The pandemic and the lockdowns that came with it made it clear that the virtual assistants shone brighter. People at work were forced to work from home right away, and it is no secret that many businesses had a bad start. Business owners quickly realized how powerful this strategy could be when things started to work out.
Many businesses are sticking with their remote business model, including hiring virtual assistants because it has so many advantages for them. Small business owners are in the best position to leverage virtual assistants to give their businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors.
To keep up with the daily tasks and at the same time grow your business, you will need to work a lot more and maybe you will spend a lot of late nights. When you hire a virtual assistant on your team, it will be a different thing. In terms of your level of productivity, it will make a huge difference. It also makes a huge difference in your whole life as a business owner and a person.
When you work with a virtual assistant, there is not a one-size-fits-all experience. It is all different for each business owner and each virtual assistant. As a leader and business owner, being able to harness your unique abilities to improve teamwork can accelerate your leadership potential and business development.
How to leverage your virtual assistant in more effective ways to help you better manage your business
Let go and trust your virtual assistant.
It starts with you realizing that you need to let go and trust your virtual assistant to do the job. As soon as they show that they can do the job, you will learn to trust them more. This starts a chain of trust between you and the virtual assistant. As a first step, pass off things that you do not like or that you are not very good at, like making administrative tasks. General Administrative Virtual Assistants are the experts in this field. They can efficiently manage email management, scheduling, and data entry. If social media is taking up your time and energy, a Social Media Manager Virtual Assistant can take over. Remember, there is a virtual assistant for every niche and task.
Once trust is established, you can start to delegate even more important responsibilities. Letting go will one day become normal. Being able to trust your virtual assistant is a very important step in your relationship and leveraging your virtual assistant. Trust is built when you let your assistant do what they are good at and start letting them do what they do best. Trusting each other will help to accelerate the growth of your business.
Set realistic expectations from your virtual assistant.
How well you set expectations for yourself and your business is what leads to success as an entrepreneur and business owner. It does not matter if you hire a new employee or bring in a virtual assistant. These expectations are how we usually measure performance and hold each other accountable. Without being clear about what you want, the chances are that the outcome will be a failure brought about by unrealistic expectations.
It can be challenging to figure out what to expect from a virtual assistant. During the screening and interview phase, ask questions to get the most out of your virtual assistant experience from the start.
People form a unique relationship when they set clear expectations and promises at the start of their relationship. Because you work together, the work you do is even more important, and it also helps both of you be more successful in your business and personal lives.
Virtual assistants can help you stay focused and grounded even when things get a little crazy. The best way to succeed in the long run is to lay a good foundation at the start. People who work well together will be a little ahead of you when they know when and how each other works. If you do this, you will be able to stay on track and achieve goals more often.
Determine the effective way to communicate with each other.
Many business owners have assistants working with them and constant communication is what makes remote partnerships click. Regular communication and responsiveness are other things you have to establish with your virtual assistant. You and your virtual assistant should agree on how, how often, and what platform of communication from the start. It is recommended to inquire about their preferred communication style during the interview process or onboarding. Next, figure out how often you will communicate – once a day? Several times a week? Choose what is most convenient for you both. You’ll also need to figure out the communication technologies you’ll use, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet. Working out all of this ahead of time ensures that communication is more responsive and effective.
Figuring out which tasks to delegate.
A small business owner may not be comfortable handing over tasks everything at once to a virtual assistant. Identify which tasks take the most of your time or which tasks you have difficulty with and start there.
Virtual assistants can assist you with:
- Virtual assistants can handle basic administrative tasks like coordinating and scheduling calls and appointments, confirming appointments, giving reminders, and rescheduling appointments.
- Virtual assistants can help you with email and contact management. They can help you screen emails, add people to your contacts, update contact information, and add contacts to your customer relations management (CRM) system.
- A virtual assistant can work as a remote receptionist to transcribe voicemail messages.
- Virtual assistants could help with business development, like lead generation, finding email addresses, or even creating presentations.
- Virtual assistants are not limited to administrative tasks. They can also put together reports, gather data, or help with human resource tasks
- Virtual assistants can assist with setting up projects. They can also set up social media posts, convert files, and manage files.
Keep your focus on your game.
A virtual assistant with the right skills can accomplish whatever tasks you delegate. In the end, it is not that hard to give yourself an unfair advantage when you hire virtual assistants to help you with your work. The only thing you need to do is hire them. This allows you to get on with the business of scale.
Leverage the benefits of a virtual assistant by booking a complimentary appointment with us today.
