Are you are the owner of a small or medium and business and looking for ways to cut down the costs? Hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) rather than a full-time office employee could be the answer. If you think finding a right person to be your virtual assistant is a difficult task, here are some tips to help you.
The VA has many important tasks to perform for you and your business. You need a proper harmony between you and the VA, as trust is most important. The virtual assistant should be able to understand you, your workflow, your business … and handle your tasks efficiently. Therefore, it is imperative to schedule an interview with the VA before contracting. You can use phone or Skype .. but do it! During the interview observe how the VA responds to your questions, the way they attend the phone and more importantly how prompt they are in keeping the appointment.
While not necessary, it is a good practice that every virtual assistant should have a website and some sort of social media presence – even if their primary source of marketing and gaining client is word of mouth or referrals. Make sure to visit the website and review it critically since this is the face of your potential VA. Check to see whether there is any misspelling, grammatical errors or unprofessional content. This is very important as the VA who is not presenting their own image in a professional and polished manner; the chances are unlikely that they will present your company in a professional and polished way.
Make sure that the virtual assistant has exceptional diplomatic skills in handling a difficult or highly sensitive situation. They should display the skill during the interview and take you through the services and products. They should have a thorough knowledge about what they offer and should be able to convince you why you should hire them. This business sense can be fruitfully utilized by your business also.
It is important to understand their professional, as well as, personal traits. It is imperative that they take the lead in the discussion when it is required. They should present a confident outlook when the talk of their business. During the conversation you should get a feel that you can trust and rely on this person. If they take the initiative to help you in your business .. it’s all good 🙂
Experience is yet another important area you should look for. This experience should not only be in the area of virtual assistance but as an administrative or executive assistant as well. Recently many full-time office assistants have left their “traditional” jobs to start their own business as VA. Though they have not much experience as VA, they have vast experience in various administrative tasks. Similarly an experienced VA need not be experienced in all the areas in which they are offering the services. You must take care of this aspect to ensure that the person you are going to hire fully meets your requirement.
The information given above will definitely help you a lot in finding the VA best suited for your business requirements.
About Out of the Office Virtual Assistance:
At Out of the Office, we are committed to providing earth-friendly administration and offer ideas and ways to increase your productivity, decrease your workload, and work more efficiently. We nurture a successful business relationship, while continuing to grow as your business partner. We are focused on streamlining your administration, social media planning and execution, and offering creative solutions for your business success.
Image credit: geralt | CC0 Public Domain