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Every virtual assistant should have something they specialize in. #vatip 
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Having a specialty does not eliminate doing other things. #vatip Gotta Tweet!
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Hi and welcome to episode number 73. Today, we’re going to talk about are you prepared if someone asks you what services you provide and what’s your specialty? Let’s say they’re asking quickly. It’s a networking event and maybe you only have ten seconds. Are you prepared?
Now, you could easily whip out your business card and it says, “Virtual Assistant.” Guaranteed, as soon as someone sees that it says, “Virtual Assistant,” they’re going to ask, “Oh, what is that?” If they’re someone who is knowledgeable about virtual assistants, they’re probably going ask, “Oh, great. What’s your specialty?” How do you respond to, “What’s your specialty?”
Every virtual assistant should have something that they specialize in.
We’ve talked about this before on the podcast. You can go back, get it in the archives, and check that out. But each one of you should have a specialty. If your specialty is social media then, “I’m a social media virtual assistant.” If your specialty is administrative then, “I’m an administrative virtual assistant,” or “My specialty is administrative type work,” or “My specialty is social media,” or “My specialty is technical.” Whatever it is, you should have a specialty.
The minute you tell someone, “Oh, I do everything,” it clearly says you have no specialty. It’s kind of a hodgepodge. You might not be taking your business seriously.
Even hairstylists have specialties. You have people that specialize in natural hair, people that specialize in weaves, people that specialize in wigs, people that specialize in braiding. In your area, there’s a place that everyone goes that is the top place for hair braiding. There’s a top place for hair weaves. There’s a top place for natural hair. There’s a top place for relaxed hair. Now, it may not be a set place, but a set type of place. You get my point.
Even grocery stores have specialties. Think about it. If I were to say, “Okay, I’m looking for organic foods. What grocery stores would you point me to in your area?” For us, Whole Foods comes to mind. Earth Fare comes to mind. Trader Joe’s comes to mind. You don’t think about the other ones that may be more commercial, right, even though they may also have organic food. Even though the places I named, they may have other types of food, although, I’m not sure if they do. I’m thinking it’s required that the product has to meet a certain specification to even be in the store.
Your specialty does not eliminate other things if there are other things that you do.
For example, I’m a technical virtual assistant. Our firm is focused on the technical side of things. However, we also provide services for podcasters. That includes transcriptions. We also provide social media services. That includes scheduling in addition to the technical side of those parts.
But when somebody asks you, and you’re out, by honing in on your specialty, that stirs up the conversation. But if you say, “I do everything,” “everything” sounds overwhelming. “Everything” means I don’t even know what to ask you because you said, “everything.” So what do they do? You probably lost them in those ten seconds or less, and they may just say, “Oh, that’s really cool.” They may ask you how long you’ve done it. But guess what? They’re going to put your card in their pocket or in their purse and forget about it. “Everything” is overwhelming.
If you tell me you are a social media virtual assistant, that social media is your specialty, guess what I’m going to ask? “Oh, do you do stuff on Facebook? Does that include Pinterest? What about Instagram?” See, now I’m talking about your specific area. If you tell me administrative, I may say, “Oh perfect. Do you help with proof writing? Do you send out emails? Do you do data entry?”
I’m asking about things that I think fit the category, and you can let me know whether that fits it or not. It might not. I don’t know, right, because I represent your potential client. They may not know. This is what they think social media means, what they think administrative means, what they think technical means, and then you help them along the way.
Guess what? We have had a conversation and that ten seconds has long gone. Now, all of a sudden the ten seconds that they had, they only had ten seconds, that goes away and now they’ve given you more time because they’re interested.
You can always tell when someone is interested in what you’re saying.
They’re going to ask you questions. Their body language will speak to it and let you know that they’re interested. Watch for those queues. We all do them. There will be somebody that wants to talk to you about something, especially at the networking events, that you might not be interested in. So you try to throw your signals, but they miss it. Why do they miss it? Because they’re focused on themselves and not focused on you.
You want to make sure when you’re talking to someone and they’re asking you questions about your business, that you are focused on them and you’re listening and watching the queues so you know to either keep the conversation going or not.
Anyway, I thought I’d share that with you because I recently had the opportunity to be at a networking event and this is what happened. I met virtual assistants and that’s the experience that I got. The thing is I’m always looking for people who have a virtual assistant business that provide a service different from what I provide.
Because guess what? The clients I work with, the clients that trust me, they’ll come to me to ask me, “Do you know someone that does this? Do you know someone that does that?” So I’m always looking to have people that I know that I can say, “Oh, yeah, I know someone that does that.” If everybody is saying, “I do everything,” then I, unfortunately, have to say, “No, I don’t know anyone that does this or that does that.” Because if you’re doing everything, that’s just impossible. That’s just impossible. You can’t really hone in on a specific skill.
You want to make sure that you’ve got your specialty.
Again, we’ve talked about that before on the podcast. Not in this way, but we dived into what the possibilities are, and they’re endless. Go back into the archives, take a listen to those, and figure out what your specialty is.
I talked last week about this being the last quarter of the year and finishing strong. So make that one of your goals if you don’t already have it, if you don’t already know off the top of your head. Know what your specialty is so when you meet the person and they only have ten seconds, you can get it out and stir the conversation, and bye-bye to the ten seconds. Now, you’ve got more of their time.
Thanks so much for tuning in. If you like what you heard, stay tuned. We’ll be back. Tell me what’s going on with you. Come on over the Facebook page: facebook.com/tiffanyparsonbiz, or if you prefer a little shorter message, come on over to Twitter: @tiffanydparson.
See you next time!
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