Does Your Business Need A Virtual Assistant?

Here are a few warning signals to let you know that a Virtual PA might be able to enhance your daily productivity:

• You've lost a business opportunity because you missed a client deadline
• You don’t have a business development plan because your client or prospect database is out of date
• You’d like to take on more projects but never seem to have sufficient time
• You work nights and weekends to keep up with routine administrative tasks
• You spend too much time on routine work you don't like doing which takes you away  from other more client-focused and creative tasks.

Five steps to help you hire a Virtual PA

How to clarify the regular tasks you really don’t like doing

Starting on a Monday, log all your activities. On the following Friday, review the list and extract the activities you need to do yourself, the rest you can delegate to a VA. For example: uploading your weekly pre-written tweets, physically posting your weekly blog, following up on invoices and writing your newsletter. All perfect projects to give to a VA.

Find A Virtual PA

Search Google by entering "find a VA or virtual assistant." You can usually tell a lot from a Virtual PA’s website, i.e., is it a company who only answers the telephone? Does the website look professional and give you a good overall impression? Do the website images look professional (or a little hand-made)? Is there any reference to the VA’s background? Do they have testimonials from other clients?

Make That Call

Contact your shortlisted candidates to ascertain their compatibility to your business and assess their professionalism.   You will also be able to tell a lot by how they speak and how confidently they answer your questions. Ask yourself whether you would be happy for them to be having a conversation with your clients on your behalf.

Ask to arrange a mutually convenient time for a telephone interview.  

Interview Questions For A Virtual PA

1. Do you have experience in handling A, B C and D (list those tasks you need help with and ask for details of other tasks they carry out which may also be of benefit to you)
2. What are your hours (times, days) of operation?
   (don't be put off if the VA doesn't work weekends - everyone needs a break)!
3. Do you have the time availability in your schedule to support me on an ongoing basis?  If not do you have some time in the short term when you could manage my project?
4. How quickly will you get back to me when I email or call you? 
5. Do you have a team to support you? If yes, will I be working directly with you, or will I work with other members of your team? (Be careful here, you don't want to end up with someone else who is possibly not as qualified or you may need to go through the whole process again).
6. What services do you provide (and what services don't you provide)?
7. Can you give me some examples of how you work with clients? (Understandably there will be client confidentiality so don't expect the VA to reel off specific names).
8. How long have you been in business? (Again, be careful here - someone who is just starting out may need that break but ...how resilient are they?  They may not last)!
9. Do you work on a full time or part time basis?
10. What are your fees? Do you bill hourly, by project or on a retainer basis? (Some VAs will give you a discount if you commit to a minimum number of hours per month - worth asking).

Last but not least:  Ask which software the VA uses, what virus protection and firewalls are in place and whether data protection is covered.

Ask to see the Virtual Pas terms and conditions.  If they’re professional and used to working on a freelance basis they will already have these in place and will ask you to sign them. At a minimum these should include a start date, details of when payment needs to be made, the agreed rate and a mutually agreed notice period.

If you have any tips about hiring a good Virtual Assistant, we would love to hear your comments

Cindy Jalovaara is a freelance virtual business assistant at Virtually247.   She helps businesses save time and adds value to their websites, blogs and social media accounts by ensuring these online marketing platforms are updated on a regular basis. For questions or comments, please contact her via cjvirtualpa.com  

Which Social Media Tasks Should You Delegate To A Virtual Assistant Part 2

By CJVirtualPA

If you don’t enjoy certain admin tasks, the likelihood is you will probably not be that good at them

For most people these are the activities you dread, like itemising your travel receipts and submitting your expenses.  By hanging on to tasks like this, you are holding yourself back and wasting time which could otherwise be spent on generating revenue for your business. The sooner you delegate them, the better.

Even if you are good are certain tasks, you can still delegate them. Tasks such as posting to Twitter or Facebook may be delaying you and preventing you from completing more high profile work you know deep down will benefit your business.

On the other hand, if you love certain tasks, but you aren’t particularly good at them, you need to ask yourself whether or not you could become competent with the right training.  If you’re prepared to put in the effort and have the time to do the training, get good at these tasks, otherwise delegate them!

If you don’t think about taking on a Virtual Assistant because you think you can’t afford one, remember that “resources always follow vision.”  Also, to be an effective leader you have to be good at delegation.

Here are some more examples of just some tasks you can start to delegate to a VA to save you time in your busy day:

Cleaning up email address books of duplicates

Often, due to device syncing problems, you might end up with several versions of the same contact. Your VA can easily trawl through them to ensure the details are amalgamated and therefore easily uploaded to your newsletter program.

Sorting through Linked In digests

We all know that LinkedIn can be a great tool to help you to connect with like-minded people to get ahead in business.  In order for you to participate in conversations you want to participate in your VA can identify these for you.

Regular Research

Tell your VA which products you want to promote this month and ask him or her to carry out some online research and to draft a blog to be linked to your website and other social media profiles.

Calendar Appointments

It can take many phonecalls and emails to finally confirm an appointment, particularly if more than two people are involved. Ask your Virtual PA to take the headache away and advise you of the date and time when all parties have confirmed they can make the meeting. 

Spice up your Tweets

Your VA can take photos of products or items which can enhance your Pinterest pages and Tweets. If he or she uses Hoot Suite too your posts can be pre-programmed, a double whammy time-saver for both of you!

Online Grocery Shopping

Once your VA gets to know you and how you like to live, he or she can even organise your online grocery shopping via companies like Ocado

Check back soon for more time-saving tips from Virtual Assistant CJ VirtualPA