How Virtual Assistants Can Help Startups In Lead Generation

One of the first things that come into our minds when we hear the word startup is growth limitations due to limited funds.  

On the other hand, for some entrepreneurs, It is difficult to accept the fact that they cannot do everything on their own while still getting established.

When it comes to startups, the common mistake that often goes unnoticed is that the founder tries to do it all, to cut down on the costs. But that is not a good strategy in the long run.

But if you have a startup of your own, do not let that thought stop you!

Even though you might have limited resources, you can still hire a virtual assistant to take care of your small tasks, while you maintain the growth.

For some founders, investing time and money on someone not physically present around might sound risky.  However, in today's world, your competitors are doing the same and saving the most valuable asset that one could have, time.  

The essential thing to remember is that you are an expensive team member of your startup; keeping this in mind, your energy and time must be spent where you would be the most productive and receive the best returns.

There could be some things that you might not be an expert at or have proficiency in. Hiring professionals can help take a huge burden off your shoulders and get it done most efficiently.

Lead generation is one such essential task when you are a startup; since most of your income comes from this alone.

As the owner of the startup, you have to accept that you might not be good at managing everything on your own, which is why hiring a professional could go a long way.

Similarly, the primary source of income comes from lead generation, and generating leads is full-time work that cannot be done right by someone who does not know the company well enough.

This is where trained professionals come into the picture. They are trained to represent your firm and convert leads and create the right brand image.  

Hiring a digital marketing virtual assistant trained in market research might go a long way. However, it is a time-consuming process when a lot of research is involved.

Virtual assistants are trained professionals who would cut down on the time it might take to complete the task at a much better cost.

So, before we dive into why you should hire a remote assistant to boost your startup and help generate leads, let us talk about what a lead is and how it is efficiently generated by Virtual assistants.

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What is a lead?

A lead is any person who holds the potential of becoming a customer by showing interest in the product or service offered by the company. A lead does not get approached through cold calls, and they usually open a doorway through former communication.

To better understand that, let us take an example. Suppose you were looking to join a college, like any other person you would search for the best one and contact them by sending a mail or maybe call them. Now, by initiating the step of trying to connect, you hold an interest in joining that college.

For the admissions team of the college, you are a hot lead. The next step is where the college keeps updating you about the admission process and trying to convince you to study there. From a business perspective, leads fall in the broader transition cycle from a visitor to a customer.

There are several types of leads based on the data collected about them and is put into the following category:

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

A qualified marketing lead is a lead that has shown some form of engagement with the marketing team’s effort and is more likely to convert into a customer if approached in the right way.

For example, a lead might have visited the company’s web page, fill out a form, taken action against CTAs, or shown interest in the social media posts.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

Sales qualified leads are the people who have expressed interest in purchasing your product or services. This type of lead is particularly ready to proceed with the next step involved in becoming a customer.

Product Qualified Lead (PQL)

Product Qualified Lead is a person who has used your product or received your service through a free trial or an offer and is more likely to purchase your product and services depending on how much they match your Ideal Client Profile.

Service Qualified Lead (SQL)

Service Qualified Leads are people who have been using the company's products or services and have contacted customer services to get their hands on the latest products launched or get an upgrade in their subscription.

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What is Lead generation?

Lead generation is the term used for the process by which people are attracted to a business and increase their interest to convert them into customers.

There are numerous ways to generate leads, and some of the standard methods are through blogs, coupons, live events, job applications, social media posts, etc. These are only a few of the marketing strategies used by all businesses to attract leads to their offers and convert them into customers.

There are also services that let you effectively buy leads without having to sniff them out yourself, with ZoomInfo being one of the biggest names in this arena. Before going down this route, it’s worth reading up on ZoomInfo plans 2023 to get a sense of how much this will impact you from a budget perspective.

It sure is challenging to convince someone to put their money and time into your products or services, and lead generation is one such process where you work to make those leads convert into customers.

It takes professional knowledge to study leads and approach them in the right way to convert them and get reasonable conversion rates for your business.

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Why is lead generation important for a startup?

When it comes to startups, lead generation is one of the primary sources of income. The organic lead is generated when a stranger contacts your business and shows interest in buying your products or using your service. In context to that, lead generation is the complete opposite.

In this method, the stranger merely makes the first step by interacting with the marketing team by discovering your business through marketing channels, website, social media pages, and blogs.

The person then clicks on the CTA, which is either a button or a link that directs the visitor to take the right action towards moving forward.

The CTA is supposed to be designed so that the visitor has to provide certain information such as their email id, contact number, or any form of contact information to avail of an offer for the same products or services that your startup offers. Once this information reaches the database of the startup,  a lead is generated.

The rest is the central part of lead generation, where trained professionals interact with the leads at the right frequency to make them aware of the brand and its facilities just enough to complete their first purchase.

This requires the proper training and experience to convert a lead, and Virtual assistants are such trained professionals who, under the appropriate training, provide the best results.

In the market of the business branch, the cost of hiring a professional for lead generation is pretty high, and affording that for a startup is not wise, but that is where virtual assistants come into the picture.

To clarify how hiring a virtual assistant could be the right option, here are a few ways a startup can benefit from lead generation by hiring a virtual assistant.

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Why is hiring a virtual assistant important for lead generation?

Hiring a virtual assistant for marketing, bookkeeping, SEO, and most importantly, lead generation is what other startups are doing right now.

When it comes to businesses, business owners can't be available all the time for sales. At the same time, a virtual assistant can be available almost all day to put in that extra effort in staying connected with your leads.

In the best case studies, chasing a lead has not worked well any of the time; this is also relatable for us as customers.

What works best for a customer is a company that gets back to you regarding your concerts than someone who keeps you waiting for weeks, leaving your problem unresolved.

Although doing cold calls might seem something more accessible for you to do, like someone who knows the startup in and out, assigning cold calls to new employees is something you might not want to do.  

Of course, your VA needs similar training before handling your sales calls, but the critical point here would be that the learning curve is much shorter.

These are experts who know what they are doing; the only training that they need is to understand what your startup is all about and what is the strategy that your approach your leads with, and that is it; your VA is all set to manage your sales while you channelize your time and energy into more productive things.

While getting a hold on how a VA could help you in generating good leads and eventually converting them, they also come with excellent skills that can be used to your benefit.

People tend to become loyal to your brand or service only when they find a pleasant experience using your products or availing of your services from the follow-up services you provide for your customers.

This is where a virtual assistant can be put to best use where they constantly contact your new and existing customers through calls and emails. The central part that VAs play here is by ensuring that the customer has a good experience after investing their money in your products or services.

While being considerate about your customers goes a long way as they tend to promote your business to their friends and family through word of mouth. In the marketing world, one of the most potent marketing sources has assured revenue generation. For effective implementation of these strategies, integrating cold calling software can further enhance your virtual assistant's ability to manage and nurture leads efficiently.

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Right strategies on social networking sites

To generate some quality leads through social networking sites, you must know the age of your target audience. That is because users on social media are distributed based on age, making it easier to target them and choose which one would be best for your business.

Content is king

Sharing the best content on social media is very important to attract the right audience. Therefore, having a content strategy is essential to remember while wanting leads from your social media.

This is where your virtual assistant will keep your social media handles updated with timeless posts that can be shared repeatedly to gain engagement.

In the present decade, social media has become one of the essential sources of quality leads and is necessary to maintain it the right way. According to the latest statistics, the ratio of leads and visits by users through social media is around 3 to 5 times higher compared to the general public.  

Posting landing pages on social media

While posting blogs on the website is also essential, your virtual assistant is responsible for publishing your landing pages on your social networks. Landing pages might do an excellent job of bringing traffic to your website, which is better than social media.

In addition, the content that works best on your website, for example, an ebook or a guide, deserves to be on your social networks to grab the users' attention and give them clarity and credibility about your work.

Email marketing strategies

Virtual assistants are experts at writing convincing emails to your leads and keeping them interested in your products and services. Keeping that in mind, it is essential to have a well-built landing page where your potential clients will land on.

Lead nurturing campaigns

Making a stranger land on your website through good marking is the initial stage of lead generation; the crucial steps include being in contact with your lead to make that purchase.

After you have managed to create a lead, it is essential not to let that lead stay in your database but to push them to get converted.

A Virtual assistant is responsible for staying in touch with the lead through innovative nurturing campaigns. The essential stages while nurturing lead generation in a virtual setting include designing, predicting, and analyzing the data throughout the process.

Such efforts and close observation will only help you reach your ultimate goal of increasing your sales.

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Live chat services

While all the assistance mentioned above is what a virtual assistant is specialized in, there are also live chats on some websites where customers can drop their queries.

After purchasing a product, the best experience for a customer is being satisfied and being attended by someone when they do not feel satisfied. Your startup must have enough active workforce to ensure that no one goes unheard while talking about their product feedback.

For hiring an employee who might have to be trained and put under circumstances to learn how to deal with specific issues, a virtual assistant could quickly make that conversation more productive for you and help build the credibility factor in the mind of the customers.

Product trial

Many essential barriers could be broken down by offering free trials to new leads or by providing them with introductory offers. That is where taking good feedback is vital.

It becomes crucial to make sure that you attend to every input to know what could be done differently to make more people want to be loyal to your brand.

In addition, virtual assistants gather meaningful feedback from whoever gets to try your product, which further helps them make sure that these leads get converted.

Leave the creative work on VAs

To make potential leads stay connected, you might have to make offers that you cannot refuse. However, you need to remember that you can do the more accessible work while spending time on creative work that must be left for the VAs.

A virtual assistant channelizes their creativity into making them irresistible for the lead and not a loss on the company’s side. This is also where using social media strategically comes into play.

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Conclusion

The best companies and businesses use proper tools to store the data of their leads which is essential. It sure is vital to generate leads, but it is more important to manage these leads using the right tools.

It accounts for most of the progress you make on your leads where you approach each lead personally as a virtual assistant does. Having a professional approach toward all your leads is how you would get good credibility for making your business reach more relevant people in the future.

While making people aware of your brand, it is essential to make an impression to have them come back for more and stay loyal to your services.