The three levels of visibility you need to get more VA clients

However established you are as a VA, one question comes up again and again: how do you get more clients? It’s one of the most common threads in the VA Help Desk Facebook Community, and it usually uncovers something underneath the question itself: hidden fears or limiting beliefs about being visible.

That’s because most VAs, like most online business owners, carry some unresolved discomfort around visibility. If you want clients, you have to go out and get them, and for a lot of us, that’s genuinely daunting.

So if you’re looking to get more clients for your VA business, here are the three levels of visibility you need to work through.

Level 1: You need to be visible

As VAs, our job is often to work quietly in the background. Plenty of VAs are happiest not being front and centre, not being the public face of a business. Clients are usually happy to recommend you to others, and a lot of VAs are content to stop there.

But referrals aren’t guaranteed. They’re a nice bonus, not a strategy. As a business owner, you need to get comfortable being visible and being seen as the face of your own business. That means having an actual plan for promoting yourself and using what’s already available to you, rather than hiding in plain sight.

Level 2: It needs to be in the right places, in front of the right people

Say you’ve made your plan and settled on one or two social media platforms, maybe joined a couple of VA business groups too. Good start. But are those platforms and groups actually where your ideal clients spend their time?

Being visible is one thing. Showing up in the wrong places is wasted effort, and your plan will fail regardless of how consistent you are. Go where your clients already are. Use the social platforms they use most, and join the same networking groups they’re part of. Be in the right place, in front of the right people.

Level 3: You need to start conversations

Once you know where you’re being visible, you need to actually engage people. Joining a group or turning up to a networking event only works if you talk to someone.

Take the pressure off yourself by aiming to build contacts and relationships, not sales or clients. Get to know the people you talk to, and listen to what’s frustrating them or getting in their way. That’s where you’ll spot the ways you can genuinely help. Set yourself a target: a number of new people to talk to at an event, or a number of posts to respond to in your preferred group each week. If you’re stuck on what to say, just ask how you can be of value. Ask what problem they’re trying to solve, or where they’re stuck, and see if you can help them move forward.

Let’s be honest for a minute

Visibility is the key to getting more clients for your VA business. But visibility on its own is never enough. It’s holding yourself accountable for your own business success, getting in front of the right people and engaging with them consistently, that actually builds relationships and brings in the clients you’re after.

Knowing how to expand and grow your VA business gets harder once you’ve been established a while, not easier. That’s exactly why I built the VA Membership. It gives you an affordable way to get the practical, supportive and expert help you need to keep growing your business, and to build the life and business you actually set out to have. If you’re ready to invest in your VA business, you can read more about the VA Membership here.