Showing posts with label personal assistant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal assistant. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The most important benefit for hiring a virtual assistant

Most people think that the most important benefit for hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) is lower employment cost. But there are many other benefits of hiring a virtual assistant for and when one thinks about it, these are actually the more essential ones. The cost-savings one gets from hiring a VA is just an added bonus.

One of the most common benefit is the opportunity to expand their talent pool to a bigger community where one can find a more effective and compatible worker or collaborator. A client may find that a VA from another continent may be better equipped than those who have applied to him personally, especially if the talent and/or skill being sought is a specialization not common in the local area. He can even coordinate an online team made up of different persons with different specializations from different areas.

Advantages of hiring a virtual assistant is favored by time differences. If the VA is on the other side of the world, the differences in time zones means that if the client sends his task to his VA during the day, as he sleeps, the VA may actually be working on his task. If the task is simple enough, when he wakes up, his VA may already have finished and sent back to him the output of the task. This affords the client a 24-hour workday even though he does not miss any sleep at all. For people whose work needs quick and efficient results, this reality is a major breakthrough.

Thirdly, the client can concentrate on the more important tasks. The administrative functions which usually is more tedious and time-consuming although essential for smooth operations, may be farmed out to the VA thereby giving the client more time and energy to focus on tasks that demand for his personal attention. Research, database management, following-up on clientele, editing, proofreading are just some of these tasks that may be better dealt with by the VA. The client then can concentrate on attending a meeting, or expanding the business and accomplishing set goals and even spending quality time with his family.

Some VAs even offer help in managing the personal lives of their clients such as organizing trips or social gatherings, canvassing for an item that needs to be bought, etc. Imagine if one needs to organize a clan reunion and there is a need to update contact details, get in touch with people, follow-up on attendance, book a caterer and venue, arrange for entertainment and program, etc. All the client needs to know is that while he's out doing his work, the other tasks are also being done. The VA will just regularly update him through an online progress report where he gives feedback and additional instructions and after a few more minutes of consultation through email, voila! He can go back to what he was doing. No constant phone calls, no person-to-person meetings in some Starbucks or restaurant, no innumerable paperwork that eventually gets misplaced.

Fourthly, VAs are only paid for work that was done. For example, in data-mining tasks, each data culled is given an equivalent rate. If the target output is completed, the client pays the complete rate. If it is incomplete, despite the attention of the highly-skilled VA, then the client only pays for what was done. There is no need to retain workers who may be goofing off when the boss is not around or doing other less important tasks that interfere with the deadline. In the client-VA relationship, satisfaction in the desired output is an important factor, one which the VA strives to cultivate in an effort to ensure repeat business.

Lastly, of course, there is the added savings one gets with not having to maintain an office with equipment where your employee reports to, no vacation leaves or sick leaves to worry about, no pensions, insurance and the likes, no payroll taxes to pay, etc. The client can literally work from wherever he wants to be and be assured that the work he farmed out to his VA is also being given the necessary attention it needs.

When all is said and done, the rise of virtual assistance clearly benefits both sides of the working relationship. The highly-skilled remote employee is allowed to work in his own time without the need to relocate, he is well-compensated and his assistance allows his clients to manage his time, energy and resources well. He knows he is doing a valuable service to his client.

The client is not micro-managing his employees' performance, not burdened with mundane tasks, not spending for non-performing assets. He can better manage his time, his energy and his resources. He may even be managing his relationships better because he is less stressed with less important tasks. Both sides are satisfied and if not, they are always free to engage in other working relationships without contracts tying them down to each other. However, as the working relationship progresses between the VA and his client, one realizes that the collaboration has become a valuable and dynamic partnership.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Are you in search for a virtual assistant?

If you are looking for a virtual assistant, you have to look for some exacting stuff. If you are seeking an assistant for executive duties as well as other administrative measures for your business, you must seek an assistant who has performed in an upper level position within the executive field. You want an assistant with a high-level of expertise which will greatly become a benefit to your business.

Virtual assistants are independent contractors and not business employees. You want to inquire about the training and certification of the virtual assistant. If you need competent and professional help from your assistant, there are qualifications which you must look for.

Certifications are nice however, as a business owner, you should not place too much stock into certifications. It is not difficult to become certified through many ludicrous professional associations as well as programs. Certifications can prove misleading therefore, why it is more important for you as a business owner to concentrate on the training of the virtual assistant as compared to the numerous certifications which they might contain.

You want a virtual assistant who is literally in business for themselves. This shows commitment and a desire to succeed and you can rest assured that they will show this toward your business as well. You also to view if the virtual assistant has poor communication skills or long periods of unavailability's.

Ask the virtual assistant how long he or she has been in business. Do they work on a full-time or a part-time basis? There are questions which are very much pertinent in forming the decision of hiring a virtual assistant. Is the assistant confident? Is their business thriving? Request testimonials from the virtual assistant. You want to view if customers have been satisfied with their services. Testimonials speak volumes for the quality of work the virtual assistant more than likely gives as well as offers.

Lastly, you want to inquire about pricing. Most virtual assistants typically charge anywhere within the price range of forty dollars to seventy-five dollars an hour. This may like steep pricing however, you must understand that you do not want a ten dollar an hour virtual ads working for you and your business. You truly get what you pay for and this rings true with virtual helper.

In letting the price of the virtual assistants soak into your brain, you must think about how your services are not cheap. You feel that you offer quality products and services and that customers receive a great bargain for the quality of the products and services which you offer. Now, aim this mind frame toward hiring a virtual assistant. Get the picture?

As a business owner, you want someone you can work well with as well as someone who can offer great customer service while representing your business. You also want someone who is going to stick around therefore seek quality and value when searching for a virtual helper and the investment will prove worth it as you view not only the increase of your profits but the success of your business.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Virtual Assistant Service - Get Online Assistance to Enjoy a Cherished Business


Virtual Assistant Service - Get Online Assistance to Enjoy a Cherished Business
By Stella Ferrero




Not able to manage your tasks by your own and looking for a personal assistance without blowing lots of bucks... how about the idea of hiring a virtual assistant? Also known as online personal assistant, they can help you in concluding numerous tasks and interestingly, you will be paying only for the hours, your VA worked for you. Virtual Assistance services are offered to cover extensive genre of tasks. Read on to know, where you can make the best use of virtual assistance services.

Appointment Scheduling & Management - In this genre, they assist clients in accomplishment of numerous professional tasks, including online appointment scheduling and management. They take care of your meetings in your absence too by informing the second party about your absence and scheduling it for later.

Blog Management Services- Virtual assistants help you in enjoying a better online business. They create interesting blogs to boost traffic influx of your online business. This is impactful in increment of monetary benefits too.

Calendar Management - Calendar Management task is all about dealing with diary updating with the crucial information. A managed calendar or diary is the best reminder that helps you in attending meetings on time and also concluding the assignments much before the deadline.

Email Management - You find it almost impossible to check all the mails which have made entry in your mail inbox. What is the solution for this? You can ask your personal assistant to do this. Your online assistant would take care of all of your mails. He/she would check it, prepare a reply for it, forward it and flag it for your overview.

Internet Research - Virtual assistants can provide you a comprehensive research on any topic, you wish... You can get the research within a short span in a cost effective manner. Some of the VA providers prepare documents to give you the complete synopsis of the research done... nonetheless, most of the time, these are done on web only but online service providers do their best to feel you satisfied.

Not only this but also virtual assistants offer their service in completion of many more assignments. Some online Virtual assistance service providers present the facility of presentation making. This deals with preparation of power point presentations in accordance with customers' requirement. You can also ask your virtual assistant to provide telephone answering service. They can do numerous tasks for you including, order taking, online reception etc. When you are privileged with such services in a minimal cost, why to hire an actual personal assistant


Stell Ferrero is a Virtual Assistant for 5 years, strong in basic administrative skills, has high business acumen, and well honed people management skills. Currently associated with Connexxions Info Tech. Follow me on my blog at online virtual assistant.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stella_Ferrero
http://EzineArticles.com/?Virtual-Assistant-Service---Get-Online-Assistance-to-Enjoy-a-Cherished-Business&id=3061326