1. Pick one buyer who is drowning
Choose a single type of owner who runs a lean business and does their own admin. Good fits are solo real estate agents, independent insurance brokers, small agency founders, coaches with a booked calendar, and Shopify store owners doing $10k to $50k a month. Write down the three tasks they most likely hate, like inbox triage, scheduling, or chasing invoices.
2. Find people showing the pain in public
Look for owners who are already saying they are overwhelmed. Search LinkedIn posts for "hiring an assistant" or "need help with admin", check r/smallbusiness and r/realtors for threads about burnout, and scan Facebook groups for local realtors or coaches. Owners whose Calendly links are full, or who post job ads for part-time admins on Indeed, are strong leads.
3. Get the right email address
Use the free tiers of Hunter.io or Apollo.io to find owner emails, or check the contact page and the footer of their newsletter. For realtors, brokerage profile pages often list a direct email. Aim for 30 hand-picked leads before you write a single email.
4. Write a subject line that sounds like a peer
Keep it lowercase, short, and about them. Examples: "your open houses", "inbox after showings", "the admin job post". Never put "virtual assistant services" in the subject, because it reads like a pitch and gets ignored.
5. Write four sentences, not a brochure
Lead with what you noticed, name the task, offer something small, and ask one easy question. Example: "Hi Dana, saw your post about falling behind on follow-ups after weekend showings. I run a small VA service for solo agents and we handle lead follow-up and calendar booking. Happy to take your follow-ups for one week free so you can see if it helps. Want me to send how it would work?"
6. Offer a paid trial, not a retainer
Owners worry about handing work to a stranger, so lower the risk. Offer a 5-hour or one-week trial on one task at a fixed price, or free for your first two clients in exchange for honest feedback. Once you have done the work well, moving them to a monthly plan is an easy conversation.
7. Follow up twice, then stop
Send a short follow-up on day 3 and another on day 7, each adding something useful. Example: "Dana, quick one. Most agents I talk to lose leads in the 24 hours after a showing. If that is you too, I can start Monday." Track every send and reply in a simple spreadsheet so you can tell which subject line and which buyer type work.
8. Send 10 a day and adjust weekly
Ten personal emails a day beats 200 templated ones, and it keeps your domain out of spam. Every Friday, look at your replies and double down on the buyer type that answered most. Hulby, an AI cofounder, can find these leads and draft personalized emails for you every day.
Mistakes to skip
- Listing every task you can do instead of one specific pain.
- Leading with hourly rates or your team's location.
- Mass-sending the same template from a brand new domain.
- Asking for a 30-minute call in the first email.
Want this done for your virtual assistant service, every day?
Hulby finds the people asking for what you built, writes every reply and email, and keeps you on it until they pay. Free to start.
Find my first customersQuestions
How long should a cold email for a VA service be?
Under 100 words. Four or five short sentences is enough.
Should I mention my prices in the first email?
No. Offer a small fixed-price or free trial and share full pricing once they reply.
How many replies should I expect?
It depends on how well you target and personalize. Track your own rate and change one thing at a time to improve it.
Is cold email allowed?
B2B cold email is generally allowed in many countries, but rules differ, such as GDPR in the EU and CAN-SPAM in the US. Email business addresses, identify yourself clearly, include your business address, and honor every request to stop.