IT'S HAPPENING! First Free Trial | 14 Products in 14 Days Update #8

|| TLDR: ||
Just as I was feeling like I wasn't getting traction on Product #1, I sent out 300 emails worth of cold outreach this morning and got 4 inquiries - one of which signed up for a free two-day trial! Eureka!!!

|| Welcome Back: ||
Hey, all! I have been posting updates on my product discovery project "14 Products in 14 Days" in the Daily Stand Up group, but realized that it is probably a better fit to post updates on this project to the Product Development channel. So, here I am! If you want a recap of what has happened so far, skip to the bottom of this post.

This is update #8 of the Sprint AND IT'S THE BEST ONE YET!!!!

|| UPDATE 1. QUANTITY is key ||

I revised my email copy based on open rates. I've got a really solid email now that focuses on the needs of the customer. I was getting some outreach based on my cold emails before and had an open rate of like 70%, but I was reaching out to maybe 30 people a day. This was SUPER inefficient. This week, I set an hour block to do lead gen, successfully scraped 300 emails in that time period and then did an email blast. Out of that, I got 5 folks to reach out with inquiries.

Here's the email I used:

Hey, {{FirstName}}.

Great to be in contact. I'm Kirsten with People Hat Virtual Assistants. 
We've found that Virtual Assistants can have a huge impact on the success of teams in the {{Industry}} industry.

Professionals and leaders in {{Industry}} spend a ton of time on simple tasks that can be easily delegated; tasks like picking up phone calls, dealing with bookkeeping, expense reporting, and generating leads.

Virtual Assistants can help you accomplish more in your week by picking up those annoying tasks. PeopleHat's team includes Virtual Assistants with backgrounds in {{Industry}} who are ready to start right where you left off.

To give us a try, visit our website at PeopleHat.com. It takes less than 5 minutes to get started, no commitment required.

Looking forward to helping you do more!

Best,

Kirsten

|| UPDATE 2. First Free Trial - Who's Responding to My Outreach? ||
I've been getting about 5% of people who I email responding with positive inquiries. I got one person yesterday who signed up for a free two day trial. This person has already verbally committed to registering for a subscription model. I have another guy who is interested in the free trial, and said he'd reconnect next week.

Some interesting things I've found:

• Most of the people who respond don't even visit the website. They respond just based off of the email.
• Most of the people who respond are already using another VA or have in the past, but have had a mixed experience.
• I don't think many of these people get outreach from other VA agencies. I honestly don't know how other agencies get clients, but it seems like I've hit a goldmine of people who are 1) Already seeking VAs on the open market themselves 2) Haven't yet been approached by an agency and 3) Have had experience with shoddy freelancers and are looking for a better solution.
• Some of the younger Real Estate agents I've been connecting with are actually asking if I have openings for Real Estate VAs. This is pretty cool, and has become a way for me to recruit high-aptitude talent (although the markets these folks live in are more expensive, so I won't be able to hire many of these agents, but they could be good for tasks that need a high degree of industry know how).

|| UPDATE 3. Takeaway Prospect Interactions: Differentiate, Differentiate, Differentiate ||
I got some mixed responses from people over the past few days of outreach. One guy told me my rates are "Unbelievably high when (he) can get a VA off of Upwork for $2/hour", while others responded that they are "currently using another VA off of Fiver, but (are) getting shoddy work and unresponsive phases of communication".

In both conversations, I worked to differentiate my product from what else is out there. It's easy to find a VA, but it's hard to find an affordable, reliable, and talented one. I've focused more on differentiation in my initial outreach emails after these client prospect convos.

|| UPDATE 4. Stay off Distracting Platforms ||
I have been staying off of Linkedin and Twitter recently to focus on this project, and that's been really good for me. I'm going to finish up with this, and after I've got some solid revenue numbers to share, I'll start posting again.

I'm trying to just focus on hustling right now, and not pay attention to all of the random shiny objects that offer gratifying ego boosts - for a while at least. Highly recommended.

That's all for now, guys. Back to LEAD GEN and a little bit of scouting for hires :D.

|| New to The Project? Read Me! ||
14 Products in 14 Days is my way of testing out a Product Development Sprint that I developed to help me ID a product/service that I'll be able to ship and use as a side revenue stream. I'm testing it out now - if it works, y'all should give it a try! The core intent of this systematized approach to product development is to force the founder to focus on placing a product in a proven market with a powerful need to create a sustainable company. Too many times we get drawn into working on a product that DOES NOT fit a market need, just because we think the product is a really good idea. I have a problem with this as well, so I created this sprint to help me overcome it and build something real. Check out the full project manifesto here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/14-products-in-14-days-daily-update-3-a6d2f56529?commentId=-M968fkeMKSZjflamVFl