3 Top Tips for Working with Virtual Assistants

Perhaps it’s your first time of considering virtual assistants and you’re wondering what the scope of the tasks they can handle would look like. You may also be concerned about how you can ensure you reap the benefits you seek by outsourcing tasks to virtual assistants.

Virtual assistants can carry out varieties of office duties, as long as it’s a task that can be performed virtually such as customer service, writing, tons of administrative tasks, telemarketing and more. Take advantage of the tips in this post to learn how to work with virtual assistants successfully.

Tip #1: Settle on Your Business Needs

Before even considering using the services of a virtual assistant, you should first determine what the needs of your company or business are. The duties that virtual assistants perform go beyond administrative tasks. In fact, there are tons and tons of virtual skills you can latch on.

A great way to determine your needs is to separate your core operations (those tasks that promote the continuous existence of your business) from the repetitive tasks that are time-consuming. The repetitive tasks are usually the ones to outsource to virtual assistants because they eat deep into the time that should be channeled to the core tasks.

Tip #2: Analyze the Situation

Also, when thinking of hiring independent virtual contractors, you should analyze the situation in your business. Consider whether you and your on-site employees should handle the task in question in-house or not. It doesn’t matter if you or your employees have the capacity to handle the task.

For instance, consider whether it would be best to let an outsource call center service provider handle your customer service, so that you can devote time, energy and skill to strategize, market and innovate.

Tip #3: Think of the Qualities You will Prefer in a Virtual Assistant

Personality matters in the same measure as abilities and skills when seeking to work with a virtual assistant. This is particularly important if you’re thinking of a long term or extended contractual relationship with the virtual assistant.

Step #4: Consider Hiring through an Agency

While you can hire a virtual assistant through outsourcing websites, you can also use an agency. This is because an agency must have carried out a huge deal of the selection process to determine the skill, personality and availability of the virtual assistant you wish to hire.

Finally, before committing to the contractual relationship with a virtual assistant, seek a trial service by outsourcing a small task first. As you assign the task, attach a timeline for completion to the task. This will give you a glimpse of what to expect both in terms of meeting up deadline and standard.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.