Welcome to this episode of the OBM Educator. I am so, so, so, so excited. I know I say this before every episode, but I am actually really excited for today's episode because this is going to be our first coaching call that I am sharing. So I, in addition to teaching about being an OBM, I am a mentor for VAs who want to become OBMs, and then new OBMs who are kind of just navigating the OBM world, and so I do many coaching calls where someone will bring a topic that they have, that they want coaching on, that they want some expert advice on, and so one of the things that I was so excited with thinking about this podcast and what I wanted to bring to it was I wanted to bring an insight to these mini coaching calls, because a lot of the time when I'm talking with someone, it's something I have definitely talked with someone else before and I can't have many coaching calls with everyone, and a lot of people you know have problems or pain points or what have you, but they keep it to themselves and they don't reach out to get support. But I want to still help. So I wanted to bring these coaching calls to the podcast so that you could get an inside look into how it is, that I would help someone through the really common pain points for VAs who are wanting to make the transition, or new OBMs in marketing, in boundaries, in making the transition from VA to OBM, like all of these different things. That's what I talk about in these calls. So today I'm talking with Galena Vandermeer. She is a tech VA slash OBM who is wanting to get more of an insight on the best way to attract new clients and the way it goes. With most of these coaching calls, it does start one place and kind of goes to another, and so I think that this is a great conversation on marketing and how you can grow your business, but then also what are some of the things that you might be doing that are hindering you without you really knowing it, and so I'm gonna get into the conversation and I hope you guys enjoy.
02:26
Welcome to the OBM Educator. I'm your host, Amanda McVicker, a veteran OBM who serves six and seven figure entrepreneurs as well as educates new OBMs with the skills and confidence they need to start and grow their own successful online business management business. Follow along as I share valuable insights behind the scenes, sneak peeks and proven strategies to help you build a better OBM business. Okay, so you had said that you wanted to talk about the best ways to attract new OBM clients. Yes, give me a little bit of background on your business. How many clients do you have? How have you been getting clients before?
03:07 - Galina
and automations, helping small business owners with that. And right now I have five clients one I've been with for two years now, and so she is my only OBM client. I started with her as a VA and transitioned into team management and doing systems for her other clients because she also is an OBM and tech VA. And then my other clients are all tech VA clients, and so I'd love to pick your brain and get to know about how to be able to attract OBM clients, because I feel like I'm attracting not newer business owners, but business owners who haven't worked with support yet, so they're not necessarily candidates for OBM. More of they're needing to work with a VA. So I do tech VA work with them.
04:06 - Amanda
Okay, what is the reason that you think that they don't need OBM? If they like need that tech VA. Is it that there's just like not enough going on in their business? They haven't had team before. Like what is it?
04:21 - Galina
Haven't had a team before. And then also there's maybe two because I did listen to your podcasts. There's two that I could start transitioning into OBM, but I just I got three of these clients within like less than a month. So it's like I don't like tech VA, oh and let's transition now. I want to give some time and then slowly, if we're able to transition, so two of them could be an OBM position, but the other ones it's not necessarily like they just probably don't have enough going on in their business to be able to have the capacity for an OBM.
04:57 - Amanda
Gotcha. Okay, five clients is a lot. So are you thinking that if you were attracting new clients, you would be letting go of the other clients?
05:10 - Galina
Yes, probably, if I could get some OBM clients who are larger, because all of them are on 10 hour, some are on 13, 15 hour, so it's not a really large retainer. So if I could get somebody who's a larger retainer to be able to hit my financial goals, then possibly, yeah, letting the other people go if they're able to switch over, because I enjoy doing tech VA work but I very much. I come from the education field, so team management, managing kids, I give that type of parents I love doing that and then just setting up like you had your whole classrooms and setting up systems and that type of thing in the classroom too.
05:51 - Amanda
Yeah, well, the good thing about the tech VA work is it's very similar to the OBM work and so being able to take that work that you love and putting it into OBM and being paid higher, more hours, all of that stuff, it's really good. With how you're marketing yourself right now, since that you're only attracting techier clients what do you call yourself?
06:14 - Galina
I call myself a tech VA and OBM. Okay, what do you want to be? I think I would like to transition more into OBM because I know I can do the tech VA, like the systems and automation support within the OBM role.
06:28 - Amanda
So that would be the number one thing Change to being an OBM. And yeah, I see this a lot with people who are making the transition that they'll call themselves an OBM slash VA and then they'll wonder why people are keep choosing the VA support. It's cheaper, and a lot of people then and you might be doing this too, where you're acting as OBM in disguise, you're doing the tech stuff, but you might also kind of be like lending the strategy and doing like a little team management or it just kind kind of comes naturally, because that's the type of person that you are and why you would make a good OBM. Yeah, but they're paying you as like the smaller rate with less hours. So I would say that the first thing is you're an OBM. Okay, you can. If someone comes to you and say they have like a project or you have space for tech VA and you want to take that on, go for it. But I would say that that would be the first thing that people are being attracted to you, because that's what you're putting off, that's what you're saying.
07:30
You are, yeah, having anything else in your title other than OBM, people are going to naturally gravitate to the lower cost, to the less commitment option, right, so it's not malicious or anything like that. But someone is going to see oh, they are an OBM slash VA. So I know that they're good at what they do, right, they're an OBM too, but because VA is cheaper, I'm going to go with that. I see it time and time again that someone will be an OBM slash VA or a tech VA slash OBM and they wonder why people keep signing up for the VA or the tech VA option. And it's because you're giving them the option.
08:13
If you step forward and say, hey, I am an OBM now and this is what I offer, that is going to be the only option for people to take, and then you're not going to have the tons of VA clients or tons of tech VA clients that are really taking up your time and energy but are not giving you the same fulfillment as an OBM client or the same rate as an OBM client. So my suggestion always, my advice always, is to take whatever else is in your title out. Just be an OBM. So then, on the marketing side, how have you gotten these clients?
08:52 - Galina
My longest one was from social media, one was from social media. Okay, and then two of them are referrals and one is through. I took a course to become a VA and so I get referrals that way. So I got a discovery call that way, and then the last one was Instagram. Again, her VA needed to step out, so she saw me and was like I think you'd be a good vibe for my current client.
09:25 - Amanda
Awesome, I would say. If you're looking for like the best way to get clients, it's how you've gotten clients before, and so social media is great. But I do think that that is going to be attracting the tech VA clients. In my own experience, in the people who have hired me as an OBM experience, if someone's looking for an OBM, they might search OBM on Instagram to see who's there, but really they're going to be asking their peers who do you know that's an OBM that can help me with XYZ and then they'll go to your social media to check you out, which is why it's so important to keep a social media active and well curated and all of that stuff. But the way to get people to your social media in a great way that's going to be like less effort for you is referrals. So can you ask your OBM client do you know anyone else Like? Have you done that?
10:19 - Galina
It's tricky. She has given me one client which was then a tech VA, but she herself is also an OBM, so it only does it. If she's at capacity, then she passes it down and she's great about it. She's awesome, I love her, but it's like if she's also in that role, it's hard for her to them.
10:35 - Amanda
Yeah, maybe go to your other clients then and say, hey, like I'm really expanding my OBM services. You want to do it like delicately because they're like, but I'm not OBM, right, right, so be like I'm expanding my services to include OBM. Is there anyone else, like any peers of yours, that are looking for an OBM? I think that would be one of the first steps. But then also reach out to your personal network and put out a post on Facebook and LinkedIn you know wherever it is that you have a profile and that you have connections to reach out and say do you or anyone you know, need this type of service? Explain a little bit what it is, because you know, with tech, va, like you get that like setting things up tech wise, all of that but obm, it's like a little bit like, well, what does that include? So give like a bit of a description of the services that you provide and what an obm can do, and then if you are anyone that you know, know anybody, let me know.
11:36 - Galina
Going back, to asking for referrals from current clients. So, like I said, I just started with these clients. So right now I have a system in place where every quarter I reach to all previous people I've talked to. Current clients have a system for that. But is there like a timeframe you would wait before asking newer clients?
11:57 - Amanda
before asking newer clients. I would gauge it on the relationship. If there are some clients like you've just clicked with from the beginning, don't think that you have to wait X amount of months before asking for a referral. I've had a client refer me before I technically even started working with her. So it's like if that relationship is there, if you've been and I'm sure you have been doing good work for them, they're probably already like oh my gosh, I hired this tech VA and I cannot tell you how much my life has changed. Like they're probably already saying stuff like that, but you letting them know, hey, I have an open spot. If you know of somebody who does need these services, you don't have to wait a certain amount of time before doing that. Now for like testimonials or things like that, I agree. Like waiting at least three months is probably a good idea there, but not for asking for a referral.
12:53
I talked to so many people who think that they have to wait a certain amount of time before asking for a referral from their clients, whether it's they just started with someone or they just think that they have to wait a certain amount of time. And I want to help take away the fear of asking. Your client is an adult, most probably, who can make the decision themselves, right Like you can ask them and they can say, no, I don't know anyone. Or they can say, yeah, I do know someone. It's not so scary when those are the two options. Really, if they were to blow up, oh my gosh, I can't believe that you would ask me. That that's actually more telling as a client. Maybe that's not someone that you really want to be working with. So if you have a good relationship with your clients, if you have done good work, if you have shown good work, even in a short amount of time, don't be afraid to ask for the referral.
13:52 - Galina
And then going to the social media side of things, do you have anything that you would suggest talking about? So when they check out your page, like, oh, this person knows exactly what they're talking about. They'd be a good hire type of thing.
14:06 - Amanda
Yeah, with social media, the posts that are going to be more moving are the ones that are going to be like, really talking about their pain points, and so do you have a niche that you kind of work with?
14:21 - Galina
Coaches, photographers right now.
14:30 - Amanda
So I would kind of separate those into like. Today I'm going to talk to coaches and today I'm going to talk to photographers and like really drill in on what their pain points are and why. And it might be easier to maybe stick with coaches, just because that's a very easy. Coaches need OBMs, you know, once their businesses get to a certain level. So start talking about what it is that they're missing out on when they don't hire an OBM the money that they're missing out on, the clients that they're missing out on because they're stuck in the weeds of their business.
14:56
It can also attract new people and they might see that and be like okay, cool, but when someone comes to your profile and like from a referral, really what they're looking for is to get to know you as well. They're probably going to look at the pin posts more and then maybe scroll a little bit and then check out. You know whatever your like linked pages are or whatever. So if you're looking from the standpoint of a referral coming to your page, I would make sure that those top three pinned ones I usually do like an about me, my services, and then one that maybe it's like a previous post that's really spoken to people You're like oh my gosh, I have so many likes and saves and shares and all of that stuff Like, have that be the pin post, along with like who you are, and then, with your services, include kind of the broad team management, project management, systems management, things like that. If you do strategy sessions or BI key dates and stuff like that, include that too, because they'll probably just kind of binge those things. Okay.
16:00 - Galina
And now officially take off my tech VA.
16:05 - Amanda
Exactly, I don't know if you show your pricing. I'm always about like transparency with pricing and so I always include retainer start at X amount of dollars. And if that's in the post or in the caption, or if you have a questionnaire like a lead form for people to fill out, I just always include that because that could be like people will see, oh well, I need, you know these services, and they'll book a call and be like great. And then you know you'll give your two options like, well, you can have like OBM at $1,500 a month or you can have Tech VA at $500 a month. I'll be like, ok, yeah, I'll take, I'll take Tech VA. And so if you have your pricing for OBM only and they're able to opt out if that's a price that they're not ready to pay, that would also be good to have there.
17:00 - Galina
Okay, I guess for me I have a services and guide Canva link that I will send out, just because I felt like that would be the easiest. If, when I do change my pricing, it's just one spot I have to change it, that's everywhere, type of thing.
17:14 - Amanda
Yeah, definitely Okay. Does it lead to like a lead form?
17:19 - Galina
It goes. So I have it in my IG bio and then on my website and so they'll click it and then I do capture and grab their email and then it sends them the guide.
17:30 - Amanda
Okay, do you find that that works well? Do people like fill that out to?
17:33 - Galina
get it. I have just I just looked and so far it's been four people and I'll say I added this maybe a month ago, so Okay, that's not bad.
17:51 - Amanda
Yeah, I'm booked out, or it'd be nice to kind of replace a client or something. If you're in that first kind of sect of I want new clients, I want to talk to as many people as possible to see who's a good fit, all of that stuff. I would take away barriers and so having people give their email address, knowing that they're going to be, whether you do or not, in their mind they're like I'm going to be pitched after I fill this out, like I'm not just not going to do that, I'm going to find someone who has more transparency on their prices. Yeah, that might be something you want to change. Okay, in the same way of a lead form, instead, maybe doing like a call link with the form attached. Okay, just a way to get maybe more people on the phone, more people in the DMs that you can talk to and get to know them and their business. Yeah, but without them opting out because of I don't want to give my email address or whatever it may be. So something to think about there. It's definitely One of the things that I see a lot is that, as service providers, we see how coaches, course creators all of them are having their business right.
19:04
We see applications, we see lead magnets, we see all of these things that are designed to get more information, and that is definitely good. But we do copy that into our own business, where, when we're trying to get clients, one of the things we want to do is to look at all of the barriers of entry, and what I mean by that is what is blocking someone from making an easy decision for them when it comes to booking a call. Do you have a super long form that they have to fill out beforehand? Chances are they're probably really busy if they're looking for OBM support anyway. How can you make it shorter? How can you get a call scheduled first and then the form to them In Galena's case, like looking at having a lead capture form before they get their pricing and services.
19:53
I've done this multiple times when I've been looking for different service providers and their pricing, and I I've done this multiple times when I've been looking for different service providers and their pricing, and I'm just in the gathering information stage. Their pricing is behind a lead capture form. I don't fill that out because I'm just looking for information right now. I don't want to be reached out to, I don't want to be pitched, and so if you're at the point where you are wanting clients, where you are wanting to get booked out as quickly as possible, maybe look at taking away some of those barriers of entry to make it an easier way for potential clients to get it. How do you feel about that? Are those some good starting points? Jumping off points.
20:35 - Galina
Yes, I love that because I have been doing where it's like I'm definitely advertising both and so just to be brave, take down the tech, like be an obm.
20:49 - Amanda
Yeah, I know like doing that and it's hard because you know you like the tech, va stuff and you're like being both is cool, but you can do all of that while being an OBM with making them more money. Again, five clients is a lot in becoming an OBM. Like I would take that down to three to four them at higher retainers. Like 20 hours a month is a really good retainer amount for OBM because then, like you don't have to be keeping up with so many things in your brain. But I think that reaching out to your personal network, making the switch with a couple of them if they are ready, or at least broach the conversation, I mean you're well on your way to being a booked out OBM. I mean you're well on your way to being a booked out OBM, thank you. Thank you so much to Galena for being a guest on today's episode and for being so open and willing to share about her business and being brave to put it out there so that others can learn from it as well. If you are interested in coming onto the podcast being coached by me, I have a form in the show notes that you can fill out whether it's you want to be coached or you want to be interviewed. Take a look at the form if you're interested in coming on.
22:07
I'm so excited to have as many guests and diverse amount of guests as possible. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode, that you got some nuggets out of it to help with attracting your own clients or working on making that transition from VA to OBM or tech VA to OBM. This is a journey. It is not an overnight thing, but you got this and I am cheering you on along the way. I'll talk with you guys next week. Bye, thanks for joining me for this episode of the OBM Educator. I hope what you heard today is helpful for you on your OBM journey. If you loved today's episode, I would so appreciate you sharing it and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Want to be a guest on the OBM Educator? Fill out the form in the show notes and I'll be in touch. Join us next time on the OBM Educator.
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