How would you find clients?

[Claire@cmvirtualassistant]

I own a small virtual assistant business, I have had a few clients but I need more. The type of clients I have had so far have been coaches (life and dating) I quite like this niche, especially want to work with entrepreneurs with growing businesses. The trouble is I need to find them...so where/how would you find clients? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Maxwell83]

Excuse my lack of imagination but as it hasn't been mentioned - google. That would be my priority as that is where most prospective clients will go first to find a service like yours.

I use a virtual assistant and that's where I looked first each time I was looking.

Whether you appear in the natural results or the paid, I think you need to be there.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

In terms of the life and dating coaches, you've targeted a focussed group which is great for marketing purposes. As well as what Maxwell mentioned, you could try Linkedin (there's bound to be some groups dedicated to coaches) and see if there are any specific forums. Join, interact and add value.

A good old fashioned advert in a life coaching magazine or website could be worth considering too, as could networking. I've not done it for a year or so but I did notice that there were a fair few coaches attending the last few I went to.

 

[AllUpHere]

Targeting a well defined group is great, but if you want to gain an advantage from it you need to tailor your business to best meet the needs of the target market you have selected. If your offering appears to be the same as any other VA, why would the target market choose you? Once you know the answer to that, you should be able to market your business for free.

 

[HazelC]

You can search for people in that industry on LinkedIn and Twitter too and then contact them. (as well as Google of course)

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Who do the life coaches listen to? Get some work from the people they look up to and then ask for referrals or an endorsed mailing...

 

[gracebepms]

Try LinkedIn! Its on of the best source for business professionals of every industry and join some groups there. You'll get good results.

 

[Mitch3473]

Try a good old fashioned mailshot. There are a few websites out there where you can custom build your own data base, print a covering/intro letter and send them for a lot less than conventional methods and costs. Hasworked well for me in the past and I do between 2-3 per year.

 

[miggygreene]

Well then, you should try LinkedIn! You'll get good results in there. It had the biggest source for business professionals of every industry.

 

[Randall1022]

Use your keywords and start a Adwords campaign. I spend 300 a month and get about 200 to 400 hits. Out of that I probably get 30 percent in sales. Best investment ever considering I was spending 2000 a month on yellow pages.

 

[Ed B]

2 suggestions: See if you can join a suitable Facebook group. Contact the group owner and politely request to share about what you do. Also LinkedIn - similar to above