More and more business owners are discovering that they can more effectively run and manage their business with the help of virtual assistants. It can be expensive to hire full-time employees when you only need their expertise for a small amount of time each week. When you partner with a virtual assistant agency, you get all the employees you need exactly when you need them, and all this for a whole lot less than you would have to otherwise shell out for people of that skill level.
As great as all of this is, you still need to effectively manage you VAs if you want to get the best possible return on your investment.
The first things that you need to do are to set some time aside that can be used to quickly train your VAs on the systems and processes used within your business. Chances are this will not take long at all if you have chosen the right company to work with. Virtual assistants should have a decent working knowledge of most business systems, and the training is likely to be more about your workflow and the prioritization of the work that you are outsourcing.
Virtual assistants are known for getting through the work assigned to them at a good speed, which is why you should have 2-3 days of work scheduled at all times. If you have to waste time answering emails about what to do next, you are essentially taking the focus away from the tasks that you have to complete. You should track the amount of time that VAs spend doing the assigned work, so that you are aware of how much is being spent, and you should also schedule some time to check in with your VAs from time to time.
That latter is especially important, as it can become all too easy to start micro-managing every single detail. Unless there are ongoing problems with the level of work being provided or the time that it’s completed, there really is no reason to be constantly checking in on the VA. Specify a time each week when you can touch base and talk about the work delivered and what is upcoming. You can raise any problems or concerns, as well as suggestions as to how you would like it to change, moving forward.
As you become more comfortable with the level of work being delivered by your virtual assistants, you should start considering handing off larger projects. It’s understandable to be a little cautious in the early stages of the business relationship, but there is no reason to continue going small when it is evident that you are going to get top notch work delivered in a timely fashion.
Hiring virtual assistants is all about saving time and money, as well as getting help with the aspects of the business that you struggle with. The more you can outsource to VAs, the more free time you will have to focus on the areas of the business in which you excel.