What do Virtual Assistants do and the benefits of outsourcing your admin?
The term “Virtual Assistant” has become quite the buzzword lately. With so many people having moved to online work, virtual assistants are more in demand than ever, but what does a virtual assistant actually do?
In today’s article, I’ll tell you everything I know about virtual assistants, their role in a company, and why you should hire one.
What Is a Virtual Assistant?
In short, a virtual assistant is someone you contract remotely to help you run the administrative side of your company. They are almost always remote employees, meaning they will work from their preferred space and access company materials through shared platforms such as Google Calendar, Asana and Slack.
What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
A virtual assistant's purpose in the company is to complete administrative tasks. This helps to free up other employees’ time so they can better focus on their specialty and complete their assigned tasks.
There are many ways that a virtual assistant can help to keep a company running smoothly.
Some of these ways are:
● Managing Schedules
● Operational admin
● Event planning
● Email Management
● Bookkeeping
● Customer Support
● Maintain CRM’s
● Perform data entry
● Book keeping
● Credit control
You get to write your virtual assistant’s job description. So while these may be the most common tasks, they are not the only tasks a virtual assistant can complete. A virtual assistant can fill many roles, and they have the potential to be highly versatile employees.
Make sure that when you write your job description, you’re honest about the type of work you expect so you find an assistant with the needed skillset.
Stephen Bungay (Speaker, Consultant and Author on Leadership) quotes:
"Generating activity is not a problem; in fact it is easy. The fact that it is easy makes the real problem harder to solve. The problem is getting the right things done - the things that matter, the things that will have an impact, the things a company is trying to achieve to ensure success. A high volume of activity often disguises a lack effective action."
With the media telling us that we are heading into a recession it is critical that business owners focus on the ‘right things’ that is to ensure growth, profit and sustainability to weather the storm.
Why Outsource Admin?
With uncertain times ahead within the UK economy, outsourcing your admin provides a lower risk alternative to employing a member of staff.
There are several benefits to outsourcing your admin, and almost all of them revolve around improving efficiency and creating time.
Virtual Assistants Save Time
The first reason that you should consider choosing a virtual assistant is because of their ability to save you time.
Let’s be honest. The most time-consuming tasks in a business are the day-to-day administrative tasks, sending emails, updating records, scheduling meetings, raising invoices etc. These tasks do not require the business owner's expertise, and most of the time, they do not take up enough time to justify hiring a new full-time employee. That is where a virtual assistant comes in.
Virtual assistants are typically independently contracted. This means you are not required to provide them with a certain number of hours. Instead, you simply pay them for the time that they work.
A virtual assistant can complete all of the necessary administrative tasks for the week, and you won’t have to spend any of your valuable time on these tasks.
This means that however much time you’ve been spending on administration, whether it’s 4 or 20 hours per week, won’t be lost anymore. Instead, you’ll be able to put that time into something that requires more creativity which will also have the potential to grow your business further.
Virtual Assistants Save Money
Virtual assistants can save a business up to 78% in operating costs. (Best of Budgets)
Time Is Money
If you, as the business owner, spend hours of your time every day on administrative tasks, then you are wasting time that you could use to increase your company's profitability. By having someone else take over the tasks that are using hours of your time, you will be able to focus on the development of your company which will, in the end, make you more money.
Independent Contracting
One big difference between a virtual assistant and a regular employee is that a virtual assistant is independently contracted.
This means that you are not required to provide the same benefits. You are only required to pay them for the work that they do.
If you were to hire a regular employee for these same tasks, you would spend a far higher amount of money for inconsistent work since the number of administrative tasks that need to be done varies.
As independent contractors they come to the role with their own equipment, working virtually they do not need office space or use your utility services.
‘VA’s are paid for completion of tasks, not the amount of hours worked’
Virtual Assistants Add Flexibility
One of the benefits of having outsourced admin support is that since they are remote workers, you can hire them from anywhere in the world.
This means that you can hire virtual assistants in different time zones, which is particularly useful if you plan to use them to manage your customer service.
24/7 Service
If you work with clients from around the world, you will inevitably be working with clients whose schedules are completely opposite to yours. While the occasional 2 am meeting is okay, we all know avoiding them is preferable. This is where outsourcing your admin from the same time zone as your client can really help.
At Chapter our focus is to work with businesses across North Devon providing them with a hybrid approach. Although I predominantly work from home this also enable me to meet clients face to face. I have been known to meet client in coffee shops, their offices and even around the kitchen table to discuss and work on their individual projects.
Within the VA network, VA’s work on a collaboration not competition mindset, this means I am able to tap into other VA’s across the world for when a client needs a VA within a different time zone and support in the selection process.
Virtual Assistants Increase Efficiency
Virtual assistants become experts in their tasks, and becoming an expert in something means increased efficiency.
When you perform all of the admin tasks, you do not have time to specialise in them or develop the most efficient processes since they are not your only responsibility.
Take email management, for example. If you hire a virtual assistant specifically for that task, they are able to develop a process to get it done as efficiently as possible.
Key Takeaways
Virtual assistants are an extremely valuable resource that can allow you to grow your company by delegating tasks and increasing efficiency. They are independently contracted remote workers that specialise in completing administrative tasks.
By outsourcing your admin, you can take many of the mundane administrative tasks off your plate, allowing you to focus on what’s really important, your company’s overall success.
Hiring a virtual assistant also has the potential to save your company time and money, add flexibility, and increase the overall efficiency of your company.
Book a call with me to discuss how my skill set may match your outsourcing needs so we can start working together.
