{"id":5163,"date":"2017-05-20T14:28:07","date_gmt":"2017-05-20T21:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3.14.248.234\/?p=5163"},"modified":"2020-06-26T15:30:56","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T22:30:56","slug":"growth-hackers-guide-virtual-assistants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/growth-hackers-guide-virtual-assistants\/","title":{"rendered":"The Growth Hacker’s Guide to Using Virtual Assistants"},"content":{"rendered":"
Guys, here is the Growth Hacker’s Guide to Using Virtual Assistants with Mixmax.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Imagine if every week you spoke at a conference, hosted an event in front of hundreds of entrepreneurs, and had someone interview you at their conference.\u00a0You\u2019d be a lead generating machine.\u00a0Most of us don\u2019t do this.<\/p>\n Few of us have the time to research opportunities and send many personalized emails to land them. In turn, most growth hackers don\u2019t consider this a realistic traction channel.<\/p>\n You\u2019d remove a huge amount of stress and save yourself countless hours every month to growth hack.\u00a0To make it happen, you need virtual assistants.\u00a0Working with virtual assistants requires a strong, detailed-oriented personality with an understanding of how to create process frameworks for others to copy.\u00a0Rather than have you start from scratch, here\u2019s the virtual assistant framework I use to speak at conferences, host interviews, get podcast opportunities, and help build one of the largest communities of\u00a0marketers and founders<\/a>:<\/p>\n If you want your virtual assistant to contact people, then you need their emails. It used to be a complex process to find someone\u2019s email, but with growth-hacking email tools it\u2019s easier than ever.<\/p>\n Hunter.io:<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Pros:<\/b>\u00a0Hunter.io has a Chrome extension which enables you to find someone\u2019s email address using their LinkedIn profile (makes outsourcing easier), and it\u2019s free up to 150 email credits\/month.\u00a0Cons:<\/b>\u00a0Low deliverability rate even after using their validation service.\u00a0Clearbit<\/b><\/a>:<\/b>\u00a0Pros:\u00a0<\/b>Clearbit provides the most accurate emails, syncs with your Gmail, and is free for up to one hundred email credits\/month.\u00a0Cons:<\/b>\u00a0I can\u2019t think of any.\u00a0Elucify:<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Pros:\u00a0<\/b>A free and crowdsourced database for business contact information. Find unlimited emails.\u00a0Cons:<\/b>\u00a0Not the most accurate emails.\u00a0FindThatLead<\/b><\/a>:<\/b>\u00a0Pros:<\/b>\u00a0High deliverability rate and a price competitive to Hunter.io\u00a0Cons:<\/b>\u00a0I can\u2019t think of any.<\/p>\n Before diving into the instructions, ensure you have a LinkedIn Sales Navigator account. This will give you the ability to scrape sixty LinkedIn pages every day with Hunter.io and cross-reference AngelList profiles with LinkedIn profiles without getting banned. I\u2019ll dive into this tactic in just a bit.\u00a0To get your VA to start scraping profiles, provide them your defined customer avatar. For example, I target people who live in San Francisco with the job title of CMO, head of growth, or VP of marketing.\u00a0Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, I do a quick search for people with these titles who live in San Francisco. Then, using the Hunter.io Chrome extension, I begin collecting email addresses into an assigned list:\u00a0<\/p>\n These metrics might include the company\u2019s funding round and raised capital amount. In this case, you want your virtual assistant to use Angellist and LinkedIn Sales Navigator search.\u00a0I explain to my VA that these people should be in a growing company preferably about to receive their A or B round.\u00a0When you have your customer details laid out, there are two ways to approach getting their email with Hunter.io. If you can\u2019t find their particular details on LinkedIn (i.e. company received Series A), then you\u2019ll need to ask your VA to use a third-party source with LinkedIn when searching for people. In this case, they could use Angellist to find these extra details.\u00a0\u00a0After you know your target companies, then you can find them on LinkedIn to identify the key employees you want to contact. I highly suggest this approach if you\u2019re looking for a curated list industry influencers to message.\u00a0Here\u2019s an Upwork job post example I\u2019ve used successfully to get the contact information of one thousand highly targeted individuals combining AngelList and LinkedIn data mining.\u00a0\u00a0Once your VA pulls prospects\u2019 emails through using the\u00a0Hunter.io Chrome extension<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Google Sheet Add-on.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0Once you verify the emails with Hunter.io, then download this verified list and your unverified email list as well. The idea here is to combine the data from these two lists to send personalized emails to verified recipients.<\/p>\n \u00a0Next, add another tab and name it \u201cSheet2\u201d. Copy only the first two rows of the verified email export: \u201cemail\u201d and \u201cresult\u201d. Next, add the column titles from \u201cSheet1\u201d.\u00a0 To fill in the data under the column titles C \u2192 I (the column titles you copied over), you need to use this cross-match formula: =INDEX(Sheet1!$A$2:$G$5000, MATCH($A3,Sheet1!$G$2:$G$5000,0), MATCH(C$1,Sheet1!$A$1:$G$1,0)) Once you copy this formula into cell C2, then drag it over to I2. From here, copy this formula into the second row, then double click the right corner so that it applies to every row with data on the sheet.<\/p>\n \u00a0From here, click on the three lines next to the column titled \u201cresults\u201d. Now ensure to check only deliverable emails.\u00a0\u00a0The next step is to copy the results (only deliverable email addresses and corresponding data) to another Google Sheet. Make sure to use Paste + Values to avoid pasting broken formulas. Once you have a sheet full of the right data, export it as a CSV, then import it into Mixmax.\u00a0If the people who you\u2019re trying to contact come up with undeliverable emails, then try Elucify to find their correct email. Once you log-in to Elucify, finding an email is as simple as plugging in their company name, then seeing if your target prospect shows up as an employee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Clearbit Chrome extension<\/a>. The Chrome extension provides up to one hundred email validation searches every month. Once you download it, click on the Clearbit icon on the bottom of your email drafts. If you\u2019re using Mixmax, then you\u2019ll have to turn off the extension to see this icon.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once your VA fills out the necessary columns for extracting an email (First Name, Last Name, Company Domain), you can pull thousands of individual emails at once using the\u00a0FindThatLead<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Google Sheet Add-on. Match the right columns, click \u201cFind emails,\u201d and you\u2019re ready to go.\u00a0\u00a0Now that your VA knows how to contact prospects using email, teach them how to contact industry influencers using LinkedIn.<\/p>\n \u00a0If they accept your connection request, there\u2019s a high chance they didn\u2019t see the personalized message because of LinkedIn\u2019s interface. It\u2019s almost impossible to notice. Take a look:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0If you still can\u2019t get their attention, then it\u2019s time to send follow-up LinkedIn messages and emails to get a reply. Sometimes it takes eight or nine messages for top industry influencers to respond to you.<\/p>\n You\u2019re finding emails like a pro. You\u2019re almost ready to get your VA to start scheduling meetings. First, you must lay down the laws. If you never want to have a meeting before 11 a.m. or after a certain time on Wednesday or Friday, then make it known to them.<\/p>\n This meeting is for quick briefings to avoid exchanging five or six emails.<\/p>\n This meeting is for podcasts and hosting interviews.\u00a0I never (not even one time) book in-person meetings where someone requests to take me to coffee or pick my brain. None of these meetings have proved fruitful for me.\u00a0When you email the recipient an open date for a 45-minute meeting, ensure you can book an open room for that date. To understand how to set up rooms in Gmail, here\u2019s an\u00a0excellent how-to blog post<\/a>.\u00a0Then, click the room to add it. Also, make sure to add the guest\u2019s email and – if needed – an assistant or videographer\u2019s email, so they get notified about the event.\u00a0\u00a0Try to book back-to-back meetings. This way you can set a harsh deadline for yourself to get things done faster and it reduces the context switching from having a five or fifteen minutes break between phone calls. When filling out the description, make sure to include both parties\u2019 contact details and a few notes detailing the conversation to take place.\u00a0Once your VA understands how to book rooms, they need to set up and use labels as a way to organize your inbox. My favorite label is \u201cignore\u201d. These emails include anything that doesn\u2019t provide value to me. I never check it.<\/p>\n \u00a0I also keep a tab for my videographer because I shoot around twenty videos every month. This way I can stay in constant communication with him.\u00a0If you\u2019re looking to book speaking, guest posting, or podcast opportunities, then create a label for each. For company inquiries, I have a dedicated label \u201cMarketers & Founders.\u201d\u00a0I use Mixmax for more complex tasks, including sending, tracking, scheduling, and using follow-ups. If I\u2019m sending a one-time template, then I\u2019ll use the Mixmax templates feature which buckets them in folders.\u00a0\u00a0With one click, I can insert a template. For most emails you send, you want to schedule a reminder if they don\u2019t reply or open. Use Mixmax\u2019s \u201cSet Reminder\u201d feature to ensure you stay in contact with someone even if they don\u2019t respond.\u00a0\u00a0Sending one email is not ideal if you\u2019re reaching out to influencers where you\u2019d need to send several follow-ups to get their attention. For this case, I use Mixmax\u2019s sequence feature.\u00a0If you\u2019ve set up a sequence of emails, you can easily add someone to it.<\/p>\n \u00a0After you create your sequence, you\u2019ll see it pop up in your email. If you don\u2019t remember how it\u2019s designed, Mixmax provides you the exact details of your sequence at the bottom of your email.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0My favorite part of Mixmax templates and sequences is the option to enrich your emails with numerous media touch points (i.e. GIFs, link previews, and more), calendar invites, and even surveys.\u00a0\u00a0Before you jump ahead and begin shooting off sequences, ensure to take advantage of Mixmax\u2019s in-email scheduling feature. Mixmax gives you the ability to send a personalized link to someone so they can schedule a time on your calendar with a few clicks.\u00a0<\/p>\n When setting up your calendar, you can block times and have immediate inputs. For example, I have the inputs \u201cReason?\u201d and \u201cYour Phone #:\u201d. I use these inputs to get my email recipients to fill in their reason of connection. It saves me a ton of time trying to remember why I set up the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mixmax and email finding tools are only as powerful as your email copy. You can have the emails of everyone in the world, but without copy that pulls your prospect\u2019s attention, you\u2019ll lose. I don\u2019t expect you to master cold email copy overnight, so here are the templates I use for outreach.<\/p>\n Email 1:<\/b>\u00a0Subject:<\/b>\u00a0Speaking opportunity\u00a0\u201cHey {{First Name}},<\/i>\u00a0I love the work you\u2019ve done for {{Company}}.\u00a0<\/i>I happen to run one of the largest marketers and founders communities in Silicon Valley (<\/i>2300+ members<\/i><\/a>) and an active\u00a0<\/i>7500+ member<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Facebook Group.\u00a0<\/i>As a growth evangelist who hosts close to seventy events a year ranging in attendance from 200 – 700 people, I\u2019m always looking for knowledgeable speakers and people crushing it in tech such as yourself.<\/i>\u00a0I think you\u2019d make a perfect fit.<\/i>\u00a0Here\u2019s an example of one of our previous speaking events:\u00a0<\/i>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t4gYdeVpGlU<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Do you have fifteen minutes free in the next week to talk about a speaking opportunity?<\/i>\u00a0Please select a time on my calendar here:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>https:\/\/cal.mixmax.com\/joshfechter<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Looking forward to hearing back from you.<\/i>\u00a0Cheers,\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n No subject:\u00a0<\/b>Email reply\u00a0Hey {{First Name}},<\/i>\u00a0I just wanted to ensure you saw this email from the other day.<\/i>\u00a0Also, I love the work you\u2019ve done for {{Company}}.<\/i>\u00a0I happen to run one of the largest marketers and founders communities in Silicon Valley (<\/i>2300+ members<\/i><\/a>) and an active\u00a0<\/i>7500+ member<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Facebook Group.<\/i>\u00a0As a growth evangelist who hosts close to seventy events a year ranging in attendance from 200 – 700 people, I\u2019m always looking for knowledgeable speakers. I think you\u2019d make a perfect fit.<\/i>\u00a0Here\u2019s an example of one of our previous speaking events:\u00a0<\/i>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t4gYdeVpGlU<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Do you have fifteen minutes free in the next week to talk about a speaking opportunity?<\/i>\u00a0Please select a time on my calendar here:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0https:\/\/cal.mixmax.com\/joshfechter<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Excited to talk about the opportunity.<\/i>\u00a0Cheers,\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n No subject:\u00a0<\/b>Email reply\u00a0\u201cHey {{First Name}},<\/i>\u00a0Following up on my previous two emails.<\/i>\u00a0I’m wondering if you’d be interested in an interview in front of a couple of hundred people in San Francisco. It will be epic! ????<\/i>\u00a0I run one of the largest marketers and founders communities in Silicon Valley (<\/i>2300+ members<\/i><\/a>) and an active\u00a0<\/i>7500+ member<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Facebook Group.<\/i>\u00a0In case you missed it, here\u2019s an example of one of our previous speaking events:\u00a0<\/i>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t4gYdeVpGlU<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Do you have fifteen minutes free in the next week to talk about a speaking opportunity?<\/i>\u00a0Feel free to select a time on my calendar here:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0https:\/\/cal.mixmax.com\/joshfechter<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Talk soon.<\/i>\u00a0Cheers,\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n No subject:\u00a0<\/b>Email reply\u00a0\u201cHey {{First Name}},<\/i>\u00a0I’m persistent, so here I am in your inbox again asking you to speak in front of a couple of hundred entrepreneurs in San Francisco.<\/i>\u00a0I run one of the largest marketers and founders communities in Silicon Valley (<\/i>2300+ members<\/i><\/a>) and an active\u00a0<\/i>7500+ member<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Facebook Group.<\/i>\u00a0I want you to speak at the event because you’re crushing it in tech. More importantly, I think my audience could benefit from your advice and stories ????<\/i>\u00a0Here\u2019s an example of one of our previous speaking events (if you haven’t watched it yet):\u00a0<\/i>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t4gYdeVpGlU<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Do you have fifteen minutes free in the next week to talk about a speaking opportunity?<\/i>\u00a0Feel free to select a time on my calendar here:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0https:\/\/cal.mixmax.com\/joshfechter<\/a> \u00a0Cheers,\u201d<\/i>\u00a0When someone responds to my email asking for interview questions, I respond with this template:<\/p>\n No subject:\u00a0<\/b>Email reply\u00a0\u201c[First name]<\/i>\u00a0Perfect. I attached the questions.\u00a0<\/i>Feel free to change them up to your liking.<\/i>\u00a0What\u2019s the best number to reach you?<\/i>\u00a0[Questions attached as a Google Drive file]\u201d<\/p>\n Email 1:<\/b>\u00a0Subject:\u00a0<\/b>Speaking opportunity\u00a0\u201cHey {{first}}<\/i>\u00a0I love the work you\u2019ve done as [job title] for [name of event]. Congrats on [recent publicity or milestone].<\/i>\u00a0I\u2019m reaching out to save you the effort of looking for speakers.<\/i>\u00a0As a conference that focuses on [X] and [Y}, I think I could benefit your event with my expertise. Moreover, I\u2019d help promote it to my audience.<\/i>\u00a0I happen to run one of the largest marketers and founders communities in Silicon Valley (<\/i>2300+ members<\/i><\/a>) and an active\u00a0<\/i>7500+ member<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Facebook Group. I was named top growth hacker for 2016 and have given speeches [here], [here], and [here].<\/i>\u00a0Moreover, I was the head of growth for the first company to live stream on Facebook, 22Social; an events subscription company, UpOut; and a 50-million-dollar venture capital firm, GrowthX.<\/i>\u00a0I\u2019m currently the growth evangelist for Autopilot (one of the youngest tech evangelist at twenty-five years old) and an adviser to a few profitable startups.<\/i>\u00a0Do you have fifteen minutes free in the next week to talk about a speaking opportunity?<\/i>\u00a0How about [date & time]?<\/i>\u00a0Looking forward to hearing back from you.<\/i>\u00a0Cheers,\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Subject:\u00a0<\/b>Speaking opportunity\u00a0\u201cHey {{first}}<\/i>\u00a0I love the work you\u2019ve done as the [job title] for [name of podcast]. Congrats on [recent publicity or milestone].<\/i>\u00a0I\u2019m reaching out to save you the effort of looking for people to interview.<\/i>\u00a0I happen to run one of the largest marketers and founders communities in Silicon Valley (<\/i>2300+ members<\/i><\/a>) and an active\u00a0<\/i>7500+ member<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Facebook Group. I was named top growth hacker for 2016 and have been featured on these podcasts:<\/i>\u00a01.<\/i>\u00a02.<\/i>\u00a03.<\/i>\u00a0Moreover, I was the head of growth for the first company to live stream on Facebook, 22Social; an events subscription company, UpOut; and a 50-million-dollar venture capital firm, GrowthX.<\/i>\u00a0Do you have fifteen minutes free in the next week to talk about a podcast interview opportunity?<\/i>\u00a0How about [date & time]?<\/i>\u00a0Looking forward to hearing back from you.<\/i>\u00a0Cheers,\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n For guest posting, I never reach out to the editor. I reach out to many high-level friends to see where they have connections. I\u2019ve found this tactic to triple my response rate from high-level publications.\u00a0Subject:\u00a0<\/b>What do you think about this?\u00a0\u201cHey {{first}}<\/i>\u00a0As someone who reads and appreciates my work, I wanted to give you a heads up on this article I want to use for a guest post:<\/i>\u00a0Here it is:\u00a0<\/i>[Link to guest post]<\/i>\u00a0Please don\u2019t share this with anyone. Let\u2019s keep these [benefits] a secret for now.<\/i>\u00a0I was wondering if you know a great publication to guest post this piece on?<\/i>\u00a0I\u2019m looking for a perfect fit because – as you know – I put in a ton of time into my content to help people. If you have any suggestions for or connections to cool publishers that\u2019d be super helpful.<\/i>\u00a0Let me know if you need anything.<\/i>\u00a0Cheers,<\/i>\u00a0Josh\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n One of the most annoying tasks I began outsourcing is approving people into my Facebook Group. It takes a significant amount of my time because I look at each person\u2019s LinkedIn profile to ensure they\u2019d add value to my community.\u00a0I ask a virtual assistant to do it. I give them a set criteria of people to accept based on these attributes:<\/p>\n \u00a0No more Facebook Group member checking.\u00a0It feels great.<\/p>\n To increase my Facebook Group membership, I use Mixmax to reach out to people based on their membership in another tight-knit, startup community. For example, if they\u2019re in an accelerator, then I\u2019ll send them a cold email mentioning their accelerator.\u00a0\u00a0To get their emails at scale with little work, I get a VA to use both Angellist and LinkedIn to extract their contact details into a Google Sheet, then ask them to use Google Sheet Add-ons like those of FindThatLead and Clearbit to extract their emails.\u00a0The next step is to ask a member from one of these communities to vouch for your Facebook Group. I use their vouch as a testimonial in my email copy. Here\u2019s a direct message I\u2019ll send to someone in my Facebook Group to get this testimonial:\u00a0\u201cHey John,<\/i>\u00a0I wanted to reach out because I\u2019ve been talking to many people from Y Combinator. Is it cool if I mentioned there are other Y Combinator members in my group such as yourself?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0Once they say, \u201cYes,\u201d I start sending cold emails to my list of Y Combinator people asking them to join my Facebook Group. All I do is download the CSV file of contact info with emails, then upload it into a new Mixmax Sequence.<\/p>\n Subject:\u00a0<\/b>You were referred to Marketers & Founders\u00a0\u201cHey Francis,<\/i>\u00a0One of our members from Y Combinator referred you to our Marketers & Founders Facebook Group (we have over 100 alumni from Y Combinator, including [insert testimonial name]).<\/i>\u00a0I happen to run one of the largest marketing communities in Silicon Valley (<\/i>2300+ members<\/i><\/a>) and the Facebook Group (<\/i>7500+ members<\/i><\/a>).<\/i>\u00a0The Marketers & Founders Facebook Group is moderated by a few of the best, so it\u2019s invite only.<\/i>\u00a0Our moderators:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhy?<\/i><\/h5>\n
What if you could have these opportunities fill up your schedule without putting in time?<\/i><\/h5>\n
Find Anyone\u2019s Email<\/h2>\n
Here are the four email finder tools your virtual assistant needs to use:<\/b><\/h5>\n
Instructions for your VA on using Hunter.io:<\/b><\/h5>\n
What if we\u2019re looking for attributes LinkedIn doesn\u2019t include in search?<\/i><\/h5>\n
Have them re-upload them into Hunter for bulk verification (1 – 3 minutes):<\/em><\/h5>\n
To combine the exports, import all data from the non-verified CSV into a Google Sheet. Name the tab \u201cSheet1\u201d.<\/em><\/h5>\n
Next, conduct a simple filter search to show only deliverable email addresses.<\/em><\/h5>\n
What if you still can\u2019t find your prospect\u2019s email address?<\/i><\/h5>\n
Plugin the desired company, then start searching for the desired employee.<\/em><\/h5>\n
As soon as you click on an employee or founder, you\u2019ve used one email credit.<\/em><\/h5>\n
What if you want the best of both worlds – bulk processing and deliverable emails for a highly targeted list of contacts in your Google Sheets?<\/i><\/b><\/h5>\n
There are two ways to do this:<\/em><\/h5>\n
1.Connect with them on LinkedIn as a friend with a personalized message<\/b><\/h5>\n
2. Follow-up with a message as soon as they accept to ensure they see it<\/b><\/h5>\n
Never Check Your Email Again<\/strong><\/h3>\n
I book two types of meetings:<\/b><\/b><\/h5>\n
\n
\n
With that said, I balance this label out with the one \u201cRespond Soon\u201d. \u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n
Just click sequence and select the one you want to use.<\/em><\/h5>\n
If you know the copy you want to use, creating sequences and templates in Mixmax takes seconds.<\/em><\/h5>\n
Never again use your precious time to book a meeting. Send the recipient your link, and you\u2019re good to go.<\/em><\/h5>\n
Mastering Cold Outreach with a 40% Reply Rate<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Here\u2019s the email sequence I use to land speakers:<\/b><\/h5>\n
Email 2:<\/b><\/h5>\n
Email 3:<\/b><\/h5>\n
Email 4:<\/b><\/h5>\n
Acceptance and Request for Questions (time works):<\/b><\/h5>\n
Land Your Speaking Opportunity:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Jump on a Podcast:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Get Those Backlinks from Guest Posting<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Facebook Group Outsourcing:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
Grow Your Tribe Faster With Email<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Here\u2019s the cold email template I use:<\/b><\/h5>\n
\n