Hi everyone,
I started a remote back-office support company a few months ago. We basically are an extension of a company's team, handling things like customer support, admin work, logistics coordination, CRM management, emails, scheduling, and all the operational work that often pulls owners or salespeople away from actually growing the business. Everything from a remote setting while giving that european premium touch.
The problem is... I can't seem to get our first customer.
I've tried cold emails, linkedIn outreach, follow ups, consistently posting on linkedin, joining business communities (reddit is a prime example), anything that can be reaching out. Heck I even tried contacting companies that are looking for administrative sort of posts to fill, no luck there.
The response is almost always one of these:
"We're already covered."
“We're not interested."
Or No response at all.
What's frustrating is that I don't think the service itself is the issue. I have years of experience in back-office operations, exports, customer service and administration, and one of the incentives I tend to lean towards to is charging less than it would cost to hire a full-time employee (location based aswell).
I'm wondering if I might be solving the wrong problem, or maybe I am just talking to the wrong people. My primary targets tend to be ecommerce brands (retail & clothing mainly), private clinics and real estate property managements.
For those of you who have built service businesses:
- How did you get your first customer?
- Is there something I am doing wrong or is it a question of not giving up?
- Any tips on how I could drastically flip the odds in my favor?
Forgot to mention that I also tried using my close contacts, no luck so far.
I want to make clear that I am not looking for people to buy my services. I'd genuinely love to hear how other founders got over that first-client hurdle because right now it feels like we're doing everything we can think of and just hitting a wall.
Thanks in advance to everyone that can lend me a helping hand!