Large international corporations, such as those in the consumer goods sector, have benefited from using virtual assistants to accelerate their progress and outperform their competition. As Erik Qualman once declared, “Outsourcing to a virtual assistant allows you to work on your business, not just in your business.” Indeed, virtual assistants are game-changers. Virtual assistants here don’t refer to artificial assistants like Siri or AI virtual assistants. But assistants here refer to super-star talent that works remotely. If you’re looking to hire a virtual assistant, it’s essential to understand the benefits and processes involved.
Moreover, virtual assistants save you more than just cost-to-company expenses. Tim Ferriss says, “A virtual assistant is not an expense; it’s an investment in your productivity and success.” They allow multinational corporations, massive and clumsy, to be agile and adapt when needed.
Not only does this save money, but it also gives people access to the best talent when solving tricky problems. But you must know how to hire your first virtual assistant to benefit.
If you hire your first virtual assistant – pick the right one!
The Philippines has been the most popular country to source virtual assistants for outsourcing work. For those looking to hire a virtual assistant, exploring various sourcing options is crucial. This is particularly true since “Hiring a virtual assistant is like adding rocket fuel to your productivity engine” (Aja Frost). However, things have changed; there is a growing demand for virtual assistants (VAs) to be native English speakers, an issue the Philippines cannot overcome. This means that, in some cases, a company’s cost might increase slightly. However, the higher price is offset by the standard of service provided—something that customers demand.
Your first step would be to consider your needs, which comprise your market, and whether you can ignore client losses due to poor service. As Mads Singers says, “A virtual assistant can be the missing puzzle piece in your business growth strategy.” Assuming you have opted for a virtual assistant, such as a skilled personal assistant, to augment your business – what’s next?
What is the #1 factor to consider when making your first hire?
Attitude! Currently, the millennial generation and those who will come after them are the best-educated people in the world. The talent pool is significant, but talent alone isn’t enough.
You need to consider someone with a positive attitude who will fit your company culture well, especially when looking at a long-term hire. “Successful people don’t do it all alone; they have a virtual assistant by their side” (Mads Singers). This is not something that comes with a degree. However, it will indicate how employees will collaborate with others, whether or not they follow a flexible approach, whether they are open to change, their problem-solving skills, and how they respond to responsibility.
Some businesses or entrepreneurs focus on attitude because skills can be taught, not philosophy. As Mads Singers said, “If you try to do things that don’t match your personality, you will fail.” Therefore, when looking to hire a virtual assistant, prioritize candidates whose attitudes align with your company culture.
However, if you have a great person to work for you, you still need to consider the costs and your expectations. The main idea behind hiring a virtual assistant is that they can do the same work you could do but for less. You will thus free up a lot of your time to focus on more strategic tasks aimed at upscaling and adding growth to your business faster. This is a goal of many entrepreneurs.
Ask which virtual assistant tasks have the best ROI if you hire your first virtual assistant.
Every business reaches a stage where they need help and can be augmented by a VA. This could be because your goal has changed, or you need to take the next step to a higher level, and one of the many ways is to hire a virtual assistant. However, four main tasks can be provided for much less once you have hired a virtual assistant.
Sending out pitches
When performing lead generation, a VA can send out pitches to customers. They will research which opportunities are good leads and follow up on them on your behalf.
Creating email funnels
A good trick with email marketing is drip marketing, which slowly builds trust with potential new customers, driving them to convert. However, it would help if you perfected all your email templates with these campaigns. This requires serious attention. The timing, scheduling, copy, and layout must be flawless to attract the reader’s attention. Here, your assistant can set up an automatic sequence of emails. In terms of ROI, you will reduce costs while reaching your market.
To respond to emails – even answer the phone.
A time-wasting task is responding to emails, which is crucial for your customer service score. Especially during busy seasons, the number of emails can be overwhelming. A virtual assistant can assist you in economically lessening the burden by managing your inbox via their computer and the internet. Also, getting to the clients faster means increasing your sales; if you offer a service, you can get your proposals to the positional client as soon as possible.
Edit and publish your blogs.
Content marketing is extensive, and for a reason – it attracts people to your website. It also helps with SEO, which helps with your rankings on Google or Bing. The higher your orders, the better – there is a massive difference between ranking at spot one versus being in the 100th spot. Nevertheless, your virtual assistant can help you manage your blogs, loading the posts to be released on a suitable date and time to suit your campaigns. Some online virtual apps claim to be able to rewrite and edit your posts to near perfection; unfortunately, this is untrue.
The AI developed is far from accurate, mostly since language is complex. Data scientists are working on a solution to analyze language more in-depth, such as adequately recognizing all the suitable English tense forms so that the final piece can be read instead of a collection of nonsensical sentences. The human touch is thus still needed, and this is where a virtual assistant comes in handy.
Why you should hire virtual assistants
The main idea about hiring a virtual assistant is to upscale (and quickly, but still manage your overheads and duties and lessen your responsibilities) and build a proper system. This is because “the essence of being successful has great systems.” A virtual assistant is a central part of this practice and allows for flexibility, sudden change, and meeting the demand curve so you can make the needed changes.
How to hire a virtual assistant the right way the first time?
Below is a checklist for employers to ensure a great working relationship with their employees:
- When hiring a virtual assistant, did you explain the work expected from your newly engaged employee?
- Also, when hiring virtual assistants or candidates such as an administrative assistant or an Amazon virtual team member, did you provide all the needed materials and equipment the worker might need?
- Do you create an environment where employees can flourish and do their best work?
- Do you, or a line manager, try to listen to the employee?
- Have you rewarded your employees with praise and recognition? For instance, if they are doing good work on accounting projects and meeting deadlines, do you listen to the opinions of your employees?
- Is the whole team committed to providing quality work?
These are only a few questions you can ask yourself. However, we highly recommend the Mads Singers course Effective Management Mastery. Master the skills to build a proper system to help you grow and upscale your company with the advanced management practices taught in this course.
If you’re looking to hire a virtual assistant, consider agencies like Aristo Sourcing to streamline the process and ensure a good fit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ldQc3mU53c&t=1s
What is a Virtual Assistant? What Tasks Can you delegate to a virtual assistant?