Submitted by Anika on
Calling all business owners… YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, BUT YOU CAN’T DO EVERYTHING!
As busy businesses owners it is sometimes hard to accept that you can’t do everything but when you have a to-do list longer than your Christmas food shopping list it is time to breathe and accept that life would be easier with some help right now .
In fact, so often, the only way to grow your business is to enlist the help of other experts, whether they be accountants to help with the number crunching, call handling to man the front line phones, marketing gurus to get that message out there. But have you ever thought about the administration tasks either you’re not keen on doing, not sure where to start or just simply don’t have the time.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to outsource to a Virtual Assistant but the answer is… pretty much anything, and they’ll even help you decide!
Previously I worked as a Personal Assistant in the corporate world and I was (because you had to be) are a yes sir no sir kinda gal. I enjoyed the variety; no two days were the same. I loved the firefighting that occasionally arose as I like the pleasure of “getting the job done” under pressure. Doing this I learned to take instructions which are sometimes vague and minimal and get the job done within the timescales set and to a very high standard.
It’s a juggling act, you soon learn to keep the plates spinning whilst walking the tightrope!
It is hard to list (even though I love a good list) all that a Virtual Assistant can do because the scope is so wide and varied but I thought I would set out some examples below of my services. Please note this is by no means the entire range of tasks you can outsource, , if something you want doing is not on the list please call me and we can have a conversation.
So, I have broken it down in to categories:
Client Facing
Keeping on top of all of your clients can be hard work, especially if you have a lot of clients! However, a Virtual Assistant can keep on top of them for you, they can be the middleman (or lady) between you and them. Whether it be managing your diary effectively, following up with your leads, communicating important information, conducting surveys plus much more. A Virtual Assistant can literally be a virtual help desk!
Branding and documents
Branding is very important in any business and should stretch across all your tools I can help with rebranding all of your … office documents, websites, newsletters, social media posts, stationery… wherever you or your business is it should look the same and give the same message. A Virtual Assistant can ensure this happens and have the skills to do this quickly and consistently, so all your documents are uniform.
Do you want to spend your precious time changing every internal, external document?
Formatting of documents is another mundane task you can outsource to a Virtual Assistant. How many times have you had a PDF document land in your inbox or on your desk that you need to change, amend or update? How nice would it feel to just forward to your Virtual Assistant and know when it is returned it is formatted, branded and amendable!
Let’s talk about online branding. The changing and updating of your website into your new brand, the updating of all of your social media accounts, your weekly / monthly newsletters, social media quotes / posts all magically rebranded with out you having to lift a finger? Feels good right?
Behind the scenes
So, we have covered how a Virtual Assistant and keep your clients happy, your business looking good but what else can they do?
There are lots of behind the scenes tasks they can work on for you.
- Travel arrangements
- Hotels, bus, rail and air arrangements, whatever you need to get to where you need to go! A good Virtual Assistant will research and bring you back options (with costs).
- Diary management
- Touched on this above but they can effectively manage your diary, colour code it for visual ease of know what you are doing and where you are going
- Website updates
- I have talked about re-branding your website, but a Virtual Assistant can also help with uploading of blogs as well as any changes to the content you may need a long with way
- Inbox management
- We all have an element of spam in our inbox! Whenever you buy online you are usually added to companies mailing lists, sometimes it can be quite a big task to go through and “unsubscribe”. Maybe you need a filing system implement and a follow up of weekly management, you may need daily management either way a Virtual Assistant can help.
- Social media support
- If you need someone to create content, post content and interact with your audiences I would recommend a Social Media Management Company. However, if you need someone to create generic content which is branded and then uploaded to your social media accounts whilst you continue to add the more personalised touch this is for sure something a Virtual Assistant can support you with.
- Event management
- Whether it be a small 4-person meeting, a large company gathering, social event, team building weekends or larger scaled events you can rely on a Virtual Assistant. Remember they are continuously juggling a number of their own clients, various client’s clients and a workload which changes daily. Virtual Assistants are great project mangers, they can assist you or manage on your behalf.
- CRM Management
- When was the last time you had a good clear out of your database? Is it full of tumble weed? An out of date database is no use to anyone. Do you lack the motivation to get your new leads imputed? If you are not adding new leads your database is not growing. Let a Virtual Assistant take the burden from you and you focus on finding new people for your VA to add!
- Research
- New client, new employee, new supplier? It is always good to gather information before you proceed with a new working relationship. Trawling the internet gathering this information may bore you? Cue… your Virtual Assistant! Yes sir this is another thing you can get off your to-do list and onto your VA’s.
- Bookkeeping
- Is your accountant fed up with your turning up once a year with a bag of screwed up receipts? How much are they charging you to smooth those receipts and put them in order? Probably much more than a Virtual Assistant! Do you use accounting software? Do you keep on top of your incomings and outgoings? Give access to your VA and let them take the strain. Whether it be chasing outstanding invoices (cash flow is king!), paying suppliers on time (keeping them happy is key!), getting a grip of your outgoings on a monthly basis will improve your knowledge on how your business is actually performing, allowing you to make informed and structured decisions on your business.
- Recruitment campaigns
- Need to recruit but dislike the process? Depending on the level you are recruiting a recruitment company are well placed to find skilled people to fill your posts. However, if you are not in a position to pay a recruitment consultant and create job adverts, post them online and manage the incoming applicants from first contact to arranging the interviews for you. Pick up the phone and talk to your Virtual Assistant.
So, whilst I have covered many things a Virtual Assistant can support you with, there are many more! I hope this has been thought provoking and get in touch if you would like me to help you to grow your business or off load some of the administrative tasks that are involved to make work more enjoyable.
Until next time peeps
