The greatest challenge in a business venture is employee retention. There are several reasons why turnovers are common. It could be lack of productivity, skills mismatch or the lack of budget to provide for the expected salaries of full-time employees.
This is among the multitude of reasons why many companies are turning to hiring virtual assistants or VAs. They are online administrative workers who deliver specialized support, skills, and services to entrepreneurs and business owners who can’t manage to do things on their own or can’t afford to hire in-house personnel.
There are so many things that virtual assistants can do for you, from the simplest tasks to even the most complicated ones.
Checking thousands of emails every day and making sure your inbox is up-to-date is one of the biggest productivity killers. It takes hours to sort through messages, filtering which are important and which are not, and replying to those that need answers as soon as possible. The next thing you know, it’s almost lunch break and you haven’t even begun your tasks for the day.
This is where an online worker can step in. You can provide access to your inbox and let that person sort everything out for you. Set down guidelines on how to filter your messages and provide templates for replies. Because of your new email manager, you literally save hours in a day and spend that precious time in tasks that help grow your business.
Busy business owners often have a hard time keeping up with the many things they have to attend to in a day. There are client calls and sit-downs, catch-up meetings with the staff, project presentations and deadlines to schedule. These are on top of your daily projects and tasks for business growth that you have to do every single day!
Virtual assistants can be in charge of setting appointments and managing your time in the most efficient manner. You don’t have to worry if you’ve forgotten a meeting or a phone call anymore, as the VA can take care of that for you.
In this modern age, it is already a necessity for businesses to have their own social media presence across the many platforms we have today. Having pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, just to name a few, is not only the perfect avenue to promote your business, but the best places to communicate directly with your clients.
People respond to a brand better on social media if they feel like they are talking to a person, so why not let a virtual assistant be in charge of your pages? They can share your own content, or articles from other websites in your niche, respond to comments and messages, upload photos and videos.
There’s no need to hire a full-time, in-house accountant or bookkeeper, or avail the services of an agency. These are typically expensive and not cost-efficient, especially for budding entrepreneurs, start-ups and small business; definitely putting a huge dent into your financials. It is also a time-consuming task, that is best left for professionals.
Guess what? Many virtual assistants are skilled accountants and bookkeepers! They can do an excellent job for you, at a fraction of the cost.
Research is an integral part of any business: whether it’s conducting surveys for marketing, doing competitor analyses, looking for solid data to back-up any claims you’ll be making in a pitch, or finding out information that will be important in product development. Sometimes doing research is taxing and time-consuming, taking up precious time that could be used in other ways.
Virtual assistants can gather and collect data, scour the vast space of the Internet to get you the right information that you need for a specific task. They can even sort that data and arrange it in such a way that it would be easy for you to work with it, and make great things out of it.
Meetings, both internal and sit-downs with clients and stakeholders are an important part of any business. Even more important is the content and what agreements or decisions transpired during these meetings. However, not having your full attention on the person you’re meeting with may give the wrong first impression. Plus, isn’t it hard to multitask?
You can leave the note-taking and transcribing of meeting minutes to your trusted VA! That way, you can focus on listening intently, and hopefully making a connection with a possible client.
Here are just a few things that virtual assistants can take over in your business. Before you set out to assign these tasks, it is always good to vet the VA you’ll be hiring. Since he or she will be handling pretty confidential information, it’s important to foster trust in your working relationship head on.
Have you had a great experience with a virtual assistant? Share your story in the comments below!
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