Are you thinking about bringing in some outside help, maybe hiring a virtual assistant?
It’s a wise decision for an entrepreneur, whether you’re just starting out, or reaching a critical point in the growth of your business.
But you want to weigh all the options when enlisting the assistance of someone outside the inner circle.
It takes trust to hand over tasks to anyone who isn’t part of the fabric of your company…but it’s worthwhile if you know how to proceed.
There are a variety of tasks that you can delegate to a virtual assistant…tasks that weigh you down unnecessarily…and weigh down your team.
Five tasks you can assign to a virtual assistant
A qualified virtual assistant will be able to manage a wide variety of tasks, but here are the top five.
1. Event management
Is your company holding a product launch, expansion announcement, or attending a trade show? Do you need your Director of Marketing handling all the little details – venue, catering, materials, promotion?
Of course not. Once you’ve conceived of the event and designed a plan, you can outsource the management to an assistant, freeing up your Director of Marketing to promote the event, make appointments with stakeholders…create sales opportunities.
2. Calendar management
Do you feel chronically over-scheduled? Are you constantly playing catch-up? An executive assistant can manage your appointments, watch for conflicts, schedule your days, so you’re not running from meeting to meeting.
3. Email management
How many screens does it take to scroll through your inbox? How many different clients, projects, tasks are mixed together?
A virtual assistant can triage your mailbox, sort the messages in a way that makes it easier for you to glance at each message and handle it efficiently. They can also help you get your inbox down to a single screen…
4. Social media management
If you’ve got running dialogue on social media platforms – Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook – a virtual assistant can manage that dialogue for you.
Whether you provide the content, the concept, or the general goals of your social media campaign, an experienced assistant will know how to get your message across.
5. Report management
You and your team have pulled together all the data. Why not let an assistant create the report? They’ll have the skills to create a clear, concise document on a deadline.
A resourceful assistant can even help with researching the material, collecting information from internal or external sources.
Is hiring a virtual assistant a bad idea?
You might be looking at that list above and thinking to yourself, “I don’t need to outsource those tasks, I have staff who can manage everything.”
That might be true.
Hiring a virtual assistant will mean…
- Spending money on another human resource.
- Giving control of certain aspects over to an outsider.
- Undermining your team by implying they aren’t getting the job done.
Let’s break it down…
Hiring an executive assistant on a temporary or project basis requires spending money that might not have been in your original budget.
However, they won’t be part of your benefits plan, and their contract will likely be a fixed rate for specific tasks. You’ll know exactly how much you’re paying and for what when you enter into the agreement.
Giving up control is very difficult for any entrepreneur. That’s natural…a survival technique for any leader starting a new business. But if your business grows as you’re projecting, it will be impossible to keep your fingers in every pot…you’ll have to delegate.
You have an accountant to manage your taxes, a bookkeeper to take care of the day-to-day finances, a lawyer to maintain your company’s status, perhaps a marketing or tech expert. The natural extension of this delegation model is handing over some of the administrative tasks that don’t need your input.
Will your team feel like they aren’t getting the job done? It’s unlikely. They’ll probably be grateful to hand over the paper-pushing and detail work to someone who will take the task off their desk.
Your marketing or sales expert wants to be out in the field chasing leads…what if they could hand the follow-up email to a virtual assistant who would ensure the correspondence went out quickly?
Your virtual assistant has to be a good fit
Every virtual assistant will bring a different skill set and personality to the table. It’s crucial that they match your corporate culture and blend seamlessly with your team…
You want them to understand the small enterprise atmosphere.
An assistant who’s accustomed to working in large, well-established corporations might not have the same appreciation of time constraints, budget restrictions, or the collaborative culture that breeds success.
Take time and ask questions before hiring a virtual assistant.
If you’d like to learn more about our services, contact us. We offer a free 30-minute consultation to get you started.
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