Helping Business Owners Delegate
By Angela Mattson
As a small business owner, it can be difficult to decide what to delegate to a Mobile or Virtual Assistant. By focusing on the non-income producing tasks, you can get clear about tasks that are true “time and money wasters” for a business owner. Using checklists can help both the assistant and the business owner figure out exactly what will help the business owner grow.
As a Mobile or Virtual Assistant, one of the hardest things you’ll have to do is summarize what you do for a client. The longer you’re in business, the more you’ll add to your resume, making it harder to give a quick answer. Sometimes it seems the more appropriate question is, “What don’t I do for small business clients?”
But, ultimately, you need to be specific. But you can’t be long-winded and give too many details, because you run the risk of having them tune-out.
Sometimes you get around the “What do you do?” problem by asking them what sorts of tasks they would like to have someone else do. This works if the potential client has something specific in mind. If they don’t, most of the time you’ll get an exasperated, “I have no idea!”
Other times, if you start listing the most common things you do, you’ll lose the person because you’re talking about tasks they don’t need done immediately. We are all looking for quick answers and quick fixes — and there’s great need and skill to give the quick answer, especially at networking meetings — but this can make it difficult to accurately assess a small business owner’s real needs.
In a previous article, I discussed letting clients complain a bit. That advice is still valid. More often, though, a potential client is just overwhelmed with stuff to do and can’t quite get a list of “needs to be done” together for your meeting. Having a list in hand could help solve that problem.
To that end, I’ve created some task lists that you can bring along when you meet with a potential client for the first time. The lists are broken down into categories:
- General Administrative Tasks
- Bookkeeping
- Specific Tasks (like writing/editing or desktop publishing)
Go to http://www.defineyourday.com to download the lists. In the lists, I’ve included blanks for you to add the specific things that you do, or obvious things I might have forgotten. Let me know if you find these to be helpful.
About the Author
Solopreneur, Angela J. Mattson, publishes “Supporting Solopreneurs.” This bi-weekly e-zine that teaches women the art of self-employment and emphasizes professions like Mobile or Virtual Assisting. Be your own boss! Sign up today at http://www.defineyourday.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angela_Mattson
Did you enjoy this article? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to our feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Angela:
Coming across your article today was a blessing.
I have a potential client that I have talked to on several ocassions, however, he still does not know what he wants help with. He keeps going around and around in circles. When I think I have figured out what he needs help with, he will tell me no that isn’t really what I want help. Needless to say, I am just as confused and frustrated as he is. Maybe this questionnaire and checklists will help him to figure out what he wants help with. Then I will be able to come up with a solution for his needs.
The checklists and the client questionnaire is a great idea. Thank you so much for sharing this information.