When you decide to hire a virtual assistant to grow your business you need to be strategic to successful find the right person. How do you do that?
You must consider your needs and then look to find a VA who fits those needs perfectly. Don't just hire the first person you come across without carefully determining if they are a good match.
Here are five essential elements to finding your perfect fit when outsourcing:
Element 1 - Is it a good match?
There are a lot of things that need to go right in order for a virtual assistant/client relationship to work out and not every virtual assistant is meant to work with every client. One of the first elements of working with a Virtual Assistant is finding a good match with your personality. The term virtual assistant indicates that most likely you won't be meeting this person face to face before you work with her. It's very important that you get on the phone and have a short discussion just to make sure you can understand each other and just find out if it's a good match to work together.
Element 2 - Understand what and why you are outsourcing.
This one is very important. I know we're all busy and outsourcing is a good way to have LESS work but it is important for yourself and your business that you know what you are handing over to a VA so that you can then decide if it's worth the money for you.
Let's say you are outsourcing your article marketing. If you don't understand what happens to your articles after they leave your computer how will you be able to tell if paying a VA $100 per month to send them out is worth it for you? On the other hand, if you do understand what is happening when those articles go out you can set up systems to monitor the results of this effort and see if it's paying off or if you need to tweak the system a little or a lot.
Element 3 - Expect it will take time.
If you are bringing on a virtual assistant, especially for your internet marketing, you can't expect that everything will happen instantly. You will need to train that assistant and she will need to learn your business. It's just not realistic to expect the virtual assistant to be intuitive about your needs until some time has passed and the working and business relationship has been well established. Some things take time and effort before they pay off.
Element 4 - Expect it will cost you money.
You'll often hear the term 'You can't afford NOT to outsource' and in many ways that's true but you do need to be prepared for the fact that outsourcing does cost money. The return on that investment can be very great if you outsource the right tasks to the right people, but keep in mind that you need some cash flow to outsource to a VA.
Element 5 - Communicate Clearly
Effective communication both on the part of the virtual assistant and the client is very key in an outsourcing relationship. Before you hire a VA find out what their method of communication is. If you prefer to call someone up on the phone every time you have a question or concern, make sure the VA you want to work with is available for these types of calls.
Also make sure you communicate your needs before you start working together. Be concerned if the virtual assistant doesn't ask any questions about what you do need if you don't get the opportunity to mention it. Your VA needs to determine if she can realistically handle the work you have available. If she doesn't know what it is she is effectively telling you she can do absolutely anything, which is unlikely.
Element 6 - Commit to a project
I know how hard it is to want to do so many different projects at a time and often just starting one project leads to so many other projects at the same time. Working on too many projects at once is just not smart business. If you can commit to a project and see it through you will definitely see more success with this then moving from project to project without actually finishing the last one or having the ability to track your efforts.
Element 7 - Test Results
I did mention this a little bit earlier but it's very important that you keep an eye on what is working and what isn't. Now you don't need to get all crazy with testing and tracking but you do need to know what works for you and your business and use that to make your outsourcing decisions. There are so many tools and programs available on the internet there really is no excuse for not tracking.
So there you have seven key elements to check before choosing a virtual assistant to work with. Use these as a guideline and you'll be well on your way to establishing a profitable working relationship with a new team member who can be a very valuable asset to your business for years to come.
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