7 Ways Virtual Assistants Can Increase Your Productivity
In a survey of 1057 businesses with one or two employees nearly two thirds (63%) of respondents said they would like to increase their company’s productivity, but only a third (33%) of those had a plan in place to do so.
Increasing your productivity requires you to be more deliberate with your time management. There are so many hours in the day and time is critical for SMEs, entrepreneurs and start-ups, who generally have a smaller resource pool. A Virtual Assistant provides support as and when you need it, keeping your costs low, and works in partnership with you to achieve your business goals.
See the seven points below outlining the benefits of hiring a Virtual Assistant for your business:
1. Build A Strategic Relationship
A common misconception of people not familiar with Virtual Assistants is that they are ‘hired guns’. In fact, it is in their best interest as business owners to consistently perform above and beyond expectations in order to maintain their client’s account.
With a shared interest comes a strategic partnership and it is beneficial to incorporate your assistant into your company culture and allow them the opportunity to share ideas. Collaboration is a powerful tool, which will take your business to the next level. Let your Virtual Assistant be your “secret weapon”.
2. Organize Your Business
It’s common for entrepreneurs to have a lack of organizational skills, which is not necessarily a bad thing but with organization comes greater productivity! What is one person’s weakness is another person’s strength – cue Virtual Assistant. A VA will be able to find the best frameworks to organize your business and can set up virtual working spaces. You can delegate and track performance and work with everything from project management, admin, social media, event management to time keeping and communication.
3. Improve Business Productivity
Are you bogged down with recurring business tasks? Certain business tasks such as email, diary management, client follow-up, content creation, admin, social media and much more can be outsourced to a Virtual Assistant. Delegating recurring tasks to a VA enables you to streamline your business activity, ensure nothing is overlooked and leads to increased productivity.
4. Less Stress More Focus
As an entrepreneur or small business owner you will have to juggle multiple tasks to keep your business running smoothly including lots of admin. Virtual Assistants can lesson your workload and reduce your stress allowing you to invest more time in your business. VA’s are talented at creating itineraries, conducting market research, managing emails, event management and much more.
5. Move Your Business To The Next Level
Even for the most organized, you’ll reach a tipping point where you truly don’t have the hours in the day to do everything. This is true of most small businesses and places a limit on your earnings. The only way to build your business (and your earnings) to the next level is to hire extra resources. A Virtual Assistant will be a vital resource, working with you in partnership to achieve your business goals.
6. Save On Employee Costs
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is more cost effective than hiring full time staff – in fact you’ll make quite the saving! You only pay for the hours you use and won’t need to pay for equipment, desk space, holidays, pension, or sick pay. These savings can be injected back into your business enabling it to grow to the next level.
7. Lower Your Incremental Costs
Do your financials show a steady increase in the volume of your business yet the turnaround time for deliverables has markedly slowed down? If so it might be time to scale up your business and hire a Virtual Assistant to accommodate the increasing volume of work. Hiring a VA will keep your incremental costs lower and your business flexible. How?
Check out the points below:
Virtual assistants don’t work to a set schedule so you just pay for the support you use with no hidden extras
You’ll spend less time training Virtual Assistants as they will already have the experience and, as a business owner, are very good at investing in their training and development
There are no employee costs and they can start working with you and your business much quicker and more effectively
So what’s the verdict? Better productivity, cost savings, business goals achieved and more time in your day to grow your business and get new clients – what’s not to like! Virtual Assistants are a great resource for SMEs, entrepreneurs and start-up companies who may not have the capacity for a full time member of staff.