraction of what she might charge.  However, the quality of their work is unknown, while her service comes backed with years of experience.

An additional differentiator could be focusing on an specific industry so that business owners are getting an assistant that knows the business.

Marketing

My guess is that the best way for Dee to find customers is through word of mouth.  If I were Dee, I would get testimonials from each of the 10 Sales Executives and the one Sales Manager that she’s worked so closely with.  Written testimonials are good, audio ones would be better, and a video testimonial would be best.

Dee was recently laid off, as were the above mentioned sales professionals.  It would be wise to contact them immediately while their memories of working with her and what she’s done for them are still fresh in their head.

Business Press Release

I would also put together a press release announcing her company that focused on her experience and the services she provides, and send it to everyone she’s had professional contact with in her career as an assistant.  The press release should reference a website that contained the testimonials, highlights her experience, details her services, and specifics how people can start working with her.

Dee already has an idea for a name for her business:

“I’ve chosen MsJonesOffice as my business name so that anyone who would like to have me take calls for them will have clients greeted with “Ms Jones Office, this is Dee”.  It’s neutral and professional sounding and a more common last name than mine.”

I’m not sure what I think of the name, what are your thoughts?  You can leave comments or suggestions in the comments at the end.

Small Business Assistance

Dee certainly has the background to launch this business and there is certainly a need for it.  I think that coming up with the proper pricing of services, as well as a good marketing startegy to brand her from a quality and industry perspective are key to making her business a success.

Here are the things that Dee would like assistance with from the Small Business Stimulus package:

“I have already purchased a domain name but could really use help with my website and business plan to get started.”

Please offer your opinions or suggestions for Dee below.