Virtual assistants are in demand since companies can save more than 75% of costs by hiring a VA. According to latest statistics, the number of remote workers in the United States is expected to cross 86 million by the year 2027. This is good news for those planning to establish their virtual assistant career or business in 2022.
While starting a virtual assistant business from home is easy the difficult part is to land your first clients and retain them long-term. Having a few regular clients is very vital to your VA business success since they motivate you to keep going.
So, once your virtual services packages are ready, it’s time to start promoting your business to attract the first client.
Here I narrate five powerful tips that you can follow to promote your VA business.
Establish Credibility To Find Regular Clients For Your Virtual Assistant Business
While hiring virtual assistants, clients prefer to check whether the candidate is credible enough to handle administrative or other back-office tasks. Why? Because virtual assistants often need to work with sensitive business information, be it checking e-mails, managing data, bookkeeping, coding, etc. Hence the business owner is likely to hire someone who is trustworthy.
If you are wondering how to establish credibility while working as a remote virtual assistant, then I suggest these steps for establishing your business presence:-
- Get social by setting up business pages on social media platforms. Share authentic information in your business pages. Establish your expertise with informative social media posts.
- Spread the word by telling your close circle about starting the virtual assistant business. You never know who may need your VA service or refer you to someone who could use your help!
- Do you have an email list of clients with whom you have worked previously? Then you can send personalized emails to tell them about your newly launched VA services and packages.
- Write guest posts to publish in newspapers and high-authority blogs.
- Organize free webinars to tell people about your business services.
- Launch your own virtual assistant service website to help people know more about you and your VA services.
- Video marketing is a great way to show your face to your prospective clients thus assuring them that they are not dealing with a VA bot! You can consider starting a YouTube channel or go live on Facebook to talk about your virtual assistant services.
Offer a Free Review or Consultation To Attract Clients
As a newcomer in the virtual assistant business, it’s not easy to set your foot in the door. The one thing that can help you get noticed is organizing a review or consultation session with your client.
Let’s say you want to offer services as a social media assistant. What you can do is, check a prospective client’s social media pages to find out what’s missing and what improvements can be incorporated to boost traffic.
Needless to say, such free advice is always appreciated. If the client is impressed with your feedback, they may consider hiring you to make those changes for their business pages. Such strategy works pretty well for social media managers, website designers, copywriters, e-commerce managers, etc. You can record and send the feedback in a video or audio format. Also, you can send an e-mail, or talk to the client over the phone/Whatsapp. Nowadays, many clients prefer a Zoom meeting to discuss the problems. You can also try thinking through client gift ideas to show how much you appreciate their time and collaboration.
While sending such reviews, remember not to overdo it. Suppose you send one e-mail/ message and the client doesn’t respond. Then wait for a week to send a reminder e-mail. Still no response? Then move on to the next prospect.
Join Groups and Clubs For VAs
You can search online with keywords like “virtual assistant network” or “virtual assistant group.” Google will provide you with a list of virtual assistant networks, groups, and forums to join on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
Most of these groups don’t charge you to join. And then there are a few who might charge nominal registration fees. I suggest checking the group/network’s terms and conditions before paying any money.
Sometimes, you may feel that it’s worth paying the money if the group can refer you to some high-paying clients. Decide about joining after weighing the pros and cons.
Reach Out to Local Businesses With Your Virtual Assistant Services
If you plan to get regular clients for your virtual assistant business, then knock on the door of local businesses. You never know who might end up hiring your services!
While visiting any local business owner, make sure to carry your business card, brochure/ leaflet explaining the services and packages. When you talk to a prospective client, try to think from the client’s perspective. Be patient in answering their queries and apprehensions. Let them know how you, as the virtual assistant, can contribute to their business growth. It often helps if you can show them testimonials from former clients.
Approach Other Virtual Assistants and Freelancers
Does it sound a bit contradictory? Shouldn’t you treat a virtual assistant or a freelancer offering similar services as your competitor? The answer is No, provided you know whom to approach and how! Let me explain.
Suppose you offer article writing and WordPress blog formatting services. Thus you can connect with social media managers or graphic designers to inquire if any of their clients need help with blog writing and formatting.
Likewise, you can approach virtual assistant businesses that might have more projects than they can handle. Sometimes, these business owners are willing to offload a few of their projects to retain their clients.
You can approach other VA businesses with a commission-sharing proposal. Such a proposal might work out when you have launched a new virtual assistant business and is ready to share a part of your income with another VA company to get regular projects.
And if you are wondering how to find such business contacts for collaboration, I suggest checking out Facebook groups. There are many such FB groups dedicated to virtual assistants. You can join such groups and approach other virtual assistants with your offer.
Conclusion
Customer satisfaction is the key to running a successful virtual assistant business. If clients find you dedicated, reliable, and easy to work with, they will keep coming back to you. And when you have one happy client, he/ she will refer you to 10 more. And this can immensely help in finding regular clients for your virtual assistant business.
Author Bio:
Sweta is a veteran content creator and owner of a business blog, Onlismallbiz. You can connect with her on Pinterest and Facebook.
