Thanks to @heychrissmith for the tip!

Do you ever get the feeling that sometimes people miss the value proposition you are setting forth?

Now, I know it’s YOUR job, as entrepreneur / business owner / CEO / leader, to set forth your value proposition and describe the benefit statements to your clients, colleagues, etc. but do you ever find yourself still trying to show the REAL value?

Our virtual assistance services / creative, professional outsourcing services are priced in the mid-pricing scale of virtual assistance companies.  We offer excellent services for the online business owner and we have a team of people that my clients can plug into and rely on to get their work done.  We offer more diverse skill sets and services than a lot of solopreneur companies will.  All of these are great benefit statements and selling points.

But here’s the thing most people miss… I built my clients a team.

If you are working with a multi-VA firm, that firm’s owner built YOU a team.  You didn’t have to.  The hiring, the process of making sure the talent was good enough, shortening the know/like/trust factor was all done for you.  Hours spent unbillable doing interviews, creating sub-contractor agreements, e-mail addresses, Basecamp accounts, etc. was completed when you got here.

Now, I’m not moaning about the time spent building a multi-VA team and I certainly know it was my choice in creating a large company but I realized the other day that when people say, “You’re a little more expensive than other virtual assistants” I should respond, “I know!  We should be!”  THAT is our value.

Our benefit statement is that I’ve created YOU a company with web designers, blog designers, graphic designers, internet marketing support people, administrative support staff, PHP programmers, social media assistants… the list continues so that you don’t have to scour the web looking.  You don’t have to waste your time.

So, all this to say that if you are working with a multi-VA team and you are complaining about rates (or even gently trying to get even further discounted rates) remember that the time spent building this team was all done so you wouldn’t have to do it.

Do you have a benefit statement that is so obvious it gets missed?  If so, share it!

The question is in two parts.  The first one is good – I answered it but it’s the second I need your help with.   Thanks in advance!

——–

An e-mail from Tim Warland:

Thank you for the insight into “today’s generation” at TON last night. I didn’t get a chance to speak with you but have a couple questions:

1. What is the Google tool you discussed to “stalk” yourself?

   (Erin’s Answer:  The Google tool that I use to stalk myself (haha) is Google Alerts.  You can set them up and have them send you a daily e-mail of the mentions of your name, a keyword, your company name, etc.  Best part is that it is free!)

2. I think there is a hole in the social media space. Do you know which tool can patch it?

   Two popular social media tools are facebook and linked-in. Although I don’t facebook, it is a place to inform family and casual friends about my life (not specifically my work life). LinkedIn is for my professional network. As a rule, I only connect to people I know well enough to introduce them to other people in my network. That leaves a hole for about 400 people I know. Folks like the person I shared a plane ride to Boston, people from whom I collected a business card at a tradeshow. Maintaining some form of informal connection is important. What tool manages these casual relationships?

   I’d like to nurture these people who, for the most part, haven’t connected to social media. My objective is to create a monthly newsletter that I can email to different tribes (if the term is correct). The 6-paragraph version of the newsletter would be for family and close friends (the facebook crowd). A three paragraph version would be for professional colleagues (the linkedIn crowd). A single paragraph version would go to the hundreds of casual connections.

   The email would direct people to view my blog (which would look like the 6-paragraph newsletter) and suggest they follow me on twitter, or whatever. The idea would be to encourage them to make a connection back to me.

   What tool is available to fill this space as we transition the older crowd (my tribe) to the new media? Any ideas?

   (Erin’s Answer:  I don’t really know… I use Twitter but I don’t know that it’s a great transitional tool.  Let’s put this to the crowd!)

Thank you in advance!  Leave a comment if you can help answer #2.

I’ll also have a recap blog post coming soon!

Know people like this? I do. The creator of this video, who can be found at Cinnamon Pants, has a few of these “in Plain English” videos and I love them. A lot. I also love Seth’s post (link above) a lot. These are simple ways to get a powerful message across without trolling or being a “new media douchebag.”

Why do you think the Internet breeds this sort of activity?

An Education-Based Graphic Intensive WordPress Blog Site

Matching Twitter Background for Education-Based Site

Lisa Morosky Twitter Background (@LisaMorosky)

Twitter Background for Education Lady (@EducationLady)

Teleclass Sales Page

A Sales Page to Promote an Upcoming Teleclass

A Sales Page to Promote a Preview Call

Contact us at http://www.bsetc.com to get started today with your project!

Tune in live here:

Download the video here.

Sign up for the next session here.

What are your thoughts? Leave them as comments below.

If giving away content for free will cause your knowledge well to run dry… you may want to re-think the business you are in.

You should be in a business where you can create content like nobody’s business.  You should be a never-ending resource or supply of information in your area of expertise.  If you don’t feel this way, it means that you may not be stretching yourself far enough, researching your industry enough OR (and here’s the BIGGIE) listening to your customers.

So, that is the first part…  Understanding that you need to go outside of yourself to create fabulous content and stretch the creative mind and the listening mind.

Here is the second part…

Nobody will buy from you if they haven’t experienced you in some form or another.

You need to allow your prospective customers the chance to sample your information, expertise and build up that know, like and trust factor.  If you hoard all of your information to yourself and slap price tags on everything, people aren’t going to buy your products.  They want to experience the product, the service, the program, etc. to make sure it’s a good fit for them.  So, give TONS away!

Think about free trials at Costco. I was there last night and had THE best spinach dip there.  Now, if it wasn’t so fattening (I’m training for a 5K race at the moment), I would’ve bought it but I never would’ve thought about it if I hadn’t had the sample.  Walking through the aisles I also tried these delicious mini pizzas.  Again, not what I want to eat right now but STILL – I hadn’t heard of the brand or considered buying them before.

Don’t give away the same garbage that everyone else does.

Browse around a few websites and you’ll see that a lot of people give away the same types of freebies.  E-books that are simply upsells into the *REAL* information.  Instead, give away a really solid product that someone can use to solve a problem they are having.  Then, the person feels like you’ve actually helped them.  When they encounter a similar problem in future, they’ll remember how you helped.

Customers are smart. They’ll see fluff for fluff and quality for quality.  Let them try everything to see if they like it and you’ll convert many more sales.

Question for you: what is your favorite way to give away content?

(If you want any of our free content, see the Downloads section on our Support Site — not even an opt-in required!)