Market Research: Why you need to know your collaborators…

One of the things I absolutely love about being a virtual assistant is that, for the post part, we collaborate instead of compete against each other.  I would never think of other VA as my competition.  Some clients are just a better fit for them and some are better for me.   Why is this?  I think mostly because people who become virtual assistants tend to have that type of personality, but also because of some strong leadership in the field (Stacy Brice, Tawnya Sutherland, Danielle Keister, who have pushed the message that by working together, we can grow both as individual entrepreneurs but also as a field (which benefits everyone).

When I talk to clients about market research, it is all about knowing what the competition is up to so that you an outmaneuver them.   Knowing what others are doing is valuable competitively. But, it is also valuable collaboratively.   Working virtually can be a lonely business and it is very easy to get caught up in your own fishbowl without seeing what the other fish in the ocean are doing.  When you can "pop the hood" on  other people's businesses, you can create benchmarks for yourself to help your business grow.  If you are active in a networking group (like the VA Chamber of Commerce, or VA Networking) you can get *some* useful information. But, people generally are unwilling to share specifics about their business on an open forum.

Fortunately, there is an easy way to get some great benchmarking information to use in your business (and it is free).  Each year, the Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Virtual Assistant Industry Survey (it is going on right now).  The goal is to get 10,000 virtual assistants to participate. The questions in the survey cover everything from hours, to rates and business models, to social networking and everything in between.  The really cool part (and the reason you should take the survey - it only takes about 15 minutes) is that, as a participating virtual assistant, you get a copy of the results for free.  I did the survey last year and found the 75+ page report on the results to be eye-opening and very useful both in terms of benchmarking but as an idea generator for my business.  So, hop on over and take the survey today