Maximize productivity by taking full advantage of your new virtual assistant’s services.
If you recently hired or plan on hiring a virtual assistant in the near future, you should have a solid plan in place to make the most of the new investment. Your virtual assistant can positively impact your business in many ways, but only if you prepare accordingly and know how to take advantage of what your virtual assistant can offer.
Prepare to Delegate
The top benefit the best virtual assistants can provide is lightening the load when it comes to running the business. Many business owners recognize the value a virtual assistant can offer but fail to develop an actionable plan to bring the new assistant onboard effectively. Start making the most of your new virtual assistant by developing a list of everything you want your virtual assistant to handle.
Developing a Virtual Assistant Task Delegation List
Why did you decide to hire a virtual assistant in the first place? Do you need assistance fielding correspondence with vendors and business partners? Are administrative tasks like paperwork and everyday filing eating up too much of your time at work? Your task delegation list should include a list of everything you expect your new virtual assistant to handle remotely, such as:
- Social Media Administration. This might include anything from checking social media engagement and responding to customer emails.
- Expansion Services. For example, have you recently expanded your business to Latin America? If you’re trying to reach more customers in Mexico, El Salvador, or Colombia, a virtual assistant from Virtual Latinos may be able to assist with translations, reaching out to potential business partners in your target countries, and improving customer relationships.
- Extra Work. Add the things you simply don’t want to do to your list – within reason. If you spend an inordinate amount of time each day on administrative tasks you could delegate to your new virtual assistant, add those tasks to your list.
Once you have these tasks outlined, develop an onboarding process to integrate your new virtual assistant into your everyday operations. You certainly want to make the most of your new virtual assistant, but you don’t want to overload them all at once without a real plan.
Create an Onboarding Timetable for Your New Virtual Assistant
You’re going to need to invest some time in training your new virtual personal assistant. Start by analyzing your business’s productivity and look for ways to improve it with your virtual assistant’s help. Refer to the lists of tasks you don’t know how to complete, don’t have time to complete yourself, or simply do not want to handle personally, and prioritize accordingly.
Prepare for Onboarding
Begin the onboarding process as soon as possible after hiring a virtual assistant:
- Introduce your new virtual assistant to your company. Make sure they have the contact information for everyone in the company that they might need to contact on a regular basis.
- Set clear expectations for task prioritization. You may only want to invest a few hours each week into virtual assistant services, so make sure you’re making the most of the time you purchase. Your virtual assistant should have a clear list of objectives for every week.
- Take advantage of your virtual assistant’s linguistic capabilities. The best virtual assistants from Virtual Latinos can communicate in English or Spanish, so you may want to prioritize tasks for your new virtual assistant that would benefit from bilingual communication, such as developing communications for Latin American markets or communicating with Latin American customers in Spanish.
Remember, hiring a virtual assistant requires ongoing communication if you want to make the most of the investment.
Make Yourself Available to Answer Questions
The best virtual assistants are very capable when it comes to adapting to new business models, communication tools, and expectations from new employers. A virtual assistant may assist many businesses during a single week, so flexibility is crucial. However, virtual assistants will also require cooperation from you as a business leader if you want them to be as effective as possible.
Minimize Miscommunications with Your New Virtual Assistant
Make sure your virtual personal assistant knows how to get in touch with you whenever necessary. Make task objectives as clear as possible and carefully outline your expectations for every project to maximize productivity:
- Provide your virtual assistant with a breakdown of the tools, equipment, and software required to perform the tasks you expect them to complete.
- Supply your standard operating procedure materials (SOPs) to your new virtual assistant so they have time to get to know your company from the first day.
- Be as clear as possible with your first task list for the virtual assistant. Provide as much detail as possible so the virtual assistant can handle these tasks at peak efficiency.
Hiring a virtual assistant can be a tremendous asset for almost any business working in the Latin American market. If you have partners, vendors, or customers in Latin America, Virtual Latinos can provide the best virtual assistants available, able to handle customer and vendor correspondence with top-notch service in both English and Spanish. Contact Virtual Latinos today to learn more about the potential benefits of hiring a virtual assistant for your company.
