Looking for the right virtual assistant to outsource your business work?
As a busy entrepreneur, there are a bunch of tasks that you need to do to run your business. But you can not do everything alone after a certain point. You will need someone to look at some work in the backend while you work on more important things. Thus, hiring virtual assistants can be one of the best decisions to expand your business as they are the most flexible and cost-efficient options for you than an in-house employee.
However, there are a lot of virtual assistants available in the market. How will you know who you should hire and outsource your work to? This guide has mentioned the 7 simple steps to help you find the best virtual assistant under your budget. Let’s begin the guide and find out the best virtual assistant for your business !!
What is a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual Assistant (VA) refers to a team or an individual that can perform various tasks. This Virtual Assistant can easily manage your database, perform web searches, implement marketing strategies, help in SEO, data processing and much more. Therefore, if you’re a busy entrepreneur, try these virtual services to do your work efficiently. You might also be thinking of hiring an in-house employee to manage such a task instead of a Virtual Assistant, but there are several reasons to prefer hiring a Virtual Assistant instead of an employee.
Why Outsource To A Virtual Assistant?
Outsourcing Virtual Assistants can be proven as a cost-effective and flexible solution. The virtual assistant has expertise in specific areas, including SEO, digital marketing, data entry, web searches etc. Therefore, you can benefit from their micro-niche expertise for your business. Furthermore, you don’t need to provide them with any fixed salary, benefits, or office space. You need to hire them based on the work or project, providing you with significant flexibility.
When a virtual assistant manages several tasks in the backend, you get time to focus on other things. Thus, you can expand your business in this way. When you increase your work, you can also hire more such assistants. Overall, the best thing you get with the help of these assistants is time that you can use to make your business more robust.
Benefits of Outsourcing A Virtual Assistant
VA is the future of the business to manage all the backend work. Outsourcing your work to VA bots can help you gain various benefits. Simply, there is a list of benefits that you can get by outsourcing a virtual assistant.
- Virtual Assistant saves your costs up to 70%.
- They are primarily proficient in the English language.
- They can work over multiple channels.
- They can also serve after specific office hours.
- These assistants are experts in CRM.
- They resolve the issues more quickly and efficiently.
- They can work flexibly and also allows you to have flexibility.
- VA can better perform upselling tasks.
- The assistants are confident and pleasing.
7 Simple Steps To Hire The Right Virtual Assistant For Your Business
Step – 1: Determine Your Needs and Requirements
First, you need to determine all your business needs and requirements. Simply put, you should know what work you must outsource to your virtual assistant. It may include administrative tasks, social media management, estate-related tasks, content creation, or website management. Having an exact idea of what you have to delegate will help you to find the right Virtual Assistant.
Step – 2: Define Your Budget
Once you hire a virtual assistant, you will feel like outsourcing so many tasks as it will reduce your workload. But, it will also take out heavy money from your pocket. Thus, you carefully look at the essential tasks required to be delegated. Consider the number of hours that your work demands, the expertise level you’re looking for, and the tasks’ complexity. After that, prepare your budget accordingly to attract suitable candidates only.
Step – 3: Utilize Outsourcing Agencies, Freelancing Platforms, and Job Portals To Find The Best Virtual Assistant
You can find the best virtual assistants at outsourcing agencies, freelancing platforms, and job portals. These three ways will help you hire the best-fitted VA for your business. Outsourcing agencies allow you to have highly experienced assistants under your budget. Freelancing platforms have various virtual assistants available at market prices based on their work. Lastly, you can also find the potential VAs over job portals.
Step – 4: Review The Profile and Work Portfolio
When you get a list of virtual assistants for your work, review their profiles and work portfolio. It will help you understand their qualifications and capabilities. Align their expertise, availability, and experience with your requirements. You will filter many assistant profiles at this step and will have several profiles to select from.
Step – 5: Conduct An Interview
When you’re left with several candidates, you should create a list and conduct an interview with them. At the interview, you can check out their communication, interpersonal, problem-solving, and way of dealing with their work. Also, prepare specific questions that will help you understand whether they know about the required skill. You can either perform the telephonic
interview or video conferencing.
Step – 6: Try Out Their Service With A Demo Work
When you shortlist one or two assistants, please provide them with demo work to understand their practical work experience. If you like their work, you won’t be left with any doubt about hiring them for your work. You should keep the demo work paid to maintain your and their authenticity. Also, please give them a deadline and specific professional rules to complete the work promptly and correctly. It will shape their mindset to work in an order with you from the very start.
Step – 7: Hire The VA Primarily For A Trial Period
Even after a successful interview and demo work, you should hire the virtual assistant only for a trial period first so that you can check out their actual work. In the trial period, you will know all the realities regarding their work. Also, you are not bound to give any absurdity of work during this period. You can hire them permanently once you find them suitable for your work. Hence, use all these steps to hire and outsource your work to the right virtual assistant.
Common Outsourced Virtual Assistant Roles and How They Can Help You?
Administrative Assistant
Administrative Virtual Assistants handle multiple tasks, including managing emails, scheduling emails, seeking travel arrangements, preparing reports, conducting research and whatnot. VA utilizes the latest technologies to handle meetings and client collaboration. The best thing about these virtual assistants is their communication and time management skills, which help you deal with multiple clients simultaneously.
Real Estate VAs
Real Estate Virtual Assistant (REVA) helps provide operational and administrative support to property managers, investors, brokers, agents, and other real estate professionals. These assistants also utilize technological and digital communication mediums to perform all the work remotely. Virtual Assistants can easily manage recurring roles and responsibilities, including property listing, managing databases, researching potential leads, implementing marketing strategies, responding to client inquiries, and updating the whole website.
Web Research Assistant
Web Research Assistant is specialized in researching over the internet and gathering valuable information. They find, analyze, and compile the entire data to benefit your company. These assistants even run competitive analyses and monitor the company’s growth. Ultimately, they prepare a report comprising all the required data to grow your company. You should prefer the virtual assistants for this research because of their research skills, critical thinking, and ability to verify credible sources.
Social Media Management
Virtual Assistants can also help you better manage your social media platform. These assistants are better at managing your brand’s social platforms, as they are more creative, flexible, and cost-efficient than hiring any in-house. They will also schedule your content regularly and gather all constructive feedback from the audience.
Website Content Management
Virtual assistants are also proficient in website content management. They update, organize, and maintain the whole website’s content and provide a smooth user experience. These assistants also have proper knowledge regarding SEO optimization and, thus, increase your site’s ranking. Moreover, they are also responsible for website analytics and troubleshooting.
Data Processing
Virtual assistants, mastered in data processing, can quickly process and manage the entire data on behalf of a brand. They can perform all the relative tasks, including data entry, cleaning and validation, formatting, analysis, organization, migration, privacy, and research.
To Wrap Up With Outsourcing Right Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants are one of the most versatile professionals under budget. You can hire them based on your flexibility of work. The 7 steps mentioned in the guide will help you hire the suitable VA for your business. We recommend you contact an agency to hire the most experienced professional to complete your work. We hope you like the guide and find it informative.
