Half Year Business Targets

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What mid-year targets have you set for your business and do you have someone who is holding you accountable to the targets you have set? Maybe a peer? Your business partner (s) or your life partner/spouse?

  • What have you accomplished for the past 6 months?
  • Did you meet or exceed your 6 month goals you set for yourself?

 

What about the next 6 months leading up to the end of the year?

 

  1. What sales targets have you set for the next 6 months? (The total amount you would like to bring in through sales over this period)

 

  1. How much do you need to sell each month between now and December to hit this target? (divide this by 6)

 

  1. How many products or services do you need to sell each month to achieve this? For example: X products/services per month equals Y per week. If you sell your time by providing a service, this would translate to X hours @ R____ per hour

 

  1. Where might these sales come from?
    • Existing Customers?
    • Do a promotion to attract new business?
    • Run a special offer for your newsletter subscribers?

 

  1. What monthly salary are you aiming for and by when?

 

Marketing Ideas:

  • Social Media: What can you do on social media to create a buzz and generate sales?

 

  • Seasonal Events: Which seasonal events can you tap into? i.e. National Women’s Day, Heritage Day, 16 Days of Activism of no violence against women and children, Christmas or New Year?

 

  • Collaboration: Who could you team up with to do a joint promotion where you share the work and share the reward?

 

  • Speaking Engagements: Could you do talks or speaking engagements at local groups or business clubs where your ideal clients/customers would be, to raise awareness of your business/services you offer? If so, which meetings would you attend and where?

 

  • Existing client base: What could you offer your existing customers/clients that they would find irresistible?

How to make the most out of a Virtual Assistant

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A Virtual Assistant is able to free up at least two hours of your time every day. You can choose to spend those two hours or more on more important business tasks or activities that actually produce some income and progress.

 

Here are seven of the most recurring and time-consuming tasks you can leave to your Virtual Assistant to do.

 

  • Calendar Management.Managing your calendar yourself will not only take up a lot of time, but due to an overloaded mind, you might forget to schedule one or two meetings. There are several free online calendar tools such as Google Calendar where you can put your VA in charge of keeping your schedules and appointments updated.
  • Social Media Management.You might not have the time to regularly create engaging Facebook or Twitter posts to attract more customers, so why not give the task to your VA? A large percentage of your customers/clients are scrolling through Facebook or Twitter at least once a day. Therefore, do not pass up the business opportunity just because you were too busy.
  • Email Management.Emails will just keep piling up as your business grows, and some of those emails may be useless spam or an actual inquiry. Of course, you do not have the time to sort through absolutely every single email flooding into your inbox, so let the VA handle that.
  • Blog Writing and Posting.Regular (but not spammy) blog postings on your website is important for search engine rankings, and for giving customers the information they need. You can have the VA do the proofreading and posting after you have written the blog, or your VA can do everything from writing to posting.
  • The busier you get, the harder it may be to monitor your bill due dates, cash flow, expenses, sales, invoices, etc. This is something that needs someone’s full and undivided attention, which you can have your VA give since you obviously have too much on your mind as a business owner.
  • Customer Support.The best way to keep customers happy is to give them the attention they need and deserve, even if you are neck-deep into tasks. However, if you cannot immediately attend to your customers yourself, having your VA step in and represent you is a great idea. It is a whole lot better than completely ignoring the customer’s concern/email and getting back to them quite late.
  • Email Marketing.Properly informing consumers of promos, sales, new products, etc. can involve sending out a lot of emails. Again, this is a time-consuming task, but VAs can use tools like Mailchimp to make the bulk emailing a lot easier and faster to do.