Ep. 047 How Virtual Assistants Can Build Trust with Potential Clients

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The online world can be a scary place, which makes a lot of people cautious and suspicious. 

How can we as virtual assistants build trust with potential clients in an online space that is so full of scams and people who are not who they say they are? 

I’m Sharon Nissen, a virtual assistant mentor and the creator of The Support Squad. My mission is to help women build happy online businesses and find more ease, joy, & profit. Today I’m going to share 5 ways you can build trust with potential clients so that they feel no hesitancy about hiring you for their business. 

Show Your Face

I see this all of the time: anonymous Instagram profiles, virtual assistant websites where I can't see a picture of the VA anywhere. 

Keep in mind, our clients are hiring us as people. 

They're not hiring a brand, they're not looking to hire some anonymous person, they need to be able to see your face.  

When I see a virtual assistant that won't show their face online, it makes me wonder what they have to hide. Think about it, would you hire someone to babysit your kids if you went on their website and they didn't have a picture of themselves anywhere. 

The work that we do is really personal and, in order to build trust, we have to show who we are.

Have Solid Systems in Place

Having solid systems means it should be really clear how they sign up for a discovery call with you, how they pay you, and how they sign a contract. All of these things need to be seamless and streamlined. 

If they notice that there's chaos in your processes, they're really gonna have a hard time trusting you with the more complicated parts of their business.  

Make sure that your business is set up in such a way that your client feels safe: that they feel safe paying you and that they know that their contracts are solid. Show them how you run your own business so that they can feel safe trusting you with theirs.

Provide Social Proof 

I'm talking about testimonials. As you start to serve clients, make sure that you are following up with a testimonial request form. That's a really simple way to start gathering testimonials. 

An easy way to do it is to create a Google form where you ask some simple questions that guide their responses. 

What were you most impressed with by my services? 

What would make you hire me again? 

What is the best thing that I did in your business? 

Ask them questions like that so they can provide answers that you can then take and use as a testimonial. 

Bonus, add in the Google form a place where they can upload a headshot, and also share their business name, so that when you post these testimonials on your website or on social media, there's even more credibility. 

Build Relationships & Connections With Others Online

If a client comes to your Instagram profile and they're looking through the comments on your feed and no one is commenting, they're going to wonder “What is this wasteland? Is this person real? Do they not know anybody?”

Start to build connections with others online. A great way to do this is with other virtual assistants, 'cause other VAs are totally gonna be your cheerleaders. 

The best way to get engagement on your own post and on your own profile is to give that feedback to others, and really start to be DMing with people, building these relationships. This gives you credibility. It shows that you're connected online and that you're easy to work with and that you're collaborative.  

Show that you're a social person, because again, these are personal businesses that we're running. We're working one-on-one with clients, and they need to know that you're someone that is able to build and sustain relationships with others.

Offer Referral Bonuses

Direct referrals are one of the best ways to build your business. When you've worked with a client who already trusts you and respects you, and then they are able to refer someone else to you - there's not that vetting process where they have to know if they can trust you. 

One great way to get referrals, if you're not just getting them already, is to offer referral bonuses. Let your clients know when they sign on, you can even include it in a welcome packet, that if they refer someone to your business, that you’ll give them package discount or an Amazon gift card. 

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