I have been in sales and marketing since my college days, when I was cross-selling new accounts at a local bank branch. Now matter how you slice it, sales is always going to be about 90% prospecting, and 10% closing. I’ll be honest with you, I’m fantastic at the 10% – because once I have an interested consumer sitting across from me, I have no problem doing my presentation, and getting my next new client. The part about sales I have never liked, is getting all of those “no’s” before the numbers begin to work in your favor. So here’s the issue I was facing; how do I flip my percentages, so I can do 90% closings, and 10% or less in prospecting?
The answer is simple, and really works. I had heard a Mortgage Broker friend talk about how he hired a Team Double-Click Virtual Assistant to help him with cold calling and lead follow-up. Being new to Real Estate sale companies, I didn’t feel like this was an option for me, that fit my budget. After all, I needed to get my income up to a certain level before I could even consider hiring hourly help.
My friend explained to me that by hiring a Virtual Assistant through Team Double-Click, I was already saving close to $3,600 in initial hiring and training costs; the national average. He said that if you plan to do business, you have to have help initially, to get the ball rolling. My friend said he liked the fact that Team Double-Click is like having your own personal HR department – you just give them a call, tell them what you need help with, and in one week or less, you’ll have a professional assistant who can literally make your life in sales – a breeze.
I told my colleague how much I detested cold calling, and I was thrilled to learn that a Virtual Assistant can even handle my outbound prospecting duties – so I can focus on profit generating activities, like closing deals. The company my friend had referred me to, Team Double-Click, offered 2 hours of free time initially, so that I get to know my VA, and can bring him or her up to speed on the tasks I need completed. I was still a little hesitant about the idea, because I had concerns I may not like who the company assigned me. My peer explained that this is one of the few companies who guarantee their placements, so you don’t even have to concern yourself with any problems.
I decided to get some more information about Team Double-Click, and found they have an excellent reputation in working with the Real Estate industry, and they have a pool of over 20,000 contractors who are trained and ready to work. I explained what I needed help with to the Virtual Staffing Consultant, and with hourly rates starting at just $22.50 per hour, having a sales assistant for my business was far more affordable than trying to hire someone on my own. After all, I wasn’t going to have to deal with employment classifieds, training, payroll taxes, disciplinary action, etc. The company even offers premium services like web design, bookkeeping, and accounting – which is far more affordable than finding a specialty company to contract with.
I started using my Virtual Assistant over a year ago now. I started with my company, performing in the lower 50%, in terms of overall sales annually. For the past 8 months, I’ve been in the top 2% of the company – nationwide. Having a Virtual Assistant allowed me to leverage my time, and focus on what I do best.
Whether you’re in Real Estate sales, Mortgage Banking, or any other industry that requires you do a great deal of prospecting, having a Virtual Assistant is a great way to have greater productivity, have more time for profit generating activities, and allows you to focus more time on what you do best.
