You're already aware of how important it is to be able to communicate with your clients. However, once you begin outsourcing some of your tasks, you'll also need to communicate effectively with your own team members. Your reputation relies on your ability to provide top quality work on schedule. If you start hiring subcontractors, you need to ensure that you still meet your clients' expectations. Anyone you work with has to understand what you expect of them and what your clients expect of you so that you can maintain the same high standards.

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Obviously, you'll want to handle some of the more sensitive work like client email and anything containing financial or personal information yourself; at the very least, you'll want to keep this work to yourself until you've learned that you can trust your subcontractors implicitly.

The kind of work you'll want to outsource to begin with are jobs which don't require access to sensitive information or much, if any client contact. You'll also want to keep these tasks smaller in scope until you know that your subcontractors are capable of producing quality work within your schedule. However, jobs like writing articles, reports and content for newsletters, putting together presentations and doing research for you are all good candidates for outsourcing.

Before assigning any of your subcontractors work for your clients, it's very important to [Not to worry, my friend. Although the rest of this article is protected for Club Member - Free Content members only. You can easily join the Productivity Club or login to read the remaining content. Club Member level is always FREE.]

Email marketing is not just for affiliates and product-based business people. Service businesses, whether online or offline, can benefit from a strong email marketing presence just as much as any marketing guru can. From keeping in touch with clients to marketing special offers and discounted rates, email marketing can be a major work draw for service businesses.

These six tips will help your business develop and implement a scalable and effective email marketing strategy. Sometimes effective email marketing can be as simple as adding a new line to your email signature, while at other times it can demand complex special offer programs and newsletters. Either way, apply these email marketing tips to your service business and you will see boosted client orders, increased project selection, and a much more valuable future.

1) Offer current clients a commission for new business.

Your current clients are both your greatest income asset, and your greatest marketing asset. Even a slight connection to a client can be enough to get your foot in the door with larger providers and businesses, and asking for referrals can be a worthwhile marketing strategy. Offer incentives for your current clients to pass your details on to their industry friends and colleagues, including commissions and future order discounts.

2) Add “we love referrals” to your emails.

This simple addition can dramatically boost the amount of referral contracts that your service business starts. Clients are often very willing to offer extra business to you or refer your company to their friends, but few are certain that it would go appreciated. A simple addition to your email signature can be the go-to approval required to boost your client referrals and ongoing business relationships.

3) Always keep in touch with clients.

If you have built relationships with clients that provide ongoing business, be sure to keep in touch to keep those relationships alive. Sometimes, there will be times when orders come in slowly and contracts more at a glacial pace. Reach out to clients and let them know what you can do, and you will no doubt be rewarded with greater orders, or at least a confirmation of your ongoing business.

4) Distribute special offers via email.

Everyone loves a discount, especially a long-term client or special customer. Your email marketing list is more than just a client contact list – it is an obligation to provide constant value to your customers. If you want to provide more than just service, but incredible service, it is worth giving your customers access to special discounts, new services, or utilities through email.

5) Ask your clients to opt-in after you work with them.

There's more to marketing than quantity. Client quality counts for a lot, especially in businesses that deal with hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of clients every month. Reach out to clients and offer them the option of subscribing to your ongoing email updates, but only after they have proven themselves worthy of your ongoing attention. Sometimes it is best to minimize work with ineffective and stressful clients, and pre-filtering your email list can help you achieve this.

6) If you are big enough, create a newsletter.

A simple newsletter is often enough to generate huge amounts of extra monthly leads and orders. It also gives you a platform for keeping your clients up to date – informing them of ongoing projects and business information, and letting them know exactly what you can do for them. If your business is interesting to the point where clients want to learn more about it, let them know with a newsletter.

This is post 1 of 6 posts in the VA Outsourcing Course. Will be delivered over the next several weeks. Enjoy!

Being a virtual assistant is a multifaceted job and there are quite a few different hats which a virtual assistant might wear over the course of a single day, depending on the needs of their clients. It's an exciting business, but it can also be exhausting, especially if you're trying to do it all yourself.

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[Not to worry, my friend. Although the rest of this article is protected for Club Member - Free Content members only. You can easily join the Productivity Club or login to read the remaining content. Club Member level is always FREE.]