{"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

Why?<\/i><\/h5>\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

What if you could have these opportunities fill up your schedule without putting in time?<\/i><\/h5>\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

Find Anyone\u2019s Email<\/h2>\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

Here are the four email finder tools your virtual assistant needs to use:<\/b><\/h5>\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

Instructions for your VA on using Hunter.io:<\/b><\/h5>\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\"BAMF<\/p>\n

What if we\u2019re looking for attributes LinkedIn doesn\u2019t include in search?<\/i><\/h5>\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\"BAMF\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\"BAMF\u00a0Once your VA pulls prospects\u2019 emails through using the\u00a0Hunter.io Chrome extension<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Google Sheet Add-on.<\/a><\/p>\n

Have them re-upload them into Hunter for bulk verification (1 – 3 minutes):<\/em><\/h5>\n

\"BAMF\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

To combine the exports, import all data from the non-verified CSV into a Google Sheet. Name the tab \u201cSheet1\u201d.<\/em><\/h5>\n

\"BAMF\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\"BAMF 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

Next, conduct a simple filter search to show only deliverable email addresses.<\/em><\/h5>\n

\"BAMF\u00a0From here, click on the three lines next to the column titled \u201cresults\u201d. Now ensure to check only deliverable emails.\u00a0\"BAMF\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\"BAMF<\/p>\n

What if you still can\u2019t find your prospect\u2019s email address?<\/i><\/h5>\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\"BAMF<\/p>\n

Plugin the desired company, then start searching for the desired employee.<\/em><\/h5>\n

\"BAMF<\/p>\n

As soon as you click on an employee or founder, you\u2019ve used one email credit.<\/em><\/h5>\n

\"BAMF<\/p>\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

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\"BAMF\u00a0Now that your VA knows how to contact prospects using email, teach them how to contact industry influencers using LinkedIn.<\/p>\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

\"BAMF\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\"BAMF<\/p>\n

2. Follow-up with a message as soon as they accept to ensure they see it<\/b><\/h5>\n

\"BAMF\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

Never Check Your Email Again<\/strong><\/h3>\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

I book two types of meetings:<\/b><\/b><\/h5>\n