What is a virtual assistant, and can you delegate tasks to them that will help your small business? Hiring a virtual assistant is an intelligent way for a small business owner to free up time in their schedule. A virtual assistant (VA) is a personal assistant who works remotely.
Because you don’t have to rent office space or pay for employee benefits for your virtual assistant, hiring one may be more affordable than hiring an employee to work with you long-term. A virtual assistant can work as needed rather than on a constant, full-time basis. In addition, a virtual assistant offers you the freedom to hire the right assistant for your needs from a much larger talent pool than selecting from candidates in your area.
Virtual assistant work can take many forms. When choosing a VA, it’s important to interview candidates thoroughly and hire through a reputable virtual assistant service. You want to be confident you hired someone who can perform the specific tasks you have in mind for them.
In the meantime, you may appreciate the value of hiring a virtual assistant for your small business by learning about the tasks you can delegate to these workers. A small business VA may help with such tasks as:
Data Entry
Virtual assistants for small businesses often provide value by handling administrative tasks that might otherwise be excessively time-consuming. For example, a virtual assistant can handle basic data entry.
Don’t overlook the potential benefit of hiring outside help to perform these types of minor tasks. The more of these tasks you can offload to someone else, the more you can focus on running your business.
Customer Support
Providing reliable customer support is critical to your success as a small business owner. Making the right impression on customers can help you stand out among the competition without necessarily spending more than you can afford on marketing. Poor customer service or customer support experiences may drive customers away from businesses.
You may not have the time to respond promptly to all customer inquiries. You might also be unable to respond quickly to customer support requests because of differences in time zones. If your business caters to international customers, you will struggle to give them the attention they deserve if they reach out at hours when you are not working or are asleep.
This dilemma highlights the value of being able to hire a virtual assistant who may live and work far from you. In this case, hiring a virtual assistant who doesn’t live in your time zone wouldn’t be an inconvenience. On the contrary, hiring someone who can respond to customer service inquiries from other time zones when you’re not at work and able to take those calls can help you make the right impression on all your customers.
Social Media Management
Staying active on social media is critical in the digital age. Studies and surveys often reveal that many consumers use social media to learn about new products and services. Social media also allows you to enhance your followers’ relationship with your brand.
You’re most likely to enhance that relationship when you post quality content regularly. You must also generate content, engage with followers when they engage with your posts, and ensure that all your social media channels maintain brand consistency.
Constantly checking and posting on social media throughout the day can prevent you from focusing on other tasks as a business owner. Research shows that most people can’t multitask—every time you shift your focus to a social media task, it may take you some time to refocus on whatever you were originally working on. Such disruptions can negatively influence your efficiency and productivity.
You can avoid those disruptions. Hiring a virtual assistant to handle your social media content, management, and marketing ensures you maintain an active online presence without having to spend much time maintaining it yourself. Your virtual assistant might also have experience running other social media marketing campaigns. If so, you could leverage their insights to improve your campaigns.
They may even have experience using specialized social media management tools. You won’t have to purchase said tools if your virtual assistant already has access to them.
Setting Appointments
A virtual assistant can handle basic administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments and responding to emails the same way a traditional personal assistant would. However, some VAs take these services further by offering lead-generation appointment-setting services.
Growing your business requires identifying potential new clients and taking advantage of sales opportunities. You may not be able to monitor these opportunities yourself when you are involved in the day-to-day work of running your business.
A virtual assistant can handle this task under your guidance. You can provide them with a script to follow when reaching out to leads. Your virtual assistant can identify potential clients and set appointments with them so that you may consistently attract more business.
It’s important to work with a virtual assistant who takes the time to understand your business, your brand, and your target audience. They will be more likely to help you find genuine new business opportunities if they understand who you serve. They can also help you identify which lead-generation strategies do and don’t work. Their insights can help you make necessary adjustments to your lead-generation processes.
Four Benefits Of Outsourced Appointment-Setting Services
A Virtual Assistant Company Can Offer the Right Virtual Assistant for Small Business Needs
These are just a few ideas to keep in mind when considering what tasks you can delegate to a virtual assistant to help your small business succeed. You will learn more about potential ways to leverage this service as you continue working with your VA. Because a virtual assistant is a part-time worker who is paid by the hour, they can provide the same support as a traditional assistant at a much lower cost.
We can help you connect with the right assistant for your project. At PEAK Outsourcing, we work closely with our small business owner clients, connecting them to the outside help they need while keeping the client’s budget in mind. Learn more about how we can do the same for you by contacting us online or calling us at 1-866-861-1731 today.
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