Delegation at Work | Why I Hired a Virtual Assistant
As a Virtual Assistant I save my clients time and money because time is money. I manage all the tasks that they need completed but don’t have the time to complete themselves.
A typical day involves reading and responding to emails from multiple accounts, answering multiple phones, modifying multiple websites, updating multiple accounts, monitoring and setting up multiple marketing campaigns, you get the picture.
What happens when a Virtual Assistant has too much to do? Does he/ she stop taking on new clients? The selling point for virtual assistants is “someone should do the dirty work.” Well not nearly as bad as that statement but we generally work on tasks that our clients should not be working on.
Here is my example of how hiring a virtual assistant worked for my virtual assistant practice. A few months ago I found myself with more work than I could manage and thought about turning down a few more RFPs. An evaluation of my business got me thinking that if I hired outside help I could have someone work on answering calls for my clients, respond to customer queries, arrange email according to importance all the other little tasks that was taking time out of my day.
I love everything marketing and I like to thing that it shows because my clients have been so good in referring my services. I charge upwards of $50.00 for my marketing services yet I was spending time working on administrative tasks at a rate of $30.00 an hour. How could I make $20.00 more an hour? Hire a virtual assistant to work on my administrative tasks and take on more clients willing to pay $50.00 hourly for my services.
Well I hired a Virtual Assistant and she takes on all the work that my keeps my partners and myself from making more money. The perfect solution, we all do what we love doing most and make more money in the process!
CRG
Virtual Interview? Questions You Should Ask
From time to time I need to interview Virtual Assistants to pick up extra work that my team cannot get to. With the right questions if is fairly easy to hire the right person who would compliment my existing team.
The same is true when I am interviewed by potential clients. Right off I can tell that the majority of them are uncertain about the questions to ask during the interview. In these cases I usually just volunteer information to put them at ease.
How do you interview your potential Virtual Assistant? Each individual has different style of course and the questions asked will also be determined by your needs. In the article Top 10 Questions To Ask Your Potential Virtual Assistant I have addressed this in detail but for now here is a run down of questions you don’t want to leave out from your interview.
- How long have you been a virtual assistant?
- What is your administrative background?
- What are you primary skills and rate you level of confidence?
- How many clients do you currently support?
- What kind of work have you undertaken on the pat year?
- May I contact your clients for a reference?
- What are your working hours?
- What are your fees?
- What does your fees not cover?
- Are you willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement?
There you have it. Click for the full article.
CRG
Client Communication | Some Things To Consider
Holding on to my headset while I was waiting for a customer service representative from an internet service provider to take my call got me to thinking about communication. Marketing is a necessary expense for most businesses and recognizing this need they spare no expense. What comes after the marketing efforts is what has me concerned.
Marketing can highlight a wonderful product and bring increased revenue or just as easily bring your downfall. For instance, I have been looking at an ad on the local newspaper for the last week from a new ISP who promises high speed at lower rates. I decided to give them a call. On my first call I got their voicemail and was invited to leave a message. I hung and tried later. On my second attempt again I was given the prompts and placed on hold for the CSR. It took 25 minutes of my time before she finally came on and as it turns out she could not answer my questions.
Lower priced internet? It will most definitely cost more to switch because time is money and any time spent on the phone waiting to speak to someone who cannot answer my question is a waste of time and money.
Which brings me to my point about communication, I have highlighted some things to consider or your downfall will be closer than you think!
- Inform your client or customers of any changes in your service be it major or minor. They need to be aware and they need to hear it from YOU.
- Take control of your communication, don’t not rely on word-of-mouth to communicate to your customers. By doing so you leave room for you message to become distorted.
- Customers want it now! Do not try to inconvenience your customers, we do not want a recording or to be placed on hold for an unreasonable amount of time. Our time is money.
- Service with a smile. It may be the only thing that could set you apart from the competitors.
After that experience on the phone I really appreciate the effort of my current ISP because I never have to wait to speak to a rep and they always have the answers. Of course they charge more but for me the value is in the experience.
CRG
