Creating packages for your VA services is a frequent topic in the VA groups. But if you don’t have a few things in place to start, you will have trouble developing packages that work for you.

I hear Virtual Assistants talk a lot about creating packages. Sometimes there is confusion around what that actually means.

The first thing you should consider is why you want to create a package to begin with.

If you think it’s because you can make more money than charging hourly, you are not technically wrong, but that’s not really the best reason to create packages.

The way to make more money in your VA business is to get better at delivering awesome services to your clients, so you can get more work from your existing clients, and you can get more clients, period.

But packaging your services is a great way to do a few things, such as:

• Control the profit in your business by setting rates that are fixed, with profit included
• Avoid scope creep by defining exactly what it is you do for your clients
• Clearly communicate to your clients what you will do for them, and how much it will cost them
• Earn more money per hour by getting faster / better / more efficient – instead of less money because you stop billing by the hour.

Packaging your services can take a lot of grunt work to begin with (if you do it correctly!), but it can be  a great way to start to build and grow your business.

You must know (or have) 3 things before you offer your clients package pricing:

1. A complete list of services you will provide for your clients.

2. Procedures for each task that is included in those service offerings.

3. An accurate estimate of time that it takes you to do each task.

Talk about grunt work!

If you don’t have these things in place right now, the you are not ready to create service packages.

But the good news is, you can start getting these things ready right away – by tackling one task at a time, you can start to create the list and the procedures, and add to it every time you do something new.

List of Services

To put together a package for your clients, you have to define specifically what you are going to do for them. This is usually a combination of things that go together, usually by category (ie communication,  or marketing tasks) or by specific task (ie client care – handling contracts, payments, emails, scheduling, etc).

Do it now: Start to make your list. You must define exactly what you can do for clients, before you can build a package from it.

Procedures

Yes, this is the grunt work! But really it’s just writing down what you do and when you do it. Doing a newsletter for someone in Mailchimp? Write down the steps to do it. Step 1, Step 2, Step 3. Don’t leave anything out.

Procedure documents help you to free up brain space when you go back to do a task a second time – to make sure that you do it the same way, every time, and that you don’t leave out any steps.

Procedures are very important when you are bringing in subcontractors – and if you business grows quickly, you won’t have time to do it then.

Do it now: Start with the next task you complete. One at a time – slow and steady wins the race! You’ll be surprised how much brain space you free up, and also you can build a procedures file pretty quickly!

Time It All

The most important part of creating packages is to get the pricing right. To do that, you must calculate the time it takes you to do every single task in your business. That sounds daunting I know, and it should be! You probably do a lot! But it’s essential.

So take those procedure documents and add up the time it takes you to do each step, to get your billable task time. It’s also a good idea to add in 20-25% of extra time to allow for tech issues, or other problems. Speed is not the key – consistency is!

Do it now: Time out everything you do. Be sure to eliminate distractions when you work so that you are focused on the task at hand. Multiply your time for each task by your billable rate to get your ‘per task rate’.

Creating packages is a great way to grow your VA business and provide clear services to your clients for a fixed amount.

Everyone loves clarity, and packages – done right – gives both of you that clarity.

If you need help getting your services sorted out, or packages created, look no further than your VA community! An annual membership in CAVA is the answer. CAVA is a professional association for Virtual Assistants in Canada. We provide community, visibility, resources, connections, training, client opportunities and so much more. Check out our full list of benefits here: https://canadianava.org/join-cava/

About the Author: Tracey D’Aviero is a Virtual Assistant Coach, Trainer, Speaker and Author. After operating a busy VA business of her own since 1996, Tracey began teaching others to run their VA businesses in 2010 through Your VA Mentor. She also owns CAVA VA association and now teaches and coaches VAs exclusively. She has a vast amount of experience working in many different industries which helps her to offer her students and coaching clients a unique perspective and sound advice. She is a proud advocate of the Virtual Assistant industry. Learn more about Tracey’s journey in the VA industry here.