Bizpro Ltd – Virtual Assistants

Getting Noticed Online

In the current financial climate, many businesses are realising the need to up their marketing strategy to ensure they are not left behind. For some businesses, advertising doesn’t work  particularly well and, unless you have significant money to spend on advertising with specialist industry publications, you could be wasting your money. So,  what’s the answer? How can you raise your profile and get your business & brand noticed and recognised effectively without breaking the bank? The internet is littered with ideas and suggestions on how to go about marketing your business and you won’t need a second mortgage to do it. Nowadays, businesses without a presence on the internet are falling way behind their competitors….

A Happier you?

Some time ago, I wrote a blog about business coaching and virtual assistants, the two essential assets that every business should consider. This week I’m going to look at one coach in particular who is set to take the world by storm. This coach isn’t a business coach, but more a whole life coach, who quite literally transforms lives. This coach is focusing on one very niche market; the nursing world, and is set to become a household name.

Claire Westwood is founder & MD of Happy nurses; a business which is purely aimed at improving the mental wellbeing of nursing professionals, and enabling them to lead happier, healthier lives….

The power of testimonials

So, if someone asked you for a testimonial, would you supply it?

Of course you would, if you were happy with their service. So why are business owners still afraid to ask for testimonials? I always look to see what other people have written about a provider before I use them, and I’m more than happy to write them for others when I get a good service.  It says a lot about your business, however make sure your client is happy for your to quote them, and use their details for your marketing purposes.

Anonymous testimonials don’t really mean very much, and sometimes appear less than genuine, however sometimes clients choose to be anonymous, in which case it can’t be helped, however if you have one or two anonymous testimonials amongst several named ones it’s not going to do you any harm!

I make a habit of collecting testimonials, and asking my clients if they are happy with the service they receive. I use feedback forms which I regularly send out to make sure I am informed of the service we are providing, and that our clients are happy.

One of the most powerful ways of gaining testimonials is by video. We still get comments about our testimonial video over a year after producing it. It’s a great way of promoting both you and your clients. It needn’t be expensive to produce either.

Harassing business owners…or, knowing when to stop with the marketing calls!

Yes, this post has been inspired my one of my own experiences. Over the last few months I have been extremely busy putting together the finishing touches for the franchise package, and this has involved contact with several other suppliers to enable me to accurately cost the model. Out of the many businesses I’ve spoken to, one in particular is standing out like a sore thumb, and for all the wrong reasons…

On the move…

Bizpro is pleased to announce our recent move into lovely new offices in Highworth, Wiltshire. After working from my spare room for the last few years it became even more apparent recently that as business was increasing we needed more space, and more help.

So, on 1st June we moved.

I really never realised quite how much stuff we had. Considering we are an almost paperless environment as the majority of our work is completed online, there were seemingly tons! What with the desks, book cases, files and folders we could have easily filled a small van, instead in the mad disbelief there ‘wasn’t that much’ we did it ourselves over several trips. Never again!

Still, it’s all in now, and starting to resemble an office. We have two new starters to help out, Louise & Emma, so a big welcome to them both, and no doubt you may end up seeing a few blog posts from them too!

The office move and new staff came just at the right time, given how busy we are, but it’s also a great test for us to make sure all our processes and procedures are accurately recorded and translate well enough for a new starter to grasp.

There are many benefits to working from home, but equally, there are many benefits to be had working from an office. I now get to close the door at night and go home, I now get my spare room back, too. All in all, it’s a great move for us, we’ve settled in very well, we’ve joined the local business group to help get established in the area, and Highworth has everything we could ask for right in our reach. Exciting times ahead!