Networking is all about making connections and building relationships. The more people you talk to about your VA business, the more clients you will find.
Does the thought of networking make you anxious? Many Virtual Assistants feel anxiety around the whole idea of networking.
They say it feels salesy – attending events, shaking hands, making elevator pitches.
In fact, a lot of VAs I know simply avoid networking completely – and then wonder why they struggle to build their business.
If you treat every networking opportunity like it’s speed dating, you will grow to dislike it. And you will definitely have a tough time finding clients. You can’t expect to meet someone and sign them right away. You have to put in the time to build a relationship.
Marketing is simply taking action to get the word out about your business. Networking is one of the tools we use in marketing – and it’s all about making connections.
When you incorporate a variety of networking tactics into your marketing plan, you make things easier on yourself.
Get to Know Your Colleagues
I recently attended a local event, representing The Canadian Coach. The Canadian Coach is an organization for, you guessed it, Canadian coaches. The founder of the group is Heather Wilson, who lives in PEI. Heather asked me if I would mind repping the table at Diana’s event because she could not come to town the day of the event. I said sure!
I have made many great connections in the Canadian Coach group. It is an awesome place for me to be able to talk up the VA industry – they are all coaches who need VA support!
It is essential to network with our colleagues. If another VA specializes in something you don’t, you can potentially be great referral partners for each other. However, as a VA, be sure you aren’t doing ALL of your networking in VA groups. You need to go and network where your clients are if you want to find clients.
Introduce Yourself at Events
At live events, there are multiple opportunities to introduce yourself to people. Certainly as an attendee, you can work the room and introduce yourself to people. But I think this is why many VAs avoid event. They don’t like to work the room – even though you don’t have to! Finding 5 people at any event is more than enough.
You can also find an opportunity like I did to work at a sponsor table. You will be able to speak with everyone that comes to the table – about the sponsor yes, but they will also ask what you do.
Even easier than both of these is a great tactic that one of my business coaches taught me. There is (almost) always a microphone in the audience at a live event, so that people can ask questions. Take the opportunity to get up and ask a question. Introduce yourself and tell people you are a VA. They will flock to you on the breaks to ask you about what you do, because most VAs don’t attend these events!
Be Consistent
The bottom line with networking is that the more people you connect with, the more clients you will have. When you are consistently reaching out to people, whether in person on online, your audience grows. And your connections grow.
Try to reach 2 to 3 people a day. That’s 60 every month – you should (easily!) get 1 to 2 clients each month when you are doing a little bit each day to connect with them.
Networking shouldn’t be a ‘one and done’ thing. Attending an event once a month that does or doesn’t yield leads or clients is not enough. Make it easier on yourself and others, by simply breaking it up and doing a little bit every day.
Get Comfortable Talking Business
It’s not a sales pitch. No one likes that. Get comfortable with asking questions about someone else’s business. Make conversation. You will not only learn a lot about others, but you will build trust and that’s what helps you get great clients easily.
Talk more about the other person than you do about yourself. If they ask you about your business, make sure it always comes back to them – how you can help them. It’s not about selling you – it’s about seeing if you can help them.
I go to local events to make connections, even if my target audience (Virtual Assistant) aren’t there. Newsflash: you should be!
Networking: online or in person, it’s all in the numbers.
The more conversations you have, the better you become at them. The more visible you are in any audience, the more people will recognize you and reach out to you.
Business owners are as nervous as we are when it comes to VA support. Building trust is important, and it comes from repeated connections.
Get yourself visible and start to enjoy connecting with people. Your business will thank you!
To help you with your daily connections, download my Connections Checklist. You can track the places you want to reach out to people daily and check it off as you get it done. Accountability with daily actions really helps you to get things done. And you’ll see better results simply by taking more action.
Great read. This is so very true. Thanks for the reminder Tracey.
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