Designing Your Service

Let’s get down to the meat of your SA service. What, exactly, will you be doing for your clients? What will your rates be? What features will you add to attract customers?

One of the best things about starting a Selling Assistance business is how much freedom you have; the options are literally endless, and you have unlimited flexibility in how you run your business. But while all that independence is definitely a good thing, it can be incredibly intimidating, especially when you’re first starting out. You could find yourself either paralyzed by the number of decisions you need to make to shape your service or making choices on the fly without considering their consequences.

It’s an excellent idea to take the time and make some decisions about your service before you actually start taking on clients. Once you’re contracted into your terms, you’ll be stuck with them—even if you later realize they weren’t a good idea. While you’ll likely adjust your policies as you gain experience and your business grows, just a few minutes of planning ahead can save you hundreds of headaches down the road.

To help you narrow down what you might want, this section will run through a variety of aspects to consider. Just keep in mind that what I’m providing here is just a starting point. As you start to shape your service, you’ll realize that each decision can spur dozens of others as you consider each angle. When it comes to anything binding like a contract, it’s always better to overthink and prepare for any eventuality, no matter how unlikely it seems, than to leave yourself vulnerable.

As we go through each of the sections ahead, do yourself a favor and start jotting down what you decide for each. Here’s why: Your list of policies and the contract you’ll have buyers sign are both really just a list of what your business will and will not do. If you take the time to record each decision as we go through the options, we’ll finish this section and you’ll already have the first draft of your contract.

For example, if the next section convinces you to charge a $1 fee per item, write down: “We charge a flat $1 per item fee.” Boom! You’ve started your client contract. Painless, right?