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Virtual assistants are a great addition to your growing team as they can help reduce the volume of repetitive tasks on your plate without needing to hire another full-time employee. As a start-up or if you are a small business owner, hiring an assistant to help you may lead you to pay more than what you make. If you are looking for ways to reduce loads off your shoulder, outsourcing a virtual assistant is a route you should go. So here are the things you need to know if you are seeking virtual assistant services.
Who Is a Virtual Assistant?
Why hire a virtual assistant? You might be wondering if hiring virtual assistants is worth it for your company. This is an individual who works remotely on behalf of your company and can assist with things such as administrative tasks, running your social media accounts, scheduling appointments, taking phone calls, arranging travel plans, and more. For example, many entrepreneurs hire virtual assistants part-time who work from a remote location, but in some cases, assistants are full-time employees.
If you're looking to find virtual assistants, it's important to know what you're looking for. Most virtual assistants have experience working as administrative assistants and taking on administrative tasks. Others might have skills in social media management, graphic design, content management, blog post writing, internet marketing, etc. As the demand for trained virtual assistants continues to grow, this is an emerging opportunity for both employees and employers.
Types of Virtual Assistants
If you're looking to hire a virtual assistant, you'll want to be aware of the different options at your fingertips. We've outlined some of the various types of virtual assistants to make sure that you hire the right virtual assistant with relevant experience for your business needs.
Administrative Virtual Assistant
Many small business owners take advantage of administrative virtual assistance to help them with both personal and administrative tasks. These assistants are responsible for tasks such as bookkeeping, scheduling, email management, paperwork, reports, etc. It's not uncommon for administrative virtual assistants to help with customer service questions and social media accounts as well.
Bookkeeping Virtual Assistant
Other virtual assistants might be more focused on bookkeeping tasks and keeping accurate records for the company. In this case, the virtual assistant might be a full-time employee of an accounting firm or they could be independent contractors who work with multiple clients at the same time. Bookkeeping virtual assistants are beneficial to support finance teams or small business owners with their records and to help reduce costs.
Social Media Virtual Assistant
Other business owners might hire a virtual assistant to help them with their social media accounts. More and more virtual assistants work across different areas of expertise and social media is only becoming more important in building successful companies. He or she will keep track of all platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. In addition to scheduling posts, they can help direct any comments or inquiries to the appropriate team member.
Customer Service Virtual Assistant
Hiring virtual assistants could also be beneficial to your customer service. These individuals are hired to handle all customer questions and issues that the business owner might not have time to address. Based on their relevant expertise, they can handle questions about comments, assist with refunds, and help set up new accounts for customers. But how do you know if they are experts in your area? Find out more about how call center agents can be real experts in specific business areas.
Data Entry Virtual Assistant
Another reason why to hire a virtual assistant is to help reduce the workload of your full-time employees with tedious tasks such as data entry. A data entry virtual assistant is helpful in entering a large volume of information into a database, editing notes in online calendars, transcribing audio recordings, etc.
What Is a Virtual Assistant Company?
There are virtual assistant companies that can help you locate the right independent contractor for your business. These companies act as agencies between the company in need of help with the right virtual assistant for their needs. The company can help locate freelance contractors from remote locations to help improve your business success in the most relevant way for your company. Most business owners prefer to find virtual assistant companies as this is a more reputable route to finding the best virtual assistants on the market.
Services a Virtual Assistant Can Offer
Here are only a handful of examples of tasks that virtual assistants today can handle:
- Data entry
- Appointment setting
- Answering phone calls
- Project management
- Routine tasks
- Business growth and business support
- Marketing support and managing communication channels
- Business operations
- Essential tasks
- Low-level administrative tasks
- Overseeing day-to-day operations
- Helping with the hiring process
- Improving strategic partnerships
All the tasks that a virtual assistant offers are based on their unique experience. The agency that you work with can help you find virtual assistants that align with your needs.
Who Needs a Virtual Assistant?
There are many businesses that can benefit from hiring a virtual assistant:
- Small business owners
- Startups
- eCommerce businesses
- Entrepreneurs
- Executives at large organizations
Nearly anyone can benefit from hiring a virtual assistant!
Reasons to Hire a Virtual Assistant
Reduced Cost
One of the main benefits of hiring a virtual assistant is that you do not have to provide them with office equipment or invest in a larger office space for your team. The virtual assistants you will be outsourcing have their own equipment and workspace. The most you will be spending on your virtual assistant is their salary. Imagine the savings you can designate to fund other things such as your marketing or outbound calls. Furthermore, hiring a full-time, in-house assistant requires you to pay for medical benefits and taxes; virtual assistants are independent contractors.
Drive Business Growth
By getting rid of repetitive tasks that might be currently on the plate of your full-time employees, you help free up time for other tasks and business needs. If you've been hoping to grow your business but you need more time, consider making this investment as it will pay off for the long-term growth of your company.
Reduce Operational and Training Costs
Hiring a virtual assistant helps cut back on the costs of office space, equipment, phones, etc. Even working from a remote location, virtual assistants work hard to complete their tasks without adding more expenses to your company's payroll.
Task to Outsource
Hiring a virtual assistant will increase your team's productivity. Allocating clerical tasks to your virtual assistant will help you focus on more significant duties. So what jobs can you outsource to your assistant? Here are some responsibilities you can outsource:
- Bookkeeping
- Conducting research
- Data presentations
- Managing social media
- Scheduling
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Virtual Assistant?
The cost of hiring a personal assistant depends on how many hours per week you want to hire them. You might need someone to help for a few hours per week while other companies need to hire someone to work on a part or full-time basis. The majority of assistants get paid on an hourly basis and they often charge based on their level of experience.
Ready to Hire a VA Today?
If you're ready to move forward with hiring a virtual assistant for your company, our team at Hit Rate Solutions is here to help! We encourage you to reach out to us to learn more about how we can find the best assistant for your business.
Industries that Hire Virtual Assistants
There are many industries that regularly rely on virtual assistants to stay productive and get more done. We've outlined some industries that rely on virtual assistants below:
- Law firms
- IT companies
- Digital marketing agencies
- Real estate companies
- Health care companies
- Entrepreneurs
- And more!
Virtual Assistant Statistics
We've outlined some noteworthy stats about virtual assistants to provide you with more context on how powerful and useful they can be to your company.
- In 2020, hiring virtual assistants via offshore agencies increased by 41%;
- 49% of businesses that are hiring VAs have over 1,000 employees;
- Virtual assistants can save businesses up to 78% in their operating costs;
- About 59% of VAs are full-time employees;
- Half of the people across the country work remotely for 2.5 days per week;
- In the U.S. alone, there are over 3.3 million secretaries and administrative assistants;
- The Philippines are the top destination for finding a virtual assistant.
Most In-Demand Virtual Assistant Services
Not all services that VAs provide hold the same value and some services are in more demand than others. Here are the services that are the most requested:
- Sales help
- Marketing help
- Bookkeeping such as data entry
- Setting appointments
- Admin services
- Customer support and answering phones
- Website design and development.
Roadblocks in the Hiring Process
Hiring a virtual assistant will not always be a breeze. Much like hiring a full-time in-person assistant, you will encounter several issues when hiring a virtual assistant. The main roadblock will be communication. Although we are in the age of the internet, not having your assistant be with you in person will cause problems. Sending instructions via email or video calls may be misinterpreted, which will lead to delays.
Another concern a lot of entrepreneurs have is the language barrier. A lot of virtual assistants are from non-English speaking countries with cultures that are different from theirs. This issue is solved by looking for virtual assistants or an agency that can speak your language fluently. Fortunately, you can find these virtual assistants from the Philippines. People from the Philippines are one of the best at speaking the English language, which means language is not a problem.
Finding Success with Your Virtual Assistant
So now that we got the cons out: let us talk about how you can be successful with your virtual assistant. The best way to not encounter roadblocks, you need to set up a system. There are some essential things to do before hiring a virtual assistant. You can start by setting up a standard operating procedure. By doing this, you will reduce the number of issues you will encounter. To do this, write down instructions for the task your virtual assistant needs to do. Write down separate standard operating procedures for every duty your virtual assistant has. It will also help to create one for emergencies where your virtual assistant needs to step in and help your team outside her usual duty. The more detailed your instructions are, the more your process will be smooth.
Build a relationship with your virtual assistant. Even though you are its client, your assistant is part of your team. Virtual assistants are here to help you ease the job of being an entrepreneur. Do know that your virtual assistant is highly capable of doing the task you gave them. Although connecting with a member of your team who you only meet virtually is hard, creating a good bond with your assistant will help you reach success with your virtual team member.
Looking for a reliable virtual assistant is very hard, especially if there are a lot of places to look for them. You can look for one from job postings or countless agencies, but how do you choose one? You can read more on some of our tips when hiring a virtual assistant here: 10 tips for hiring a virtual assistant.
Fortunately, you do not have to spend your time scouring the web for a reliable virtual assistant. HitRate Solutions have some of the most reliable virtual assistants. You can check out our website and schedule a call with us.
I Need an Assistant. Who Is Best?
As we've mentioned above, the best place to find virtual assistants is in the Philippines. This is where you can find an affordable VA that offers high-quality services. Hit Rate Solutions, in addition to being a call center, is proud to connect you with the ideal assistant for your business.
Conclusion - Pros & Cons of Hiring Virtual Assistants
Why hire a virtual assistant? As a recap, let's go over the pros and cons of hiring VAs.
Pros:
- Save time and money
- Expand your reach
- Reduce staff costs
- Drive productivity
- Stop doing busywork
- Company growth
- Customer Experience
Cons:
- Delayed updates due to time zones
- Potential lack of focus if the assistant is working with multiple clients
- Language or cultural barriers
Rest assured that at Hit Rate Solutions, we employ talent that is fluent in English and has experience working with companies like yours. If you're interested in learning more about our call center and our virtual assistant services, don't hesitate to reach out to us today!
