The topic tonight at my regular “Starting a Business” workshop (I am enrolled in Program with CEED), was Marketing.  It was presented by Louisa Horne, who has her own consulting business as well owning the Sylvan Learning Centre here in Halifax.  I have been finalizing the business plan for my Virtual Assistant business, and had finished my marketing plan, or at least, I thought until tonight’s class.  Ms. Horne had many great ideas that I had not thought of before and I will probably go back and tweak my plan a little now.

The biggest revelation I had was when we were discussing the Product section of the four P’s of Marketing (you know those famous word – Product, Price, Placement and Promotion). I was really stumped by one of the questions she had for us, “What features and benefits of your product are better than those offered by your competitors?”

I know I addressed this in some manner in my marketing plan, but not this specifically.  It was one question needing an answer and it was hard.

My product, essentially, is me.  How are my features and benefits better than those of other Virtual Assistants.  This is much harder to answer when you are not talking about something tangible, like those widgets, we always discussed in marketing class.

What are my features and benefits? Well, I have 15 years administrative experience, I am very thorough, diligent, keep up to date on internet applications that can help we work better for my clients, creative… hmmm, see where this is leading… It’s hard to state my features and benefits because they are measured in how I perform work for clients.

My features come about in how I deal with my clients; how I communicate to determine the end results needed with a certain task,my ability to think about the whole picture and come up with other solutions or obstacles that a client may not have considered. My way of putting myself in the customer’s shoes and suggesting a newsletter or website have certain information added, because customers will ask about it.  My ability to have a quick turn a round on a project or task.  I guess these are some of my features and benefits – they just don’t aren’t a tangible, physical difference.

It’s not like comparing coffee makers from different companies: ie. “Javashine’s Coffemaker Machine comes in 5 different colours to match you decor, and it will brew your coffee at a rate of 4 cups per minute. Two times faster than any other Coffee maker on the market.” These are definite features and benefits you can see.  Now, I can come in a few different colours, red (when I am mad), pale white (overtired), you get the picture …just depends on my mood, but that’s probably not one of the features I will be listing in my marketing plan!

Ms Horne, suggested  I look at my testimonials, they are a good place to start to learn your features and benefits when you provide a service as I do.  So, take a look at some of your testimonials, can they help you answer this question?  What are your features and benefits?”

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