It goes without saying that a lot of office tasks fall into the category of “busywork”. Things such as archiving, filing and organizing paperwork, answering phone calls, and managing appointments are all time-consuming and can potentially divert your employees’ attention away from more important tasks.
When you’re preoccupied with this kind of menial work for a significant part of the day, you’re left with little energy to complete more important assignments that require a lot of creative and analytical input on your side. Failing to see those through, or not putting enough effort into finishing them may carry serious consequences for your business, including loss of profit, in some cases.
Modern business solutions specialists from ivyanswer.com are adamant about the severity of this trend. According to their estimations, the average manager spends around 25% of their time working on tasks of a purely administrative nature, ones that do not generate any revenue for the company. Multiply that by four, and you’ve got a full day of work wasted on menial, repetitive work that might be completed by someone else!
If you’re having problems focusing on growing your company due to the ever-increasing pile of administrative busywork on your desk, an offshore data management virtual assistant may provide you with the help you’re looking for. Check out this article to see why exactly delegating your responsibilities to a virtual assistant is a good idea.
Work Done with Care and Precision
Entrepreneurs don’t tend to be great at managing appointments, data entry, and other jobs that require them to lose sight of whatever project or idea they were currently developing. It can be frustrating to be drawn away from the process of developing a new product or improving an existing one just because you have to punch in some numbers or sift through countless emails in your inbox just to get to a few important ones.
Hiring a virtual assistant won’t make those responsibilities go away, but it will ensure that they will be fulfilled with utmost precision and care, which might not be the case if you or your on-site employees are tasked with them. These things are the sole essence of the job of your VA, instead of a distraction from other assignments, which is why, more often than not, they will carry them out more efficiently, paying attention to the minutest details.
No More Dealing with Pesky Customers
Customer support is the bane of many small business owners. How can you focus on developing and improving your products and services if you’re constantly bothered by hundreds of customer phone calls and emails on a daily basis? Most of these pesky customers won’t give up until they speak to the manager. Hiring a VA who specializes in customer service can make that problem go away once and for all. You can even grant your new virtual assistant the title of “Manager of Customer Relations” to appease some of the angrier callers and assure them that they are, in fact, speaking to a manager at the company.
Email and Calendar Management
Nearly every business owner has a love-hate relationship with their email account. On the one hand, it is necessary to carry out most of the firm’s operations, reach out to potential clients, and handle all sorts of matters. On the other hand, though, there is nothing more annoying than sitting at your desk and clicking through dozens of emails for thirty minutes every morning. That is an unfortunate reality for many managers.
If you hire a virtual assistant, you can have them take care of your work inbox management and instruct them to only pass onto you the messages they deem worthy of your attention. Aside from handling emails, virtual assistants can also provide you with an impeccable appointment management service, thanks to which you won’t forget about a meeting or interview ever again!
VAs are Cost-Effective
Hiring a full-time virtual assistant can help your business in more than just dealing with administrative work. Virtual assistant services are often cheaper than what it would cost to bring on a secretary or assistant to your on-site team. They do not need to be trained, nor do they have to be provided with any sort of equipment. This kind of cost-effective hiring strategy is especially important in this day and age, with the COVID-19 pandemic having ravaged the budgets of most businesses across the world.
Unleash Your Employees’ Full Potential
No one likes to be tasked with something they weren’t hired to do, especially if that something is a task of an administrative nature. This holds true for every single employee across the board, regardless of their position and status at the company. If you delegate administrative and menial tasks like answering phone calls or managing the company calendars to a VA, you will be able to unleash your employees’ potential in some of the more creative spheres, such as developing your brand’s social media strategy or bringing them on to help with project management.
The Bottom Line
Working with a virtual assistant can do wonders for your business. Most importantly, it will help you and your team get your creative juices flowing once again, allowing everybody to focus their attention on delivering better services to each individual client, improve the company’s social media activities, and, most importantly, take the business forward in terms of generating revenue and staying competitive on the market.
You should be careful when hiring VAs, though. Make sure that you’re not going to bring on someone without any experience or expertise in administration. Rather than trying to save even more money by hiring a freelancer from Fiverr, you should go for a person that someone can vouch for. That way, you’ll be certain that the administrative side of your business is in good hands.
