How to Get Clients as a Virtual Assistant: 10 Powerful Tips

How to Find Clients as a Virtual Assistant

Working as a freelance virtual assistant is one of the most liberating ways to genuinely earn money from the internet.

There are not many jobs where you get the final say over who to work with, how to work, and how much to charge for your time. In most cases such decisions are predetermined by the employer, but as a VA, you get to set the terms. If you’re still on the fence about whether to become a virtual assistant, here are 10 reasons why you should go for it.

10 Reasons to Become a Virtual Assistant:

Extremely low startup costs
You get to work from home or any other location of your choosing
You get to decide how much to charge clients
You can easily find virtual assistant clients on the internet
You get to spend unlimited time with your family
You’ll never have to deal with office politics or annoying colleagues
You get flexible working hours
You can easily have multiple clients at the same time
You get to save on fuel expenditure since you don’t have to drive to work
No more 9-5 schedules or asking permission to take time off work

Working as a virtual assistant is a dream job that many people will never get to experience because they’re too afraid to try something new. It is more rewarding than they can ever imagine.

Now, with that said, many freelance virtual assistants still struggle to find clients. And If you investigate further, you’ll find that they simply don’t do enough to seek them out. They’ll probably just create profiles on freelance marketplaces, submit a few proposals here and there, and then hope for the best.

It does take a considerable amount of effort to get your first few clients, and to scale your business to a point where you have a consistent stream of clients.

This article will hopefully enlighten you on some ways to find virtual assistant clients. The infographic below illustrates some stats you might find interesting.

10 Tips on How to Get Clients as a Virtual Assistant

1. Know who your ideal clients are

The majority of freelancers struggle to find virtual assistant clients because they’re simply not proactive enough in seeking them out.

Often times you have to be the one hunting down clients rather than the other way around. Especially if you’re just starting out.

An established VA may be able to rely on referrals, but if you’re a newbie then the majority of the outreach efforts have to come from you.

It’s important that you have a clear image of who your ideal clients are – your target customer personas, so that you know exactly where and how to approach them.

Take some time to come up with a description of the people who would benefit most from your virtual assistance. What professions are they likely to be in? Where are they located? How active they are on social media?

Consultants are usually one of the best clients to have since they are also self-employed and understand the value of delegation and what it takes to work remotely.

Once you have noted down a detailed description of your most ideal clients, ask yourself where such a person is likely to be found. Are they the type of people to attend business events? Are they likely to be active on social media? If so, then you have a starting point of where to go look.

2. LinkedIn

Once you have a detailed description of your potential clients, as explained in the previous tip, chances are that they are on LinkedIn. It is one of the best places to find clients for your VA business.

The great thing about LinkedIn is that it enables you to search people by their profession. So if you’re ideal client is a digital marketing consultant, simply search for ‘digital marketing consultant’.

The next step will be to send connection requests to people that most resemble your ideal client’s profile, accompanied with a short message introducing yourself.

Don’t start selling right away, nobody likes an aggressive and intrusive sales person. Instead, start the conversation on friendly grounds. Compliment them on an accomplishment. Ask them questions about what they do. Get them to talk about themselves.

When they start to feel comfortable with you, then you can mention what you do and how your services can potentially help them.

3. Get a business website

A simple website can place you in front of thousands of people who are searching for virtual assistants outside of freelancing sites.

The phrase ‘virtual assistant services’ usually gets over 4,000 Google searches per month in the US, and more than 8,000 globally. Can you imagine having a website that pops up on the results page every time someone is searching for a VA? That would make the task of finding clients a lot easier.

Your site should primarily give information about who you are, what you do, and your contacts. You can make it look more professional by adding a business logo, and getting a personalized domain-based email e.g. [email protected].

Wix is a great platform you can use to build your website (as well as a logo) if you don’t want to spend thousands on expensive developers.

Once you have a site, your next task should be SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO is the process of increasing a website’s ranking on search engines like Google and Bing. With a good ranking, your site will be visible to all the people searching for keywords related to what you do. If you’re not familiar with SEO, I would recommend outsourcing it to an agency or freelancer that specializes in it. It can be quite complicated.

Another great way to get your site in front of people searching for your target keywords is by running an advertising campaign on Google. You can use tools such as SEMrush to create a list of all the keywords people are searching on Google which are related to your services, and then create a search campaign targeting them.

4. Leverage previous professional connections

Reach out to people that you worked with in the past to share your services. Such people already know the quality of your work, and since you have a history, they’re likely to feel more comfortable working with you again.

It’s always easier to work with somebody that you’ve worked with before than to hire a complete stranger and have to train them. Even if they’re not in a position to hire you right away, they’d probably be more than happy to recommend you to other people.

Your past connections may include work colleagues, clients, suppliers, employers, etc. The more closely you worked with them, the bigger the advantage you’ll have.

5. Reach out to small businesses

Small local businesses often have small teams, and at any given moment have things that they’re struggling to keep up with. They may need help with social media management, website management, invoicing, customer support, administrative tasks, etc.

Make a list of all the small businesses in your area and then reach out to ask if they need any help. Some businesses that could do with a VA include gyms, spas, yoga studios, hair salons, real estate agencies, accounting firms, convenience stores, etc.

You can physically visit each establishment to introduce yourself, rather than sending emails or making phone calls. A physical visit is more personal and gives you an opportunity to pitch your services better.

In addition to that, you won’t have to wait for ages to get a response. They’ll tell you right away whether they’re interested or not.

6. Get testimonials

The virtual assistant industry is largely fueled by internet-based trust and cooperation, therefore you absolutely need to get testimonials to help build your credibility.

A positive testimonial shows that you are reliable and trustworthy. People want to know that you can be trusted before hiring you. You can publish your testimonials on your website, social media, and every platform that you use to get work. The easiest way to collect testimonials is by simply asking for them from past clients.

The more of them you have, the less effort you’ll require to convert prospects. Your profile will sell itself. With that said, your first few clients are the foundation upon which your virtual assistant business will grow. Make sure you treat them like royalty, their reviews can make or break your business.

7. Join LinkedIn and Facebook groups

A lot of business owners openly talk about their struggles in social media groups. But luckily for them, a virtual assistant might be just what they need.

You can find countless ‘small business owners’ groups on both Facebook and LinkedIn. They are one of the best places to find potential clients. Facebook groups usually have quite a high engagement rate.

Make sure to introduce yourself every time you join a new group, and then dive into the discussions by giving your thoughts, suggestions and ideas.

Take your time to get a feel of what the members are like and what they do. Don’t start selling yourself right away otherwise you’ll get kicked out.

8. Answer questions on Quora

Quora is another great platform that’s underutilized by virtual assistants. The entire basis of the platform is for people to ask questions regarding issues they’re facing, and for other members to advice on how they can resolve them.

You can filter through questions to find the ones related to your VA service, and simply give genuine answers.

For example, you can search for asked questions on ‘how to manage a Facebook business account’ and then give your advice on how a VA can solve the problem by running it for them.

The great thing about Quora is that the questions usually get lots of views. That means other people who come across your answers, and are going through similar issues, might also feel compelled to inquire about your services.

If you have a website, you can add a link to it so that people to go learn more about your virtual assistance business and even contact you directly.

9. Attend networking and business events

Networking is one of the best ways to find new clients. You can plan to attend business events in your city. There’s probably a number of them every month.

Such events are great not only for promoting your virtual assistant services, but also for expanding your network, learning about the latest trends, getting inspiration from other people’s work, etc. Who knows what other opportunities could arise from simply attending an event.

A lot of people surprisingly don’t know what a virtual assistant is, therefore it will be your duty educate them on how VAs can help them run their business.

Make sure that you have your elevator pitch ready and that you’ve practiced it countless times until you can present it confidently. Remember that you may only have a few seconds to make an impression.

Email all the people that you met during the event 2-3 days after to just say what a pleasure it was to meet them and how the inspired you. That is an easy way to stand out and make yourself memorable.

10. Always ask for referrals

Make it a habit to ask for referrals every time your finish working with a client. If you did a great job and they were happy with your performance, they will not mind referring you to more people. But you have to ask for it.

Word of mouth is by far the best advertising you can get for your virtual assistant business. It’s also the easiest way to get clients. It’s almost completely effortless. You gain instant credibility as soon another person starts speaking positively about you. That’s how to become a successful virtual assistant.