Lead Generation with Virtual Assistants

Let’s face it: lead generation can be daunting.  It means putting your pride on the line as you contact a never ending list of prospects.  It might seem like an insurmountable task, but fortunately it’s one you can delegate pretty easily.  The key to winning at lead gen. is first setting ambitious but attainable goals, and then gradually delegating the work to virtual assistants (VA’s).

Setting Goals

As with any big undertaking, cutting it down to day-to-day obligations makes it doable.  Start by identifying your target monthly revenue and trace each conversion metric to get the number of new prospects you need to reach out to on a daily basis.  Make sure to use Excel or Google Spreadsheets so you can see how changing one factor will affect the others.  You can get a head start with my Google spreadsheet here, which accompanies this example:

1.  Target monthly revenue = $100,000

2.  Average deal size = $25,000

3.  Target monthly deals = 4           ($100,000 [target monthly revenue] / $25,000 [avg. deal size])

4.  Target conversion rate: the portion of prospects you expect to move from your Target List into your Pipeline every month ie. the percentage of high likelihood prospects = 3%

5.  Target close rate: the rate at which you expect to turn the prospects in your Pipeline into customers = 10%

6.  Target Pipeline Prospects: the number of prospects you need in your Pipeline every month = 40    (10% [target close rate] * X = 4),  X= 40

7.  Target cold prospects: the number of new prospects you must log in your Target List and contact every month = 1,334 (3/100 [target conversion rate] = 40/X), X=1,334

8.  Daily cold prospects to contact: 1,334 prospects / 20 business days = 67 per day

How to Hire a Lead Generation VA

Though VA’s are based all over the world, the main hubs are India and the Philippines.  I’ve had better luck with the latter because of greater English proficiency and similar cultural norms to those of the U.S.  When you’re hunting for VA’s, you can go through a hiring service or get help on a per-project basis using a platform like Odesk or Elance.  If you use a hiring service, there’s usually a minimum weekly or monthly obligation.  The service I used, which I recommend, was a minimum 20 hours per week.  This schedule allowed the VA to take on two part time clients. Weekly costs tend to range from $120-$300 depending on specialization.  Fortunately, lead gen. people tend to be on the lower end of the spectrum, whereas programmers and designers, for example, are on the higher end.

The advantage of a hiring service is that they will facilitate the entire hiring process.  That means you will get a pool of applicants based on your specs, and the service will arrange Skype or phone interviews (the former is always preferable).  From there, a good service will set up either free or no-obligation test activities with the applicants you shortlist after the interview process.  If someone isn’t working out within the probationary period, you can end the engagement without paying for unused time.

Lead generation is an often-claimed skill on resumes, but few VA’s can walk the walk.  Look for VA’s with experience doing lead gen. for products or services with comparable complexity to your own.  Also, read between the lines to determine how much independent research they’ve done versus glorified data entry.

Getting Your VA Set Up

Great lead generation is more than just a numbers game, you also have to be smart about who you contact, and how you do it (timing is important, for one thing).  Like any other new employee, VA’s need training and acclamation.  Start small and ramp up the complexity as your VA demonstrates proficiency.  Using the above example, if your daily target is 67 leads, communicate this from the get-go to your VA, and ask them if the goal is attainable.   From there, assign your VA the task of researching, but not contacting, roughly half your ultimate goal.  Communicate each research step over Skype and via email.  Ask your VA to reiterate the instructions and update you after they have found the first 10 or so leads.

Provide your VA with a description of one particular prospect profile.  When I got my VA started, for example, I asked her to research accounts people and creatives at large pharma PR agencies.  Ideally, the profile you choose will be a sweet spot for your product, and one that isn’t too cryptic or difficult to track down (Fortune 100 CEO’s, for example, might be too much for a new VA).

Your research methods will be specific to your offering, but most of us draw from Linkedin at one time or another.  When you’re using the platform, ask your VA to find super-relevant leads by drawing from a specific list of companies and titles, using the “advanced search” function.  If your VA is actually qualified for lead gen., as they will invariably claim on their resume, navigating Linkedin should be a breeze for them.  Once they have bookmarked relevant profiles, your VA should track down email addresses using techniques like the ones found here.

Once your VA demonstrates they understand your product and that do successful research, it’s time to get them started on messaging prospects.  Again, start small, and monitor their efforts.  This usually means asking them to CC or BCC you.  Provide them with templates for each prospect profile they are targeting, and ask them to customize each message slightly.  I highly recommend YesWare for organizing your templates and monitoring open and response rates.

Skilled VA’s will have previous experience, so don’t be afraid to let them run with it.  They may have research methods and resources that weren’t on your radar.